Garlic Bread

Summary

• Source: 101cookbooks.com
• Genre: Side dish
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cooking Time: 10 minutes
• Servings: 8-10

Ingredients

• 1 loaf Italian bread, fresh as you can find
• 1 head (meaning the entire bulb, several cloves) fresh garlic, minced
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp/30 ml extra-virgin olive oil
• 0.25 cups/60 ml fresh chopped parsley
• 0.25 cups/60 ml Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C.
2. Slice the loaf of bread down the middle (this will be much easier if you use a good-quality bread knife). Place the two halves (cut side up) onto a cookie sheet, making sure they don't touch.
3. Add garlic, butter and olive oil to a small sauce pan. Heat on medium-low until the butter is fully melted, approximately 2-3 minutes.
4. Pour the melted garlic/butter/oil mix evenly over the two pieces of bread, using a bread knife to ensure that the garlic pieces are relatively evenly distributed over the bread.
5. Place the cookie sheet into the preheated oven. Bake for 5-10 minutes, making sure that the bread does not start to turn color at all (we're just trying to heat the bread thoroughly, we're not trying to cook it!).
6. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven. Turn the broiler on and let it preheat for 2-3 minutes. While the broiler is heating up, top the bread with parsley and cheese.
7. When broiler is heated, put the cookie sheet back into the oven. Watch the bread VERY CLOSELY. We're only very gently toasting it. Once it's gotten a small tinge of golden-brown around the edges, approximately 30-60 seconds, immediately remove the cookie sheet from the oven. The bread will go from beautiful golden brown to scorched in seconds, so pay very close attention!
8. Cut the bread into chunks and serve immediately -- it's infinitely better while still warm.