Homemade Garlic Bread

Its an easy task to simply select one of the many varieties of frozen or ready-to-bake packages of garlic bread from your local supermarket. But haven't you ever wanted to make your own delicious bread straight out of the oven, seasoned just the way you like? The process is extremely simple, and your fresh, hot garlic bread will surely be the hit at the dinner table.

You can use almost any type of bread, but a long loaf of french bread is optimal. It does not matter if the bread is a few days old and getting hard, even a week old, as long as its been kept fresh in the fridge, because it will soften again during the baking process.

Slice open the french bread and set aside. You can pre-slice it into smaller serving-size pieces if you like. Before the next step, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Next, you will need either a food processor or a blender. You should have about a 3/4 cups worth of garlic. Whole garlic is best, but if you only have minced, cut the portion to just under 3/4 cup. However, if you are a garlic lover, feel free to add more.

Along with the garlic, put 4-5 tablespoons of butter, 3/4 cup olive oil, 3 tablespoons fresh oregano, and 1 tablespoon fresh basil into the blender or food processor. Dried herbs can be used if fresh ones are not available. Blend all the ingredients, making sure no large pieces of garlic remain if using whole garlic.

Next, using a butter knife, spread the mixture generously on the open slices of bread. If bread has been cut into pieces, then feel free to spread the mixture along all cut sides as well.

Line a pan with tin foil, and place the bread slices on the pan, buttered side up. Once the oven is preheated, place the pan in the oven for 8-12 minutes. At that time, you should see that the buttered side of the bread has begun to brown at the edges and slightly on top. Keep a watchful eye though. You don't want to overcook the bread.

Remove the bread from the over and prepare to serve. If you like a little more kick, add a pinch of cayenne pepper. Hopefully, you will find this bread already delicious, but feel free to experiment with the ingredient amounts to suit your own taste.

Any additional mixture makes a great marinade for grilled shrimp or fish!