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Swirled Garlic Bread offers rich flavor, a soft, inviting texture, and an aroma that fills the room, igniting immediate cravings. When you’re looking for something more impressive than the usual French bread with garlic butter, this delightfully swirled, garlicky loaf, with layers of flavorful garlic butter baked right in, is the answer.
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It's not just the best garlic bread, but something really special—soft, aromatic, visually stunning, and loaded with garlic flavor, adding an artisan touch to a meal.
Swirled Garlic Bread doesn't just taste amazing, it’s also really satisfying to make. Rolling it out, swirling the ropes of dough together, and forming the sensuous swirl is a soothing process, especially when you know you're making a dish that's bound to get rave reviews. Why settle for average when creating something this special is so doable?
Why You'll Love This Homemade Garlic Bread
The true genius of this bread is its layers—swirls of garlic and parsley kneaded into a soft, pillowy dough. When you pull it apart, what you get is not just a piece of bread; it's an aromatic burst of flavor. It makes everything from spaghetti to a humble bowl of soup feel like an occasion.
And it’s hard to believe, but this recipe only has seven ingredients! You may very well have everything you need to make it in your kitchen right now.
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Ingredients You Need
This bread only requires seven ingredients, making it an easy one to whip up on short notice. Here’s what you need.
- Self-rising flour: It already has the baking powder and salt mixed in, so it's a shortcut without any downside.
- Dry yeast: Look for quick-rise or instant yeast for a faster rise.
- Kosher salt: A cleaner flavor that enhances the bread without overpowering it.
- Buttermilk: Adds a slight tang and keeps the bread moist. If you don’t have buttermilk, you can approximate a substitute by combining 1 cup of milk with 1 teaspoon of either vinegar or lemon juice and letting it stand for about 10 minutes.
- Unsalted butter: At room temperature, for that luscious, buttery flavor.
- Garlic: Fresh garlic is essential for flavoring this loaf. Don't be tempted to substitute garlic powder as it won't be nearly as aromatic or delicious.
- Fresh parsley: Skip the dried stuff and go fresh. It adds freshness and a beautiful splash of color to your bread.
For even more flavor, you could add grated Parmesan cheese, smoked paprika, Italian seasoning, cracked black pepper, red pepper flakes, or other seasonings to the filling mixture.
How to Make The Best Garlic Bread Ever
Here's a simplified rundown of the process of how to make this garlic bread recipe, just to give you an idea of what you're getting into:
- Combine the dry ingredients.
- Mix in the buttermilk and a little of the softened butter.
- Let the dough rise for about an hour.
- Preheat the oven and roll out the dough.
- Mash the remaining butter, garlic, and parsley together to make the filling.
- Spread the filling mixture over the dough evenly.
- Roll the dough up into a log, cut the log in half lengthwise down the middle, and twist into that iconic swirl.
- Bake the bread until golden brown, then cool on a wire rack.
What to Serve With It
Not only is this the best garlic bread recipe, but it is also extremely versatile. It's delicious on its own as a snack, or you can pair it with a variety of dishes.
Serve it alongside meats like porchetta, lamb chops, air fried whole chicken, Instant Pot duck confit, or even a Thanksgiving turkey or a Christmas ham. And grilled meat or fish, too, like grilled flank steak.
It is a perfect match for saucy pasta dishes or any dish with a sauce or gravy that begs to be mopped up. Or hearty soups, too, as this bread is perfect for dunking. Think roasted tomato soup, stuffed pepper soup, or chicken pot pie soup.
Swirled Garlic Bread
Robin Donovan
Ingredients
- 2 cups self-rising flour
- 1 tablespoon dry yeast
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature, divided
- 3 garlic cloves
- 6 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
Instructions
- In a medium bowl mix together the flour, yeast, and salt.
- Add the buttermilk and 1 tablespoon of the butter and mix, using a wooden spoon, until the dough comes together in a ball. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with a clean dishtowel, and set it it in a warm spot on the countertop to rise for about 1 hour.
- When the dough has doubled in size, preheat oven to 350°F (177°C) and turn it out onto a lightly floured board and use a rolling pin to roll it out into a 16-by-10-inch rectangle.
- In a small bowl, combine the remaining butter with the minced garlic and parsley, mashing the garlic and parsley into the butter with a fork.
- Spread the garlic butter mixture onto the dough in an even layer, covering the entire thing but for about ½ to inch around the edges.
- Starting from one of the long sides, roll the dough into a log. Cut the log in half down the middle to form 2 long pieces. With the cut sides facing up, wind the two pieces together and then turn the ends in to form a tight S (see photos). Transfer the dough to a loaf pan.
- Bake for 35 minutes, until the top is a deep golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.
I’m a garlic lover so this is my kind of recipe! Great way to take a side to the next level!
What size loaf pan was used? I want to try this!
What size loaf pan?
I’ve posted this question 3 times now; it keeps disa
Just a standard loaf pan—8 ½ by 4 ½ or 9 x 5.
I grew up in an Italian family and garlic bread was a favorite. I am definitely making this for family and friends. You can’t go wrong making recipes with garlic. Thanks for all your great recipes.
Being Italian I love garlic bread. It goes with most foods and it is fantastic. Your recipe is awesome and I will be making it a lot. I am thinking of making it for Christmas presents. Thank you for all your great recipes.
Does the pan need to begreased, or lined with parchment paper, or both, or neither?
Also, a list of ingredients by weight (preferably metric) would be helpful.