Garlic Knots
Pillow-soft light and airy bread strips tied in knot shapes and slathered with garlic flavoured butter - it's indeed a classic snack!
Servings 15 knots
Ingredients
Bread Dough
- 420 g all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp caster sugar
- 2 tsp Instant dried yeast - 1 packet equivalent
- 240 ml lukewarm water
- 30 g unsalted butter softened at room temperature - or replace with 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
Topping
- 100 g unsalted butter
- 5-6 cloves of garlic - minced or finely chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh basil or coriander - finely chopped
- pinch salt
- 1 tbsp Italian Seasoning
Instructions
Preparing the dough
- Activate the yeast - take the lukewarm water in a small bowl or a mug, add 1 tbsp of sugar, sprinkle the yeast and mix. Let it rest for 10 minutes. The yeast will start getting frothy and bubbles will come up. (If this doesn’t happen, your yeast has either expired or the water is too hot).
- In a large bowl, sift your dry ingredients - flour, 1 tbsp of sugar and salt.
- Add the activated yeast mixture and butter/oil to your dry ingredients. Mix with a wooden spoon till you get a shaggy dough.
- Transfer everything to a clean surface and knead it for about 10 minutes till you get a soft and elastic dough. You can use your stand mixer with dough hook attachment as well for this.
- Put the dough into a well-oiled bowl and cover with cling wrap and a clean kitchen towel. Let it rest for 60-90 minutes in a warm dry place till it doubles in size. (I keep mine in a switched-off microwave oven).
Preparing the knots
- Once the dough has proofed, punch it in the bowl to remove the air and take it out on a clean surface.
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper and keep aside.
- Cut 16 equal portions (about 40 grams each). You can either weigh them out, or form a long log of the dough and cut into half and each piece into half till you have 16 pieces.
- Gently stretch each portion into a long thin strip (about 7-8 inches long). Tie each strip into a knot. Place the knots on the baking tray with enough space in between for them to grow. You can pinch the ends slightly or tuck them in the bottom.
- Cover the tray with cling film or a clean kitchen towel and leave it for second proofing of about 30 minutes. They should double in size.
Prepare the topping
- In a small bowl, mix the melted butter with minced garlic, Italian seasoning and finely chopped herbs. Keep aside.
Final Baking
- Preheat the oven to 200°C. Gently slather half of the butter-garlic mixture on each of the knots with a pastry brush.
- Bake the knots at 200°C for 18-20 minutes till they turn golden brown. Remove the pan from oven and spread the remaining butter on each knot.
- Let the garlic knots cool down for about 10 min on the baking tray. Remove and cool them completely on a wire rack. They taste best when warm.
- Garlic knots should ideally be consumed on the same day or at max the next day. You can freeze the leftovers for about 6-8 weeks - heat them up in an oven for few minutes after defrosting.