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Looking to take garlic bread to the next level? These garlic Parmesan swirls will fill the bill.
The Unboring Garlic Bread
Face it, as delicious as it is, garlic bread is rather ho-hum and a bit boring. So much so that it’s taken for granted when that bread basket full of it comes to the table on a pasta night.
Maybe it’s time to start thinking outside the box when t comes to it. Garlic Parmesan swirls is just the way to do this. Yes, it’s a little more involved than spreading a loaf of Italian bread with soft butter and garlic–and maybe a sprinkling of parsley–but it’s not that much more complicated.
Tips For Making Roll-Ups
Ideally, you want any kind of swirl or roll-up breads to be perfect. I always used a razor-sharp knife and a gentle sawing action since this seemed to cause the least damage. However, there was some slight squashing involved.
I forget where I read it now, but using dental floss is the answer to perfect buns every time. What you do is wrap the dental floss around the rolled-up dough, twist it and presto–a perfect portion. The dental floss solution also works for cutting cheesecakes and creamy stuff without lousing up the appearance.
There are two caveats here–use unflavored dental floss and use a bit of paper towel to hold the ends of the floss. The ends will get greasy so you need something to get a grip.
Timesaver tip: Frozen commercial bread dough (thawed) works very well if you don’t want to bother making your own.
Fresh Works Best
Fresh parsley and garlic work best in this. That’s the general case with any herb.
Flat-leaf Italian parsley has tons of flavor that’s lacking from it’s dehydrated counterpart. You want that flavor here.
And…there’s no way garlic powder is equal to the fresh. Avoid that at all costs!
The Recipe
Garlic Parmesan Swirls
Ingredients
- 4 - 4 1/4 cups flour
- 2 tbs sugar
- 1 pkg dry yeast or 2 1/4 tsp if loose
- 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup warm water
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 egg yolk
Filling:
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened
- 8 cloves garlic finely minced
- 1/3 cup fresh parsley finely chopped
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Lightly spray a 13 x 9-inch/33 x 23 cm pan with non-stick spray.
- Add 4 cups of flour, sugar, yeast and salt in a large bowl (use stand mixer bowl if using stand mixer); whisk to combine.
- If using a stand mixer, attach the dough hook and use the mixer bowl for the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the water, oil, eggs and egg yolk. With the mixer running, slowly add the water mixture. Let the machine knead the dough for 7-8 minutes. If the dough is sticking, add up to 1/4 cup of additional flour.
- If mixing by hand, slowly add the water mixture until a soft dough forms. If dough is too sticky, add up to 1/4 cup more flour. Knead for 7-8 minutes.
- Remove the dough from the bowl and lightly spray the entire bowl with non-stick spray. Return the dough to the bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for about 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled in bulk.
- To make the filling, mix all filling ingredients thoroughly. Set aside.
- Roll out the dough to a 24 x 10-inch/61 x 24-cm rectangle. Spread half the filling over the entire rectangle. Roll up tightly from the long side, seal seam and cut into 15 equal portions.
- Place the rolls in the prepared pan, 3 across and 5 down. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Bake rolls for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown.
- Remove from oven and immediately spread remaining filling over the rolls.
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