Garlic bread is served with salads, Italian dishes such as spaghetti and lasagna, and pasta and chicken entrees. A quick way to make garlic bread is to spread your bread with butter, sprinkle on garlic powder and toast it in an oven. However, for the full flavor and benefits of garlic, melt garlic and make a spread. Melted garlic can be added to different types of ingredients for flavor variations. Start with fresh, whole garlic cloves.
Roast
Roast fresh garlic to melt garlic into a soft paste for spreading on bread or mixing with other ingredients to make garlic bread. Remove the papery outer covering of a head of garlic. Lay the garlic head sideways on a cutting board and cut off enough of the top to cut off the tips of the garlic cloves. Place the head of garlic in a glass baking dish and pour 1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil over the garlic cloves. Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil. Bake the cloves in a preheated oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour or for 45 minutes at 400 degrees.
Melted Garlic
When the garlic cloves are softened, remove them from the oven. Allow the cloves to cool until they are comfortable to touch. With a small paring knife, slit the skin of each clove of garlic and squeeze the melted garlic into a dish to add other ingredients, or squeeze the melted garlic directly onto bread, if desired. Melted garlic remains fresh in the refrigerator for several days when stored in a tightly-covered dish.
Saute
If you prefer to melt garlic on top of the stove instead of in the oven, saute garlic in a skillet. Pour 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil into a skillet and add three cloves of garlic, peeled and diced. Salt, pepper or other seasonings can be added if desired. Stir sizzling garlic for approximately 2 minutes or until softened but not brown. Saute-melted garlic can be added to butter or other ingredients for a garlic bread spread.
Garlic Bread Spread
Mix melted garlic into butter for a traditional garlic bread spread. Season with salt and pepper or herbs if desired. For low-fat garlic bread, blend melted garlic into creamed cheese. Other ingredients that combine well with melted garlic are Parmesan cheese, white cheese and even diced Roma tomatoes. Use crusty bread, such as French or Italian, cut into slices and spread with melted garlic spread. Texas toast is a thick-sliced white bread that also works well when spread with melted garlic and oven toasted.
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