Recipe- Garlic Knots Are Amazing Snacks

There’s something about baking breads, something so fascinating and so exciting. I often think how amazing is the art of making bread, how you add yeast to flour and it results in a soft and beautiful bread. Of all the things I bake breads fascinate me the most. They are also most challenging for me, the first few times I tried baking bread I failed miserably. I had no clue how to use yeast, not that I’m an expert now but after several failed attempts and lots of reading I can now make at least the basic breads correctly.

Coming to breads there’s always a lot of kneading involved. But I tried not kneading the dough this time around and it actually resulted in a beautiful, soft bread. Now I’m wondering do we really need to knead that much for softer breads? Maybe we have to knead for different breads textures but for softer breads, doesn’t look like it! My crazy experiments will go on till I find an answer to this.

To make these gorgeous garlic knots first of all activate the yeast by mixing it with warm water. Stir to dissolve and leave for around 10 minutes till you see foam on top. This is called “proofing” the yeast. If there’s no froth that means your yeast is dead. Throw it away and start again. This step is important as this can make or break the recipe. All the hard work will go waste if the yeast is dead and you use that to knead your dough.

Ingredients

1.5 cups all purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon sugar
¾ cup warm water at 110-115F
1.5 teaspoon active dry yeast
4 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 large garlic cloves finely chopped
¼ cup fresh parsley finely chopped
garlic salt or regular salt

Method

* Proof the yeast by mixing it with warm water [100-115 F degrees]. Leave for 10 minutes till you see foam on top.

* To the warm water now add flour, oil, sugar, salt and mix till it comes together as a dough.

* Cover and keep in a warm place till the dough is doubled in volume. This may take 1-2 hours. There's no need to knead the dough.

* Once the dough has doubles, punch it to release the air.
Sprinkle flour on your working surface and using a rolling pin roll the dough into a rectangle of around 1/2 inch thickness.

* Cut strips using a sharp knife or pizza cutter. Tie each strip like you tie a knot.

* Brush with little olive oil, cover and keep in a warm place till the knots double in size. This make take 30-40 minutes or even more depending on the temperature at your place.

* Preheat the oven to 400 F degrees.

* Place the knots on the baking tray and bake for 12-15 minutes or till light golden brown in color. Do not over-bake. I baked mine for 12 minutes.

* While the knots are baking, melt the butter in a pan. Then add the chopped garlic and saute for 1-2 minutes. Add fresh chopped parsley and switch off the flame.

* Take out the baked knots and pour the butter-garlic mixture over them while they are still warm.

* Sprinkle some garlic salt (or regular salt) on top and serve immediately. These taste best when they are fresh out of the oven.