Garlic Bread

I like the garlic bread from Pizza Hut, hehe. And when you get the garlic bread supreme, with the cheese. Sigh, so yummy :D But the thing I don't *quite* like about it is that it is usually a bit dry. Problem was solved when Ibu made garlic butter at home, which you can just spread over the top of your toast, but here in the UK, I've discovered one garlic bread "product" that I really really like. ;)

They usually sell it pre-made in supermarkets, and consists of a baguette half-cut into slices with garlic butter inserted in between. Then what you do is just bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, until the baguette turns golden brown. Pull the slices apart, and what results is fresh fluffy garlic bread, that is dripping with the butter. No dried-up butter here, nuh-uh. My favorite is the Sainsbury's version, which is more buttery and less salty (compared to say, the Tesco's version)

But anyway, you can easily get it in the UK (and its usually quite cheap - 2 pounds for 4 baguettes) but I'm not sure if you can get it in Brunei. We smuggled some over to Brunei last year, and apparently my siblings liked it, heh. (Not sure about now though... :P) But anyway, I wanted to try it replicating it at home, so that I can have fresh garlic bread when I am permanently back in Brunei, hehe. Justin thought it was rather useless, since like I said, its easily available here, but hey, I should practice. Now, the thing is... can you get part-baked baguettes in Brunei? So anyway, here we go~! :D

What you need:
2 part-baked baguettes

Garlic butter:
75 g salted butter, softened
Garlic powder, or minced garlic
1 tablespoon dried parsley
Salt, for seasoning

What you do:

1. Mix the ingredients for the garlic butter together in a bowl. Since the amount of garlic-ness that people like often differ, add the garlic slowly and in small amounts, tasting in between until you get the strength you want. Adjust the seasoning with the salt if you want.
2. Put the mixture into a piece of aluminium foil and roll into a cylinder shape. Refrigerate or freeze until solid. (Shown above)
   
3. Make incisions into the part-baked baguettes at 2 cm intervals to form pockets.
4. Remove the butter from the fridge, cut into 5mm slices and place a slice into each of the incisions.
5. Wrap in foil and bake in an oven pre-heated to 200 C for 5-10 minutes, or until golden brown.

It sounded quite simple, but I had problems inserting the butter into the incisions. :P Fingers nor nimble enough, haha. I managed to break the baguette in half accidentally, but decided to put it in the oven anyway. 10 minutes later, I was slightly disappointed, as it seems like I didn't put in enough butter into the incisions. The portions *with* the butter were really nice though, and the bread was soft and fluffy and warm. Oh well, never mind.

I tried another way with the second baguette. This time, I cut it into slices and placed the butter slices on top, before baking for 10 minutes. The results were better, the bread was fluffy and yellow with butter, haha, *but* it was also dry. The butter evaporated or something, or else drained off. The garlic taste was not quite enough, as a result, heh. Not really what I was looking for, but still good enough, I guess. (If you use this way, you can even put cheese on top of the slices! :D)

Now, thinking about it, I think an easier way would be to cut the baguette into incisions, but then just placing a lot of softened butter in it using a butter knife (instead of solid slices). It'll be easier to put it in, with a lower risk of breaking the baguette, haha. You can also put in as much butter as you want, which would be nice. :D AND the butter won't be dried out~! ;) I don't think I would be trying it anytime soon (too much bother, easier to just run to the supermarket, haha. Plus the price difference isn't big enough :P) but I might try it the next time I'm in Brunei, if I can find baguettes. :P

But anyway, if you ever try this, once you assemble the baguette, then just pop it in the freezer. That way, you can have fresh garlic bread whenever you want. :D

Quote of the day: I often put boiling water in the freezer. Then whenever I need boiling water, I simply defrost it.