A Garlic Bread Worth Celebrating

Since I first started reading blogs, A Cup of Jo has been one of my constant daily reads. I absolutely adore Joanna and find a visit to her blog to always be so uplifting. So a few months back when she asked if I wanted to contribute to her Wednesday food series, I was giddy beyond belief. If you didn’t already catch the feature, I shared my family’s recipe for wildly delicious homemade garlic bread.  I’ve placed the recipe below, but you can also access it on Joanna’s site- along with the story behind the secret ingredient for the garlic bread (hint: it involves my mom’s cooking wisdom, naturally).

And garlic bread aside, thank you so much for visiting, reading, and continuing to support CC! This feature couldn’t have happened without your support- and for that I am beyond grateful.

The Best Homemade Garlic Bread

• Fresh crusty baguette
• 1/4 cup minced fresh garlic
• 1/3 cup plus 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• ½ tbsp. unsalted butter
• ¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• ½ tsp. garlic salt
• 1/3 cup chopped parsley

Preheat your oven to 400F. Cut your baguette in half, and then cut each half length-wise. (This makes the full loaf easier to manage, and allows you to place a half loaf at each end of the table if you’re entertaining!)

Place your oil and garlic in a medium saucepan. Set heat to medium low and set your timer for five minutes. Watch the pan closely. Around minute three or four, the oil and garlic mixture should begin to fizz and bubble. You want to let it do that, stirring occasionally for one to two minutes, until the garlic is very fragrant. Once you really smell the garlic, remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the butter, black pepper and ¼ teaspoon of the garlic salt.

Separate the mixture among the four halves of baguette. Sprinkle with the remaining garlic salt and parsley. Stack the halves on top of one another, wrap tightly in foil and bake for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, open the oven and peel back the foil slightly (using oven mitts), to expose the top of the bread. Continue to bake for another two to three minutes until the baguettes are hard to the touch and slightly crispy.

Let bread cool for five minutes. Slice each baguette half into five pieces, and enjoy immediately.