Mason-Dixon Recipes

Garlic/Pizza Bread

Garlic bread meant garlic breath. There might be a kiss later, maybe more. There was just too damn much intimacy in garlic bread.

         — Christopher Moore

GARLIC BREAD

Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans all used garlic to flavoring their cooking. They often mixed it with olive oil and spread it on bread. This practice of serving bread with garlic and olive oil was also common in the Mediterranean region.

Italy has a long tradition of serving bread with garlic and olive oil, known as “bruschetta,” which dates back to the 15th century. Bruschetta consists of toasted bread rubbed with garlic and drizzled with olive oil. Its still a popular appetizer in Italy today.

While Italy may have laid the groundwork for garlic bread, it was America that popularized it. In the mid-20th century, Italian-American restaurants in the United States began serving garlic bread on the side, often accompanied by pasta and other Italian favorites. But to me, the key has always been the kind of bread used.

Choosing the best bread to use in garlic bread depends what you like. For example, The classic French baguette provides a crispy crunch when toasted. It and ciabatta bread have airy interiors that absorb the garlic and butter—they're great for soaking up the buttery garlic mixture. Italian bread is similar to these breads with soft interior, but Italian doesn't overpower the garlic, allowing it to shine. Its ideal for those who prefer a more tender bite.

On the other hand, The slight sourness of Sourdough bread complements the richness of the garlic, but it's dense texture ensures the garlic butter stays on the surface. So, It all depends what you like. That said, you will want to avoid breads like sandwich bread and brioche. These have interiors that are too soft. They soak up butter too quickly, making the bread greasy and soggy.

The takeaway is to be specific in choosing your bread. Personally, I prefer sourdough bread.

INGREDIENTS

Sourdough bread

Flavored Butter:
1 stick of butter, softened, room temperature
¹/₄ tsp coarse salt
1 tbsp parsley, grated
2 tsp garlic, minced
¹/₂ cup parmesan cheese, shredded (optional)

DIRECTIONS

First, make the flavored butter. Cream the butter with a mixer until its light and fluffy. Add salt, parsley, garlic, and parmesan cheese if desired. Mix with hand held mixer and then set side.

Cut French bread in half lengthwise. Spread flavored butter on bread. Put in oven for 20 minutes at 325 degrees. When the crust is crunchy, remove from oven and slice bread into strips horizontally.

PIZZA BREAD

This is one of the reasons for selecting Sourdough bread. Adding marinara sauce doesn't sink into the bread as much and stays on the surface. That's perfect for turning garlic bread into Pizza bread.

Writings of the conquests of Darius the Great in the 6th Century B.C. mention that his soldiers baked a kind of bread flat upon their shields and then covered it with cheese and dates. This is possibly the earliest mentioning of pizza. However, it was excavations made in Pompeii under the volcanic ash that proved the existence of pizzas that were common in that part of Italy. Pizza made it to America in the early 20th century. In Chicago, street peddlers sold hot slices of Pizzas to pedestrians.

I've eaten pizza for as long as I can remember, but my introduction to breads with pizza sauce and cheese on them came when I was about 10 years old. My family and I had gone to a carnival and a vendor were selling small circular breads with pizza sauce and cheese on them. I took one bite of the crunchy bread and was hooked. I took all the money I had been allocated for rides and spent an afternoon eating those pizza breads one after the other. By the time my family went home, the vendor was richer and I was sicker. It became my life-long ambition to mimic those pizza breads.

I could redo everything here, but its Garlic bread (as shown above), topped with Marinara sauce (in this recipe book), shredded mozzarella cheese, and dried oregano. Make sure the mozzarella is shredded because I tried flat slices of mozzarella, but it just got pulled off on the first bite.

Bake it for 20 minutes at 325 degrees. Remove when cheese looks bubbly.

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