This Ciabatta Garlic Bread is the garlic bread I make on a weekly basis. It's quick and easy to make and is oozing with delicious garlicky butter! A family favourite in my house this always flies off the table quicker than you can say ciabatta!
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You just can't beat homemade garlic bread, it's the perfect complement to any pasta dish, whether that's a tasty lasagne or Quorn Bolognese or lentil bolognese. Pasta and garlic bread go hand in hand!
This ciabatta garlic bread is exactly what you want from garlic bread, with crispy edges and delicious herb and garlic buttery middle. With just a few simple ingredients and a store-bought loaf of ciabatta, you can have this on the tables in under 30 minutes!
📝 What You'll Need
- Bread - I use a store-bought ciabatta loaf for this recipe. Most large supermarkets will have them in the bread aisle.
- Butter - Good quality real butter will give you the best results. I use salted butter.
- Herbs - Fresh parsley really is best for this, but f you don't have fresh parsley then you can use dried parsley
- Salt and Pepper - you will need just a small amount of salt and pepper here.
🥣 How To Make Ciabatta Garlic Bread
- Make the garlic butter - finely grate or chop the garlic and the parsley. Add the butter, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper to the butter and mix it together until you have a soft butter mixture.
2. Slice the ciabatta - use a bread knife to slice the ciabatta loaf in half lengthways
3. Butter the bread - Generously butter each half of the bread.
4. Bake - bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes.
👩🍳 Top Tips
- Make sure the butter is at room temperature, the butter should be soft. This will make it easier to mix the garlic and parsley into it and make it easier to spread.
- Use a serrated knife/ bread knife to slice the loaf in half. Try and get each half as even as possible if you can. This will ensure they cook at the same time and one side isn't too thin and crispy.
- Use fresh garlic. Fresh is definitely best for this recipe, any kind of lazy-style garlic is not going to work here.
- Don't be tempted to go overboard with the garlic! You might be thinking that more is more when it comes to garlic and that is often the case except here! This recipe really only needs 3 cloves of garlic, any more and it will be overpowering and less and well, is it even garlic bread then?
🍽 What to Serve with Garlic Bread
Garlic bread is great with almost all pasta dishes, we love it with my Red Pesto Pasta or my Broccoli Pasta Bake. It's also great with gnocchi, try it with my Gnocchi Bolognese Bake or my or my Pesto Gnocchi. I also like to have this garlic bread as a side dish to some of my favourite soups, like my Tortellini Soup or with my Minestrone.
🍞 More Bread Recipes
If you're looking for more bread recipes then try my White Soda Bread or my Brown Soda Bread. Both are great with soup or stews. If you have any leftover sourdough then try my Sourdough French Toast, this is such a great weekend breakfast! Or make your own homemade Sourdough Croutons, great for adding to soups or salads.
Ciabatta Garlic Bread
Ingredients
- 1 loaf of ciabatta bread my loaf weighed 270g
- 100 g / 1 stick of butter I used salted butter, at room temperature
- 3 cloves of garlic very finely grated or put through a garlic press
- 2 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley you can use curly parsley if you like
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170°C / 340F fan oven
- Add the butter to a small bowl, the garlic, 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley ¼ teaspoon of salt and ⅛ of a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper.Use a fork to mash the garlic and parsley into the butter. The butter should be soft and the garlic and parsley should be fully incorporated into the butter.
- Use a bread knife to cut the ciabatta loaf in half lengthways.Try and cut it down the middle, making sure you have two even parts.Butter both halves cut side up liberally with the garlic butter.Place the bread on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 10 - 12 minutes. Turn the tray halfway through cooking to ensure an even bake.
- The garlic bread is cooked once the edges of the bread are golden and crispy.Use a serrated or bread knife to cut the garlic bread into slices.
Notes
- Storage - Any leftovers can be stored on the countertop once wrapped in foil for up to 2 days.
- Can I freeze this? Yes, you can. Don't bake the bread. Place the halved pieces on a tray and transfer them to the freezer. Once the butter has hardened place a layer of baking paper/ parchment paper over the butter on each piece of bread. Place both pieces of bread back together then wrap well with cling film. Return to the freezer. Freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight then cook as per the baking instructions.
- Why Ciabatta bread? Ciabatta bread is perfect for garlic bread, it's quicker than using a baguette and there's no need for using foil. Ciabatta also has plenty of holes which act like little pools for that garlic butter to melt into too.
- Nutritional Information - all nutritional information shared is an estimate based on third-party calculations. If calorie count and/or nutritional values are important to you, we recommend putting the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary depending on which brands were used. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods and portion sizes per household.
- Weights and measurements - For US readers, I use Cuisipro measuring cups and spoons, and a Pyrex measuring jug for liquids. These are the industry standard. Cup/spoon volumes can differ from brand to brand, for accuracy, I recommend weighing all ingredients if possible for best results.
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