Garlic Bread

Homemade garlic bread

I've been making No-knead Artisan Bread for a while now and really love having homemade wheat bread at the dinner table.  The only problem with the artisan bread is that I can't make it at the last minute.  If I've got dough in the fridge, no problem, but if I haven't mixed some up yet and it's 4 p.m., then I'm out of luck for dinner.  

Finished loaf

Enter Messy Mommy's Basic Bread Dough!  This is a soft bread dough that I imagine would be easy to use to make rolls.  I made a full loaf and used 1 cup unbleached white flour, 1 cup white whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour.  And...it makes lovely garlic bread.  For my garlic bread, I first slice the loaf almost, but not quite, through.  Then mince a few cloves of garlic and simmer it gently in a few tablespoons of olive oil.  Use a fork to mix this with a few tablespoons of butter (mashing well) and slather it over the sliced bread.  Wrap in foil and bake in a 350-degree oven until everything is melted and the garlic bits on the top begin to toast.

Tonight, I made a half loaf (cut the recipe in half) to go with the carrot soup.  It was wonderful!  The more I try different breads, the less I want a bread machine.