Garlic Tear & Share Bread

Garlic Tear & Share Bread

 Bread is such a wonderful thing. From a sandwich to bread & butter pudding, so much from one relatively simple recipe. I make bread weekly. I've given up sourdough because much as i love it, the other member of the household doesn't and I don't eat vast quantities of bread anyway. Now I generally make a fairly pedestrian white loaf, with rolls, garlic bread or buns as an added extra. I made some cheesy tear & share bread a couple of weeks ago and it was very popular so here's the method. I won't say recipe, because this can be made with any bread mixture you prefer.

Take about 300g flour and make a plain white bread dough however you normally do it. Give it the first rise then knock it back. Next take 125g butter and melt it in a pan. Grate one or two cloves of garlic into it (depending how garlicky you like it) and season with salt & pepper. Stir the butter on the heat - don't so much cook the garlic as flavour the butter. Brush butter into a 20cm square pan. Now make 16 small balls out of your dough. Using a slotted spoon, roll each one in the melted butter and arrange them 4 x 4 in the pan. Any remaining butter & garlic mix should be poured over the top. Don't worry if it looks seriously overbuttered, any excess will be absorbed by the baking bread. Sprinkle liberally with up to 100g grated parmesan (or strong Cheddar, Cantal or Emmenthal) cheese. At this stage your doughballs will look a bit 'socially distanced' in the pan. Don't worry, the second rise will take care of that. You can either leave the pan in the warm for about an hour before baking, or (as I did prepping for a barbecue) you can put it in the fridge until  later in the day. In this case just take it out half an hour before you want to bake it. Pre-heat your oven to 180c and bake your bread for 30 minutes. It will be well risen and golden. 

 

Any leftovers can be frozen in foil for reheating another day. I freeze them in twos to add extra interest to pasta dishes. As you can see in the pictures above, I sometimes make a smaller quantity when I'm doing a weekly bake and use a smaller dish. This is a great way of serving bread with a meal and does an excellent job of soaking up the juices. I mentioned I'd used it at a barbecue and it is a delicious addition to grilled meat & salads.