Grade: A
Time it takes: 2 hours and 50 minutes (45 minutes prep, 1 hour and 45 minutes rest, 20 minutes cooking)
Yield: 10 knots
Source: Annie's Eats - a food blog (recipe)
Bread making is fun guys, try it sometime! Especially after you discover your grandma has a dough hook attachment for her kitchen aid =) I don't own the best kitchen appliance in the world (aka a kitchen aid) so I ninja my grandma's. I am use to making my bread doughs by hand, which really isn't that bad - it is good times getting your hands into the process. But, when you are making more than just bread it is nice to be able to dump your ingredients into a mixer and have it do the work for you while you are busy prepping and cooking other parts of the meal. That being said if you don't have one just insert a big bowl, a spoon and your hands for the dough hook attachment.
I really enjoyed these little bread wonders. They were soft, great for wiping up extra red sauce with, and tasty. A must have for pasta nights - I'm picturing these babies with a homemade lasagna sometime soon!
Tying the knots is not as hard as it looks; at least they were a tad bit intimidating to me, because I tried making garlic knots a good 8 years or so ago and the knot tying was most definitely fail. I got the hang of it after two knots and went to town making the rest. They look so nice when they come out of the oven, something you wouldn't be ashamed to serve to your company.
Click below to expand for the recipe!
- 3-4 cups bread flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast - you don't need to proof instant yeast, so make sure you get instant
- 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 cup and 2 tablespoons lukewarm water
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons melted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning, plus extra for sprinkling
Directions:
In the mixing bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment, combine 3 cups bread flour, sugar, instant yeast, and salt. Add the olive oil, milk and water. Mix until the ingredients have just formed into a dough. Switch to the dough hook attachment and knead at a low speed for about 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth. Touch the dough with your clean fingertips to test its stickiness while it is being kneaded, if the dough is too sticky add enough of the extra cup of bread flour until it is tacky enough to stick to your finger for just a second before pulling off. After you've got your smooth ball of just tacky enough dough, transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, turning to coat, and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Allow to rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
Plop the doubled dough out onto a clean kitchen counter lightly floured and divide into 10 equal pieces. I sliced the dough blob in half and eyed 5 equal pieces from each half...5 is easier than 10.
Roll each piece into a 10-inch long rope with your hands and tie into a knot.
Take each end of the knot and tuck it into the center. The end lying underneath is tucked into the top and the end sticking out of the top is tucked into the bottom.
Place your rolls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper - because parchment paper can go into the oven while wax paper cannot. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise for about 45 minutes, until big and puffy.
While the knots are rising, preheat the oven to 350 and make the garlic butter. Mix the minced garlic with the melted butter and Italian seasoning. When the knots are good and puffy, brush the garlic butter onto them. Sprinkle a little Italian seasoning on top of each knot.
Bake until set and lightly brown, about 20 minutes - rotating the baking sheet about half way if your oven doesn't distribute the heat evenly. I also brushed the rest of the garlic butter onto the knots when I rotated the sheet at 10 minutes, because who doesn't love garlic butter? Let cool slightly and then gobble them up!