Shirley’s Delicious Garlic Bread

 Try This Soft and Garlicky On The Inside And Crunchy On The Outside Garlic Bread!

My mother made this garlic bread to go with one of her Tuesday or Thursday night dinner specials, spaghetti with meat sauce.  Although my mother got the recipe for the meat sauce from her sister-in-law (and my aunt), Sally Hindes, my mother used her own recipe for garlic bread rather than making my Aunt Sally’s amazing garlic toast recipe.  We all loved my mother’s garlic bread in our house, but I know my father loved it best.  In fact, I think the reason my father enjoyed the spaghetti dinner in the first place was because of how much he adored the garlic bread.  My father ate this meal with his fork in one hand and a piece of garlic bread in the other.  When there was no more bread left, he was done eating.  How he loved his bread, and in this case his garlic bread!  I promise that if you try this recipe for garlic bread, your days of buying Pepperidge Farm Frozen Garlic Bread will be over!

• 1 loaf of Italian bread
• one stick of Fleischmann’s margarine or 1 stick of butter at room temperature
• good garlic powder (I use McKormick)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

Slice the bread once horizontally all the way through so that you have 2 halves.  Then spread a good amount of margarine or butter on each cut side of the bread.  Then sprinkle each side heavily with garlic powder.  Put the bread back together again.  Wrap the bread up in heavy-duty aluminum foil.  Make sure that you use a big enough piece of foil.  Place the bread right in the center of the foil.  Then bring up the foil on each side of the bread so that you can close the foil at the top of the bread.  This way, none of the margarine or butter can leak out of the aluminum foil package as it is baking.  Bake about 30-45 minutes until the bread is starting to get crunchy on the bottom. (I always check the bread after about 25 minutes to see if it is getting too brown.)  When it is done, take it out of the aluminum foil, and cut slices, and serve.

Variation for cheesy mozzarella garlic bread: 

After garlic bread has been cooking for about 30 minutes, take it out of the oven.  Unwrap it from the foil.  Then lay both sides cut side up on a half sheet pan or a cookie sheet that you have covered with foil.  Then sprinkle grated mozzarella cheese over the tops.  Use about 1- 8 oz. bag of grated whole milk mozzarella altogether- 4 oz. on each side.  Put back in the oven on a middle rack, and put the oven on broil.  Open the oven door after about 5 minutes.  What you want is to see the mozzarella cheese browning in little spots and bubbling.  It is done when it has those little brown spots all over.  Watch carefully to make sure the cheese doesn’t start to  burn.  Take out and serve when the cheese is browned and bubbly after about 5-7 minutes.