Garlic bread. Does anything scream Italian-American more than garlic bread? Well, maybe spaghetti and meatballs, but that’s another topic…
Growing up with some Italian heritage and eating a lot of Italian and Italian-American dinners, garlic bread was often a part of the meals. I grew to become very fond of it, and ate a lot of it over the years… probably too much of it honestly!
So, I naturally developed my own garlic bread recipe over time. It’s a simple, but delicious, garlic bread recipe. For mine, I make a compound butter using garlic and basil, spread it across the halved and sliced bread loaf, top it with shredded mozzarella, and then bake it in the oven. It’s cheesy, it’s garlicky, and there is often very little of it left at the end of a meal.
Ingredients
1 loaf of Italian bread
⅓ cup basil leaves, packed
¼ cup softened butter
2 tbsp olive oil
6 cloves of garlic
1½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 loaf of Italian bread
⅓ cup basil leaves, packed
¼ cup softened butter
2 tbsp olive oil
6 cloves of garlic
1½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Preheat an oven to 400°F.
Add the butter, garlic, basil leaves, and olive oil to a food processor and blend until completely incorporated and smooth.
Slice the loaf of bread lengthwise in half and then slice each half into 1½ to 2 inch pieces. Spread the butter mixture across the cut side of each of the bread slices. Place the slices on a baking sheet covered in foil. Top each slice with a small handful of the mozzarella cheese.
Place the tray in the oven and bake for approximately 15 minutes, until the bread is toasted and the cheese is melted and starting to brown. Remove the tray from the oven and allow it to cool for about 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!