garlic bread

Herbed Bread

/ Shane / Leave a comment

The first Friday of the month is reserved for recipes. You can see additional First Friday Food posts here.

The Reason:

This is the king of garlic breads. I have never tasted any other garlic bread with quite this combination of flavors. I could eat a whole loaf of this (and as a teenager, basically did).

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The Journey:

When I was in about 1st grade, someone brought this bread to school. My memory is a bit hazy on this, but I loved it SO MUCH, that I got them to give me the recipe.

This was before there was any such thing as “the Internet” where you can just “look up recipes” when you’re hungry, but despite living in this vast, unknowable future, I still make this bread from a recipe card written out in my mom’s handwriting like it’s the 1600s (note: I do not churn my own butter).

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The trick is to butter BOTH SIDES OF THE BREAD. Even if your wife is like, “Why does this take so much butter? Couldn’t you cut down on the butter a little bit?” You shout “Shut your mouth, hypothetical wife in this entirely hypothetical situation!” and then you just go ahead and make it with all the butter and hypothetically tell her you cut down on the butter even though you really didn’t.

(Either that, or you just cut down on the butter like she said and complain bitterly with every piece how there’s not going to be enough butter. Hypothetically.)

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The Verdict:

This is one of my all time favorite things to eat in the world, and I always requested it for my “birthday dinner” when I was a kid (along with lasagna). I could absolutely just eat a loaf of this as a meal, and I am very happy to finally share it with all of you.

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The Recipe:

Recipe from some kid in my 1st grade class.

  • 1 loaf Italian bread (whole wheat if you can get it)
  • 1/2 cup soft butter
  • 1 tsp. parsley flakes, plus more for topping
  • 1/4 tsp. dried oregano
  • 1/4 tsp dill weed
  • 1 clove garlic, minced, OR 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
  • grated Parmesan cheese for topping
  1. Preheat oven to 400.
  2. Cut loaf into approximately 1 inch slices and place on aluminum foil.
  3. Blend butter, parsley, oregano, dill and garlic.
  4. Spread on both sides of each slice, and spread any remaining mixture on the top
  5. Twist ends of aluminum foil, but leave the top open
  6. Top liberally with Parmesan cheese and parsley flakes
  7. Bake 10 minutes.