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What is Garlic Toast?
Garlic toast, sometime called Texas toast, is a delicious variation on traditional garlic bread. It utilizes thick pieces of bread that are spread on both sides with a garlic butter mix and then broiled until they are crispy and light brown in color. Garlic bread is conversely made by using a half loaf of bread, typically French bread, that is spread with garlic butter. The convenience of garlic toast is that you can make smaller amounts, and may not need a whole or half loaf of bread if you’re just serving one or two people. It’s fair to state that it’s pretty hard not to eat at least a couple of slices in one sitting.
There are many different recipes for garlic toast. If you want a really simplified version, you can whip a little butter and pureed garlic or garlic powder together and just spread it on a piece of toast. You can additionally find premade garlic spreads for this purpose. It won’t have quite the crunch of broiled toast, but it can still be tasty.
In the more traditional manner, you should make garlic toast in the broiler. Garlic butter is a simple thing to make, especially if you have a food processor, since it eliminates the need to chop up the garlic. You must be attentive when broiling the toast, since the high heat can easily burn it to a crisp. Often you need just about a minute to brown each side.
If you’d like a slightly healthier version of garlic toast, you can make a variant of bruschetta, using thick bread instead of thinly sliced pieces of baguette. Instead of using butter, brush both sides of the bread lightly with olive oil. Once you’ve removed the bread from the broiler or toaster oven, use a clove of garlic and rub it onto each piece of toast. Don’t neglect the crust of the bread because you’ll produce even more garlicky flavor if you rub the garlic onto the crust. You can also garlic juice in spray form instead of a garlic clove.
Of course, nothing really compares with the rich and buttery taste of true garlic toast. Alternative recipes with lower fat content can be a decent substitute, but won’t quite have the same wonderfully luxurious taste. If you want to further vary the recipe, use different types of bread. Though thickly sliced white bread is a common choice, a thick hearty wheat, farmer’s style, or rye bread can make for an interesting change.
Discussion Comments
I've always loved good garlic toast. I like it with olive oil, garlic powder and red pepper flakes for some zip.
If I'm served garlic bread/toast at an Italian restaurant, the first thing that comes out is the red pepper flakes. They are so good on the bread!
Texas toast also makes great garlic toast because it's so thick. But any kind of bread will do for garlic toast.
One of the first things I made all by myself was garlic toast. I spread butter on the bread and sprinkled garlic powder on it, then put it in the oven.
Cajun chef Justin Wilson demonstrated garlic toast with the butter and garlic powder, but he also added Parmesan cheese and dried parsley. We loved it, so that became my go-to recipe.
If I have a really crusty bread, I will do the Italian trick of grating a raw garlic clove on the bread and then drizzling it with olive oil. That's yummy, too!
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