Home-made bread infused with roasted garlic

A few months ago, I found a garlic loaf in a supermarket and it blew my mind. Bread with chunks of garlic inside it? It’s genius, really. I found a recipe for it last week and decided to try my hand it. I don’t normally bake, as I prefer using the stove, but today I took that leap. I have never made bread myself before, and so I was a bit nervous. Luckily, it turned out absolutely delicious!

This recipe is based on Chew Out Loud’s version, but I made a few changes. I didn’t have any bread flour, but all purpose flour worked just as well. I also used mixed herbs instead of rosemary and oregano. I ate it with nothing but salad and then dipped it in a bit of truffle oil – just divine. It didn’t look quite as beautiful as the original version, but as it was gone after about 20 minutes, I didn’t really mind!

Allow at least 2 hours prep time so the dough can rise.

• 1½ tsp active dry yeast
• 1 cup (250ml) warm water
• 2 tsp white sugar
• 2 tsp fine salt
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2½ cups (300g) bread flour
• 2 tbsp dried mixed herbs
• ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 head of roasted garlic
• Extra olive oil for brushing on top
• Coarse sea salt for sprinkling on top

First things first, the garlic must be roasted. Take all the cloves from a head of garlic and peel them. Place them on a foil lined baking tray and roast for around 20-30 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius. Keep checking them and remove once they have turned golden brown and are soft to the touch.

In a large bowl, mix the yeast with the warm water, sugar and salt. Let it sit for about 10 minutes, then add the olive oil. Stir quickly and add the flour. Knead carefully in the bowl for 5-10 minutes (add a bit more flour if it gets too sticky) and then add the mixed herbs and black pepper. Knead again. Then add the roasted garlic pieces and integrate them into the dough, which should be coming together nicely and be slightly sticky.

Keep the dough in the bowl and add some olive oil. Make sure all the dough surface is covered in oil and then cover the bowl with cling film. Keep in a warm area until it doubles (around 1 hour).

After the dough has doubled, shape it into a loaf and put on a baking tray covered in grease paper. Cover it with the large bowl and let it rise again – it should double again in size (around 1 hour).

Finally, sprinkle the loaf with some sea salt and a bit more of the dried herbs. Bake at 190 degrees Celsius for 20-25 minutes. Take it out and sprinkle with a bit of water. Put back in the oven for another 5 minutes until the top is nice and golden.

Eat this bread with ANYTHING. It was just me and my flatmate eating this and we could hardly stop!

Enjoy 🙂