What’s not to love about a freshly baked garlic bread?! Deliciously golden and crispy with an irresistibly soft and spongy centre. This super easy garlic and herb tear and share bread is made using Maldon Garlic Sea Salt; where the flavours of both wild and roasted garlic hugs you as you take your first bite.
What is a tear and share?
A tear and share bread is baked by rolling balls of dough so that they almost take on the form of mini bread rolls. With each corner of the roll, you are allowing a delicious pool of juices to occur, perfect for dipping and soaking up all those tasty, garlic flavours.
A tear and share bread is ideal for dinner party if you are wanting to make a show-stopping dish for your friends and family. You can pair the bread with other dips, including hummus, salsa verde or a herb butter & siracha mayonnaise which all pair nicely with the dough balls.
Garlic bread toppings
We topped our garlic bread with extra garlic cloves and parsley to give a kick of pepperiness to the bread.
Another topping you could do for your garlic bread could be adding shreds of creamy mozzarella, which will transform your garlic bread into a sensational ‘cheesy’ garlic bread. Make sure to melt the cheese under a high temperature to elevate those mild, milky notes of the cheese and really nail that ‘Instagram-worthy’ cheese pull!
If you want to impress your guests, why not transform your garlic bread into a bruschetta. Keep the base of the recipe the same, whilst adding the elements that you would normally find within a classic bruschetta; tomato, onion and anchovy fillets! The flavour combinations are are a match-made-in-heaven with the garlicy undertones.
Here is how to make our tear and share garlic bread recipe…
- Lightly oil a 26cm round cake tin.
- Place the flour, yeast, salt, sugar, and dried herbs in the bowl of your stand mixer and mix together so it is fully combined. Next place the water, butter and milk into a small pan and gently heat. You want the butter to melt and the liquid to be just tepid – if it is too hot, leave it for a few minutes to allow it to cool slightly. Then pour this liquid into the flour bowl and mix together.
- Add the dough hook attachment and knead the dough on a medium speed for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.
- Cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave in a warm place for 45mins – 1 hour or until it has doubled in size.
- Once the dough has doubled in size, knock all the air out of it and then shape into 30 small, equal sized balls. Place an ovenproof ramekin in the middle of the cake tin and then arrange the balls around the ramekin in circles. Cover the cake tin loosely with clingfilm and then set aside again for approximately 30 mins or until it has doubled in size again.
- Preheat the oven to 200C.
- Once the bread has had its second prove, it is ready to bake. Place in the preheated oven for 30 minutes until golden brown all over and cooked through. When it comes out the oven brush it all over with a little of the softened butter and sprinkle with the chopped parsley and a pinch of Maldon Garlic Sea Salt.
- With the remaining softened butter, mix in the 2 crushed garlic cloves. When it has cooled slightly, remove the bread from the cake tin and place on a serving board. Put the garlicky softened butter in the ramekin in the middle gather round to tear the bread balls and dunk in the garlicky butter! Delicious.
What meals go well with garlic bread?
It goes without saying that garlic bread and pasta is a sensational food pairing. It’s a classic main-and-side dish combo that has been going around for years!Take a delicious rigatoni, infused with smoked aubergine and harissa to give a fiery kick to the dish. Garlic bread will mop up those juices in no time, which giving you that comforting taste of garlic cloves.
If you are looking for something on the lighter side, try pairing your garlic bread with soup. Dipping your garlic bread into a bowl of soup feels like a warm hug on a winter’s day, whilst the flavours from the garlic bread elevate the simple dish even further.
A pairing you should try with your garlic bread is with a bowl of freshly sauteed mussels. The natural broth that is released from when the mussels are steamed allows the perfect amount of dipping and soaking for your garlic bread.
