Roasted Garlic and Parmesan Bread

Roasted Garlic Bread

Growing up there were 3 things I looked forward to when there was a braai (barbecue): garlic bread, potato salad and my mom’s “heerlike poeding” (literally translated as delicious pudding) which has to be as South African as a braai. The best bit was a sneaky Sunday morning breakfast of cold garlic bread topped with potato salad followed by a heaped spoon of poeding scooped out of the fridge before my mom noticed. She always made garlic bread with some added grated cheddar cheese and till today I add cheese to the garlic butter.

I could not resist turning a beautiful sour dough I bought from Woodstock Bakery into this more “refined” version by roasting the garlic first and replacing the cheddar with Parmesan.

Roasted Garlic & Parmesan Bread

Roasting the garlic removes some of the pungency and makes for a rich garlic mixture which will not overwhelm everything else on the plate. This makes the bread suitable to serve with meals other than the usual braai and will go perfectly with soups and stews.

The measurements in the recipe are more an indication than precise quantities. The amount of butter will depend on the size and type of bread you decide to use. Any leftover butter can be stored in the fridge for a few days and used as a spread.

Roasted Garlic and Parmesan Bread

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Ingredients

  

• 2 heads of garlic
• olive oil
• 200 g butter at room temperature
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
• 3/4 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
• bread of your choice eg. baguette/french loaf or hot dog rolls for individual breads

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Slice the garlic head in half horizontally and place on a piece of foil. Drizzle with some olive oil and cover the garlic with the foil. Bake for 30 minutes until the garlic is soft. Reduce the oven temp to 180 degrees C. Let the garlic cool a bit and squeeze the soft garlic into a bowl with the butter. (Doing it clove by clove is a pain so just squeeze the head all in one and the garlic will drop out). Mix the garlic and butter, add the parsley and cheese and mix well.
• Slice the bread (I slice it right through as I find it much easier to serve) and spread the mixture on each slice. Reassemble the bread, cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes until hot and melted right through.