Going Italian

If all goes according to plan, tonight I'll be making garlic bread.

The dough is going through its initial rise in the oven now. ( One of the things that I love about being able to work from home, working in my pajamas aside, is that I can bake while I work. I like messing around in the kitchen, though I'm not all that good at it.) The dough came out a little sloppy, so I'm going to let it rise for longer than normal, which means I have about three hours from now to when its ready for slicing.

I found this recipe for the garlic part. I never thought about what goes into garlic bread (uh, go buy garlic butter, spread it, nuke it?), but based on about five minutes research (hey, it uses the word caramelize, so it must be good), this is what I'm going to try:


Ingredients:
1 loaf french bread
1/2 cup butter or margerine
1 clove garlic
1 Tbs. rosemary
1 Tbs. oregano
1 Tbs. thyme
1 tsp. marjoram
1/3 cup Parmesan (grated)
Prep time: 30 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Preheat oven to 375º.

Slice the garlic as thinly as possibly (using a razor blade works well). Add the garlic and the butter to a small frying pan and sauté lightly. As the garlic begins to caramelize add the other spices and sauté for a minute more. Remove from heat.

Slice the bread lengthwise (so you have a top and a bottom). Using a small brush, stir the butter mixture and apply evenly to the cut surfaces of the bread. Sprinkle the cheese over the bottom half of the bread. Place the top half of the bread back on the bottom half. Lightly brush some more of the butter mixture over the top of the bread. Wrap the bread in foil.

Bake for 10 minutes. Open the foil so the top of the bread is partially uncovered. Bake for 5 minutes more. Remove from the oven and slice.

Tonight, we go Italian.