Garlic Bread

Try to get just one small loaf of French or Italian bread – something like a hoagie roll. Check the prices, though. Sometimes that single roll can cost as much as a whole loaf of bread! To save some time, you can serve the loaf whole and cold and you can each butter your own at the table.

If you want crispy garlic bread, cut it in half horizontally, so you have two flat thin pieces. Butter the cut side of each piece and place the two halves, cut side up, on a broiler-proof baking sheet and bake it at 350 for about 10 minutes. Then broil it for a couple of minutes, until the edges become crispy. You can put some Parmesan cheese on it before broiling it, if you want to. Or don’t broil it, and just leave it in the oven a bit longer. It won’t be quite as crunchy, but still good. Cut in 1” thick slices. If you have any leftover, it makes great croutons for a salad.

If you like your garlic bread nice and soft, cut the loaf into 1” thick slices, cutting most of the way through but quite to the bottom. (If you goof and cut all the way through, it won’t hurt anything. In fact, it will be easier to get the slices apart when it comes time to eat it.) Butter one side of each slice with the garlic butter, then wrap it up in foil. Heat it at 350 for about 15 minutes. Open the foil as soon as you take it out of the oven or it will get soggy.