Pizza Style Garlic Confit Bread is a real crowd-pleaser. Good butter is mixed with fresh herbs, sundried tomato, cheese and, of course, garlic. But not your average roasted garlic, confited garlic instead. It provides a gentle garlic flavour, so don’t be afraid about your breath afterwards! It’s perfect as an appetiser or side to accompany your soups and salads, your choice, but in any case, it will knock your socks off.
Since I shared my garlic confit recipe you have asked me many times for ideas of how to use it, which unleashed my imagination. This week I already shared a recipe with garlic confit and this one is the second one. But don’t panic, I’ll take a pause after this one, I know that there are also some garlic-haters out there (by the way, if you want to remove the garlic from this recipe, I’m not going to judge you, the bread will be very good too, just double the amount of chopped herbs for flavour).
I called today’s garlic bread Pizza Style Garlic Confit Bread because I was inspired by pizza Margherita which has tomato, mozzarella cheese and oregano and/or basil. Instead of mozzarella, I have used provolone, simply because the day I started developing the recipe it was the melting cheese that I had at home, and I loved it. I have not added basil because I find that in the oven it loses a lot of aroma intensity (fresh basil is unbeatable though). But anyways, let’s get into the recipe details.
Pizza Style Garlic Confit Bread Ingredients
- Butter: it has to be soft to the touch so that we can mash it well with the fork.
- Garlic Confit: what would garlic bread be without garlic? But as I mentioned above, you can omit it if you don’t like garlic, because who doesn’t like a pizza-style toast?
- Chives: I love the fresh garlicky oniony touch it brings. It goes very well with garlic.
- Oregano: I use fresh oregano because now in spring it’s thriving in my urban herb garden, but you can use dried oregano. If using the latter, a heaped teaspoon will suffice, since it’s much more intense.
- Sundried Tomato: tomato is something that a Margherita pizza cannot miss, right? If you don’t have it, you can add a teaspoon of tomato paste or omit it, but I think it gives the bread a great touch, especially if it is sun-dried tomato preserved in oil with herbs.
- Provolone: it gives us the “cheese” element that melts and toasts at the same time. Another option would be to use low-moisture mozzarella.
- Parmesan: it combines very well with the sun-dried tomato and provides that characteristic saltiness and more cheese flavour than the provolone, which is very mild. If you have grana padano, you can definitely use it instead.
- Salt: it is better to always use unsalted butter and add salt to taste, so you control the exact amount :).
- Bread: I have used a classic quarter loaf (barra de cuarto in Spain), but you can use a baguette (you may have a bit of garlic butter leftovers in this case) or ciabatta bread for example.
What to Serve Garlic Confit Bread with
Garlic bread is not only a fantastic appetizer, but it is also a perfect side for soups and salads. Here you have some ideas to eat it with:
How to Store Garlic Bread
Most probably you won’t have any leftovers, since you can always bake the right amount of slices. However, if you do have some (like me the day I photographed the recipe, cause I was home alone all week and didn’t dare to gobble it up all at once) let me share what you could do.
Store it in an airtight container. If it’s not too hot, you can leave it at room temperature, otherwise, store it in the fridge. It lasts well for 4 days. To reheat it you have 2 options:
- In the oven, a couple of minutes at 200ºC and that’s it.
- In a pan, first on the side without any topping until it is crunchy, and then a few seconds on the cheese side.
Avoid the microwave though, as this softens the bread (unless you don’t mind it soft :P).
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I hydrate sundried tomatoes?
If you have sundried tomatoes as such, not preserved in oil, you can hydrate them very easily. Put the tomatoes you are going to use in a bowl, bring some water to a boil and pour it over the tomatoes. Let them soak for about 30 minutes or until you see that the tomatoes have become fleshy.
Can I use non-confited garlic?
You can use roasted garlic or you can even use raw garlic if you’re brave (I’d use a lot less of it though). A quick alternative if you have a microwave is to put the garlic cloves in a bowl, cover it (if you don’t have a microwave-safe lid, you can use plastic wrap) and microwave them at max power in 1-2 minute intervals until they are soft.
If you make this Pizza Style Garlic Confit Bread recipe, be sure to leave a comment and rate it. Hearing from you is everything! Oh, and don’t forget to tag me on Instagram, I absolutely love seeing your creations. Happy cooking!
Pizza Style Garlic Confit Bread
Ingredients
- 100 g butter - at room temperature, soft to the touch
- 10 cloves of garlic - confined (more or less cloves to taste, with 10 you get a mild garlic flavour). See notes.
- 1.5 tbsp chives - chopped
- 1.5 tbsp oregano - chopped. If you have dried oregano, use a heaped teaspoon
- 5 sundried tomatoes - preserved in olive oil or sundried as such and hydrated (see notes)
- A pinch of salt
- 50 g provolone - grated or low-moisture mozzarella
- Parmesan - or grana padano, to taste
- 1 loaf of bread - cut into 1 cm slices. The loaf can be a “barra de cuarto”, baguette, ciabatta bread… the one you like the most.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200ºC no fan (or 180ºC with fan).
- Prepare the garlic butter by mixing the butter with the garlic, chives, oregano, sundried tomatoes, provolone and a pinch of salt.
- Spread the butter over the slices of bread and transfer them onto a baking tray. The slices can touch each other they shouldn’t overlap. If necessary use more than one tray or bake in batches.
- Grate some Parmesan cheese over the slices and bake for about 10 minutes until the bread is toasted and the cheese is melted (take a look after 5 minutes, each oven is different). Enjoy!
Notes
- You can find the recipe for Garlic Confit on my website. You can swap it with roasted garlic or even raw garlic (in this case use less garlic). A quick alternative if you have a microwave is to put the garlic cloves in a bowl, cover it (if you don’t have a microwave-safe lid, you can use plastic wrap) and microwave them at max power in 1-2 minute intervals until they are soft.
- How to hydrate sundried tomatoes? Put the tomatoes in a bowl, bring some water to a boil and pour it over the tomatoes. Let them soak for about 30 minutes or until you see that the tomatoes have become fleshy.
Did you make this recipe?
Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and tag @paulasapron on Instagram and hashtag it #paulasapron.