Garlic Bread: How to Win Dinner and Not Overwhelm People (with your breath)

I use garlic bread to bribe my kids to eat new foods, and also to make sure that they eat enough so they don't ask for a second dinner at 8pm.

We eat a lot of garlic bread, but I hate garlic breath. There's little I hate more than when I curl up with my kids for nighttime books and, even though everyone has brushed their teeth, I want to ask everyone to stop breathing because I cannot stand the smell.

This used to be a regular occurrence until I came up with a trick that makes garlic-bread- breath much less lethal and, frankly makes garlic bread even tastier: microwave your garlic! When you microwave the garlic with the butter it cooks the garlic a tiny bit, making it sweeter and less pungent. With this recipe for garlic bread you'll win dinner and your breath won't ruin the rest of your evening.

About Bread Choice:

I've found that a slightly less crusty (this does not mean soggy or floppy) baguette works best. The par backed ones (like they sell at Trader Joes) work well here, just make sure to finish baking your bread BEFORE you try to turn it into garlic bread. Do not try and substitute the high heat of the broiler for the actual baking of the bread.

About Cleanup:

For zero clean up you can line your sheetpan with tinfoil. I don't like to make extra waste, so I simply assemble my garlic bread on a cutting board then putt the bread on a pan to bake. This reduces the amount of butter and cheese that gets spilled on my pan.

Garlic Bread to Win Dinner

Time: 10 minutes. 1 baguette serves 8-10

Ingredients

1 baguette

1 stick of salted butter

3 medium cloves of garlic

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme (optional)

1 ounce (about 1/2 cup) finely shredded parmesan

black pepper to taste

STEP ONE

Position your oven rack about 6 inches away from the broiler. You can set it lower or higher, but then you'll have to really pay attention to cook time. Turn broiler to high to preheat.

STEP TWO

Carefully slice baguette in half and then cut it in half horizontally so you havel four open face sides of bread (see photo above). Set baguette aside.

STEP THREE

Cut stick of butter into 2 tablespoon chunks and put them in a microwave safe bowl. Crush or mince your garlic and add it to the butter. Cover your microwave safe bowl with plastic wrap or a small microwavable plate (to prevent butter spatter in the microwave). Microwave for 30 second bursts until butter is melted. Add dried oregano, dried thyme, and ground pepper to melted butter and garlic. Stir to combine.

STEP FOUR

Spoon butter mixture evenly over all four pieces of baguette. Next, sprinkle cheese evenly over top the bread. Place bread on a cookie sheet and put in the oven for about 2-3 minutes. Check on it after the first minute because time will vary depending on your broiler and the distance your garlic bread is from the heat. When the cheese melts and gets toasty on top remove from oven.

Allow to cool for 1 minute and then slice and serve immediately.