There’s a trick to cooking with the “Stinking Rose” (garlic) so that it tastes good but doesn’t overpower the meal, or repulse the people eating it. Counterintuitively, you just have to use more garlic. From garlic powder to whole cloves of garlic, if you use the strong flavor at every stage of cooking, it winds up balancing back into the rest of your meal.
That’s not to say you won’t have garlic breath; you just won’t have a surprised look on your face when you chomp down and are suddenly accosted by the taste of garlic.
I used this trick in a cheese, onion & garlic bread — these three ingredients balanced off the good ole flour & beer trick for bread making. Here’s the recipe:
Combine a half teaspoon of salt with 3-4 cups of flour and a teaspoon of garlic powder. Add a teaspoon of baking powder (Don’t have any on hand? Add a mix of club soda and lemon water to provide the bicarbonate base and the acidic flavor. The bread will have a different texture, but will cook just fine).
Pour a beer (I recommend your favorite wheat beer) into the dry mix and combine just until the liquid is absorbed, adding more flour if necessary.
Knead in 4-5 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped. Spread into a thick round on a lightly floured baking pan.
Top with thinly sliced onion, followed by fresh grated parmesan cheese (skip this ingredient for a vegan version — just add a bit more salt to the dough at the beginning to bring out the other flavors). You can flip your dough over and do the same on both sides to better infuse the flavors.
Bake at 450F for about 15-20 min, depending on how crusty you want the outside to be. The parmesan will turn a deep orange color about the time your bread is done baking.
Tagged: baking, beer bread, bread, easy bread, garlic, onion, parmesan, Vegan
