I used to love eating “cheap grocery store garlic French bread.” You know, the kind that is slathered in bright yellow margarine, overly seasoned with garlic salt, and sprinkled with dried parsley leaves?! Typically, these loaves of garlic bread are packaged in some type of foil bag and you bake it at home. All I know is this… there is a time and place for this type of bread. For me, I haven’t eaten this type of garlic bread in years. I guess I stopped eating it when I stopped attending community dinners which served this type of bread along with spaghetti, and an iceberg lettuce salad covered in ranch. Those were the days.
Fast forward to today. Although I don’t occasionally mind indulging in this type of garlic bread, I’ve moved on to a lighter cheesier version. One where the bread isn’t saturated with margarine but is seasoned with a light coating of butter and minced garlic. I also like to top it off with a little cheese, just for the fun of it.
The end result is a crusty rustic bread, with flecks of minced garlic hiding in the air pockets. Crusty on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside. Not one element of this bread overwhelms the other. Everything is slightly subtle and noticeably present. I love eating this bread with soup, salad, or by itself. Whatever leftovers I have I stick in a ziplock bag and put in the freezer to use another day. This bread reminds me of a simple black cocktail dress adorned with a single strand pearl necklace – classy, sophisticated, yet simple and beautiful.
If you love eating bread with your meals, this would be the perfect way to dress it up and feel accomplished, even if it was terribly easy to make. My favorite types of recipe. Enjoy!
- 1 baguette, horizontally cut in half
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, softened or partially melted
- 4-6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1-1.5 cups shredded cheese (any type you like) * I like a blend of Parmesan, provolone, and Mozzarella
- optional 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place both sides of the baguette on a cookie sheet with the crust side down and the cut side up. In a small bowl, combine butter and garlic and spread evenly on baguette halves. Be sure to press the garlic butter down with the back of a spatula or spoon so the small pieces of garlic are pushed into the air pockets of the bread. Bake bread for 15 minutes and remove from oven. Change the oven setting to high broil. Evenly sprinkle cheese over the halves of bread and stick the cookie sheet back in the oven. Broil for 1 minute or until cheese has completed melted and shows a few golden bubble marks. Remove from oven and carefully slice bread in diagonal pieces and serve. Store remaining slices of bread in the freezer in a ziplock bag to use in the future. Enjoy!
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{ 51 comments… read them below or add one }
400 degrees for 15 minutes? Did you mean 5 minutes, as 15 minutes will surely burn the bread?
Katy,
I bake mine for 15 minutes.
I love “real” garlic bread, my absolute fave! Thanks for the recipe
How delicious. I want a bite right now!
Butter and cheese! So wrong, yet so right! I make mine this way, too.
When I’m really craving bread, I do often think of cheese and why not the garlic too ;o)
I’ve made something similar to this in the past…however, instead of Provolone…I put Peccorino Romano for an extra punch.
Thanks for giving me the idea of changing things up a little.
Flavourful wishes, Claudia
You know, with all this gourmet food talk and all these gourmet food magazines in my house, you sure made me crave a simple spaghetti dinner with jarred pasta sauce, store-bought cheesey bread and an iceberg salad with lots of ranch. Sometimes you gotta go back to your roots.
But this bread! It looks amazing! We are definitely bread eaters in my house! Thanks for sharing!
Oh, I am drooling right now. Absolutely yummy photos and post!
I want this now
Now I’m thinking I need to make a batch of spaghetti so I can justify having the bread too. Yum.
We make our own garlic bread at home. The neon yellow store bought loaves scare me:) Love your version!
I would love to just go through the screen and enjoy a bite. Looks fabulous!
Looks fabulous!! Thanks for sharing this!!
Love oven-warm baguette bread’s texture and taste but with butter, garlic and cheese? Over the top yum!!
oh this garlic cheese bread looks irresistible!!!!
I made this last night and it was officially the best garlic bread I have ever had or made. I am so thankful for this recipe!!
I did this last night and I have to say it came out wonderfully! The garlicyness was perfect and it was a million times better than the crud that comes in a silver bag from the grocery store!
Thanks so much for sharing!
Love it! Have you tried just rubbing the garlic on while the bread is still hot and toasty? The garlic melts and it’s divine although a bit more work since you have to do it individually. I’ll definitely try this out though.
This looks absolutely delicious! There’s nothing better than a great garlic bread!
Sounds like a great recipe. I may try that out tonight! Thanks
Thanks for the great recipe! I made fettucini alfredo the other night and this was a super side!
MMMM, garlic and cheese and BREAD is seriously one of the BEST combination ever. I LOVE your pictures – they are always so professional and make me hungry
In the summer months, I make garlic bread on the grill (no cheese). Do all the prep work the same, but grill each slice for a minute or two until it gets toasty and you see grill marks. I usually do it right after I take the meat off the grill since the bread cooks so fast.
Wow! That looks so utterly delicious. We’re bread fiends in my house so I will have to try this. I am tempted to start rooting around the fridge now to see if I have the ingredients! We’ve got onion bread which I bet would work really well! Ok I need to raid the kitchen now!
Wow…this looks so good. I especially love the second photo–it looks so rustic and pretty. I see those super scary loaves often and steer clear of them. This looks much better. I might try all mozzarella for extra cheesiness. Yum.
What a great blog you have here. I absolutely love the pictures. Great photography and great story element!
So exciting to have found your site! Just wondering if you can recommend a good homemade baguette recipe to make this from scratch? That would be perfect.
Kristen,
Jim Sullivan’s no knead bread.
What a very easy recipe!! I saw your recipe and immediately went to try it since I had the ingredients.
I’m eating this RIGHT NOW…..and it’s absolutely FABULOUS!!
I love garlic bread! The photos make me drool! Absolutely amazing and easy!
What a fabulous recipe!! this sounds like a great variation.
this is yummy Alice! great photos too, the garlic bread looks mouth watering! thanks for sharing
I tried them! I love them! Easy to make and oh so great! Thanks for sharing!
I made this for Thanksgiving and it was a hit! Super delicious and easy to make.
I absolutely love garlic bread! Yours looks delicious…! I make it in a similar way though I use normal bread slices. Its our favourite accompaniment for soups
It looks wonderful! But would it be possible to make it with olive oil in place of butter? I want to make some for my dad, but he really has to watch his saturated fat intake.
Hi Roz,
Yes you could but I would reduce the oil quite a bit. Another substitute suggestion would be a healthy butter substitute like earth balance.
This looks divine! I can’t wait to try it!
Hi Alice,
thank you for sharing this really simple and detailed recipe. i love the pictures u have which really serves as an excellent guide.
pls keep up the excellent work. thank u ! i followed it word for word with no changes and all my friends loved it
thanks again !
This was to DIE FOR!!!!!
I’ve never met a garlic bread I didn’t like. Garlic bread is my kryptonite! Can’t wait to try this version!
I followed this exactly and my bread caught on fire in the broiler!
I went to grocery store and their baguettes look drastically diff than the one u have pictured. I got this thin pasty white looking thing. It looks nothing like ur yummy darker airy pitted loaf. What kind of baguette do you use?? Thanks.
Hi,
I just use regular French or Italian bread.
Alice
Nom Nom Nom……..I made this as a part of an office potluck and I had NOTHING LEFT despite the fact that there was an abundance of food and that this wasn’t even meant to be a main course….or even a main attraction for that matter. SOOOOO GOOOOD! VARIATIONS: I used a little extra garlic because I’m an alliophile like that AND instead of just butter, I used Land-O-Lakes Butter with Olive Oil and Sea Salt. I’m still chewing. THANK YOU FOR THIS!!!!!
I saw this recipe and I have been making this for any occasion that calls for bread, but the only thing that I do differently is I put the spread on a loaf of Rosemary foccacia bread…and it is heavenly. It just adds another layer of flavor, soooo delicious:)
You need to actually learn how to make bread, when a recipe calls for a loaf of bread it is kinda lame. fyi.
Can I make this with nomal cut bread that you can get from the shops?
YUM! Very excited to try your version. Did you use salted or unsalted butter? Looks delish.
realy yummy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!