What is Garlic Bread?

I want you to take your mind far back to the hills of Tuscany in Italy, to a picturesque countryside with low hills and farmers toiling till dusk, in the late 1600s. It is here where the original ‘Garlic Bread’, came to form its roots in the Bruschetta that many Italian restaurants still serve on their menu. Bruschetta bread was served both as a hearty snack or meal for those doing hard manual labor, and to salvage bread that had gone stale, with a drizzle of olive oil, garlic and some wine, much like an old Italian proverb goes, ‘Day-old bread, month-old oil, and year-old wine’.

The modern garlic bread is a modification of bruschetta. It is believed that the recipe floated into the US with the influx of Italian immigrants. From its humble origins in Italy, today, garlic bread has become a global phenomenon, and versions of this bread can be found easily in any part of the world thanks to chains like Domino’s and Pizza Hut. As a toast to this rather delectable bread, I present below, my version of the Stuffed Cheesy Garlic bread recipe.

Why am I making the stuffed cheesy garlic bread recipe?

As much as I would want to say that the inspiration for this came to me, as the smell of freshly baked Italian food came drifting into my room one morning, the truth is far too humble and humorous instead.

With the pandemic at hand, I was missing an old friend from my college days. And as I recounted instances with her during my hostel days, I remembered how we would crave pizzas and specifically garlic bread and order it late night from Domino’s, while we burned the midnight oil trying to stay up and study. The taste of the bread in my memory was far too strong to help contain the foodie in me, and I just had to get working on the Stuffed Cheesy Garlic bread recipe that would help me relive those happy days and share them with you, after all, as they say. ‘food is the ingredient that binds us together’.

Let’s get straight to our Stuffed Cheesy garlic bread recipe then 🙂

Step by step Stuffed Cheesy Garlic Bread recipe

Ingredients

For bread

1. Maida/All-purpose flour – 2 bowls
2. Yeast – 1 tsp
3. Sugar – 1 tsp (dissolved in warm water)
4. Milk – 1 small bowl
5. Butter – 1 tsp
6. Salt – 1 tsp
7. Black Pepper – ¼ tsp
8. Italian Seasoning/Oregano – ½ tsp

For stuffing the garlic bread

1. Grated Garlic – 2 tsp
2. Melted Butter – 4 tsp
3. Coriander – 2-3 tsp 
4. Chopped Onion – 1
5. Chopped Capsicum – 1
6. Sweet Corns – ½ bowl
7. Grated Cheese – 1 bowl
8. Garlic Bread Seasoning/ Oregano – ¼ tsp

Procedure

1. Take 1 tsp sugar and dissolve it in slightly warm water (1/4 bowl) and add 1 tsp of yeast into it. Mix it and keep it aside for 10 minutes in a warm place.

2. Take 2 bowls of all-purpose flour and add ½ tsp of salt, ½ of oregano, black pepper and 1 tsp of butter to it. Mix it and add the risen yeast. Add milk if required. Knead it into soft dough.

3. Apply some oil/butter over the dough and keep it aside for 30-45 minutes after covering it with a cloth or lid. It will rise.

4. Take the dough after 45 minutes, punch and knead it again for 2-3 minutes.

5. Divide the kneaded dough in three equal parts and make a ball of each piece and roll it like a thick paratha.

6. Apply some butter mixed with grated garlic over it. Add chopped onions, capsicum, corns and grated cheese to it. Sprinkle some more seasoning as well. Add the stuffing only in one half of the bread.

7. Take half part of the garlic bread and cover it with the other half making a semi-circle. Seal the bread with your hands or by using a fork.

8. Grease the oven tray with oil or butter and place your garlic bread over it. Brush some butter, garlic and seasoning on the top of the bread and mark shallow cuts with a knife.

9. Pre-heat the oven for 10 minutes and place these prepared garlic breads into it. Bake it for about 20 minutes at 190 degree Celsius. Keep checking in between. You can give a milk wash too on the top of bread which will give it nice brown color.

10. Once your bread is done, apply some more butter on the top which will keep your garlic bread soft.

Enjoy your cheesy GARLIC BREAD with cheesy dip!

I hope you like the recipe and would try it on a lovely evening with tea, or simply as an appetizer with friends 🙂

If you liked this, then you should also try out the following appetizer recipes

1. Stuffed Chicken bun recipe
2. Honey Chilli Potato recipe

I’ll see you soon with another mouth watering recipe. Till then, stay safe and stay hungry.