Recipe: Garlic Bread

Garlic Bread

Toasted garlic bread is always a big hit with kids and with grownups. It is really quite a simple idea: you toast some bread, then spread it with garlic-flavored butter and toast it again so the butter melts in.

To make garlic-flavored butter, you can use garlic powder, which is very easy because you just measure it out of a jar. Or you can mince fresh garlic to mix into the butter. Either way, this will taste great.

Whichever kind of garlic you decide to use, you will need to mash it into the butter, so the butter needs to be pretty soft. A good plan is to cut the butter about 30 minutes ahead of time, unwrap it, put it on a plate, and then leave it out of the refrigerator. It won't melt (unless it's a blazing hot day), but it will get warm enough to mash.

If you have any garlic-flavored butter left over, try putting some on cooked pasta, rice, or vegetables. (Mmmmm...it's great on cooked broccoli!)

Yield: This recipe makes about 4 servings.
Time: It takes about 50 minutes, start to finish (including time to soften the butter).

You will also need:
Small, sharp knife and a cutting board
(or a garlic press) if using fresh garlic
Dinner knife for cutting and spreading butter
Dinner plate
Bread knife
Baking tray
Timer with a bell
Fork for smushing butter
Measuring spoons

Ask an adult for help with:
Turning on the oven
Slicing the loaf in half
Putting the tray in the oven
Taking the hot bread off the tray and putting it back on
Slicing the bread into servings

Ingredients:
6 tablespoons butter
1/2 pound loaf French or Italian (sweet or sourdough) bread
1-1/2 teaspoons garlic powder or
2 teaspoons minced (cut in tiny pieces) or crushed fresh garlic

1. Use a dinner knife to cut 6 tablespoons butter. Each line on the butter wrapper means 1 tablespoon.

Unwrap the butter, put it on a dinner plate, and let it get soft sitting at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

2. Ask an adult to turn on the oven to 375 degrees F. And to slice the loaf of bread in half the long way.

3. Put the 2 pieces of bread on a baking tray, cut side up.

Ask an adult to put the tray in the oven for about 8 minutes (until it is lightly toasted) and then to take it out.

4. While the bread is toasting, mash the butter with a fork until it is soft.

4-1/2. Slowly sprinkle in 1-1/2 teaspoons garlic powder or 2 teaspoons fresh garlic. Mash the butter some more and mix in the garlic.

5. Ask an adult to take the bread oft the hot tray and stand by. When the bread is not too hot to touch, spread the garlic butter all over the cut sides.

6. Ask an adult to put the bread back on the tray and the tray back in the oven for another 5 to 8 minutes (until toasty-perfect) and then to take it out and slice it.

from:
Honest Pretzels
And 64 Other Amazing
Recipes for Cooks Ages 8 & Up
Written & illustrated by Mollie Katzen
Tricycle Press, 1999
Hardback, 192 pages, $19.95
ISBN: 1-883672-88-0
Recipe reprinted by permission.

Buy the Book!