Roasted garlic bread starts with four whole heads roasted slow in foil, then mashed to a paste. That paste gets beaten into a stick of soft butter with thyme and spread over toasted crusty bread. An hour of roasting, ten minutes of work, eight servings.
Wrap the foil parcel tightly before it goes in the oven. A loose wrap lets the steam escape and the cloves roast dry instead of soft. They will not squeeze into a paste when you need them to.
A third of a cup of olive oil goes over the garlic and is then never mentioned again. Their own calorie count gives it away, because 348 a serving only works if that oil is thrown out. Keep it, it is garlic oil.
Roasted Garlic Bread
Course: AppetizerCuisine: American, ItalianDifficulty: Easy4
servings30
minutes40
minutes300
kcalWhole heads of garlic roasted in a foil parcel with thyme until the cloves slip out, mashed smooth and beaten into soft butter. Spread thick over bread toasted on both sides.
Ingredients
4 heads garlic
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 sprigs thyme, plus 1 tablespoon finely chopped
Grey salt or coarse sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 loaf good crusty bread, cut into slices
Directions
- Heat the oven: Heat the oven to 350F.
- Roast the garlic: Cut the top off each head of garlic to expose the cloves and sit them cut side up on a piece of heavy duty foil. Pour the olive oil over, lay the thyme sprigs on top and season with salt and pepper. Wrap the foil tightly, set it in a small ovenproof pan and bake about 1 hour, until the cloves begin to pop out. Cool.
- Make the paste: Open the foil and pour the garlic oil into a jar to keep. Squeeze the lower part of each head to push the cloves out, then mash them to a paste in a small bowl.
- Make the butter: Stir the butter and the chopped thyme into the paste until combined, then season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Toast and spread: Toast both sides of the bread on a hot grill, in a grill pan or under the broiler. Spread the roasted garlic butter over the toast and serve immediately.
FAQs
What do I do with the garlic oil?
Pour it out of the foil into a small jar and keep it in the fridge for a week. It has taken on an hour of roasted garlic and thyme, so it beats anything you can buy. Use it on salad, on pasta or for roasting potatoes.
What is grey salt and do I need it?
Grey salt is sel gris, a damp coarse sea salt from the Atlantic coast, and it is there for texture more than flavor. Any coarse sea salt does the same job here. Flaky salt works too, just use a lighter hand.
Can I roast the garlic ahead?
Yes, and the recipe says so without telling you how long it keeps. The paste holds a week covered in the fridge and three months in the freezer. Freeze it in tablespoon blobs so you can take out exactly what you need.
What should I serve it with?
Anything with a bowl, because this bread was built for mopping. Soup is the obvious partner and the garlic stands up to a heavy one. A bowl of christmas soup and a plate of this is a whole supper.
What else can I do with the roasted garlic paste?
Four heads makes more paste than one loaf needs, so plan a second use. A spoonful stirred through potatoes turns them into something else entirely. Try it in these velvety mashed potatoes instead of the raw garlic.
