Making Garlic Bread: 5 BEST Bread Types You Can Use


Making your own garlic bread is so worth it, you get to choose how buttery it is and how much garlic to add to the butter depending on your own personal taste. Making garlic bread can be as simple or complicated as you want to make it.

You can buy plain bread and turn it into delicious garlic homemade garlic bread, or you can take it one step further and make your own bread too.

Here are the best types of bread you can use to make garlic bread, whether homemade or shop-bought:

  • Ciabatta loaves or rolls
  • French stick/baguette
  • Sourdough loaves
  • Focaccia or tear and share
  • Part-baked supermarket bread

Read on to see more tips about how you can create the best garlic bread – just how you like it!


How to make garlic butter for garlic bread

Before we get started on how to use different bread types to make garlic bread, I just want to quickly show you how to easily make garlic butter for homemade garlic bread.

You will need:

  • 100g softened butter
  • 1 medium garlic clove
  • tbsp chopped fresh parsley (flat-leaf or curly-leaf are both good)

A garlic crusher or a small grater.

Ingredients of garlic butter, garlic, butter and parsley

To make the garlic butter:

  • Place the softened butter in a small bowl.
  • Crush or grate the garlic into the bowl
  • Add the chopped parsley and stir

You can then either use the butter straight away or cover and store in the fridge until need it. If you’re planning on making garlic bread using a larger loaf, you may want to double the quantity.

Adjusting garlic content

Garlic cloves come in many sizes and in some cases, a large clove can be equal to the same amount of garlic of two or three small garlic cloves. For the purpose of this recipe, I would use a medium-sized clove.

If you like lots of garlic or you only like a little bit, then adjust the garlic amount accordingly. Experimenting with different amounts of garlic, will help you to find your perfect level and will help you know how much to use when you have garlic bread in the future.


Top tips!

You can use your garlic butter straight away, but if you’re not ready to use it, cover it up and keep it in the fridge until you’re ready to use it.

If you’re planning on making french stick style garlic bread, roll the butter into a thick sausage shape using cling film, seal the ends and chill. You can then simply slice the butter and slot it in between the precut bread slices.

If you have any spare garlic butter, it works really well melted over steak, mushrooms, some types of fish and giant prawns.

TIP: Not sure if you have all the necessary bread baking equipment at home? Check out my recommended picks below (Amazon links):


How to slice bread for garlic bread

If you want to make a full garlic loaf, the best way to slice it is in sections about 2cm wide depending on how big you want your slices. Using a bread knife, slice partway down through the loaf just over halfway down.

If you slice too far down the bread won’t stay together and you could lose most of your butter during baking.

You can then spread the butter generously between each cut or slide in slices of chilled butter (see top tips above).

Another option is slicing the bread all the way through and buttering the top of the bread, this option will result in a drier garlic bread which is quicker to cook. This option is good if you just want to make a small amount of garlic bread.


Making garlic bread using ciabatta

Ciabatta is a really good bread to use to make another version of garlic bread. Ciabatta is the Italian version of the French baguette, it has a nice airy texture which turns sponge-like on the inside when it soaks up the garlic butter and the addition of butter and extra baking creates a golden crispy crust.

You can use shop bought or homemade ciabatta, both will work well.

Because the bread will be baked again once filled with garlic butter, if you’re using homemade ciabatta it’s best to part bake the original bread so it doesn’t go too brown when it’s baked again. With shop-bought ciabatta, this isn’t really a problem because it generally has a lightly coloured crust, to begin with.

Slice the ciabatta as per the instructions above and fill generously with garlic butter and bake (see below for baking tips).

Find out how to make ciabatta via the link below:

Easy ciabatta recipe


Making garlic bread with a french stick/baguette

The baguette version of garlic bread is probably one of the most popular types. It’s perfect as a sharing side dish to pasta and other Italian dishes and is readily available in most supermarkets.

Slice the garlic bread (as above) and slot ready chilled slices of butter between each slice.

You can also slice on an angle to make attractive individual garlic bread slices.


Making garlic bread using sourdough bread

If you want to take garlic bread to the next level, then use sourdough for extra flavour and crispiness. Sourdough is a yeast-free artisan method of bread making, which is made using a slow fermentation process.

You can use all sorts of shapes of sourdough to make garlic bread, from small loaves to sourdough sticks.


Garlic focaccia and tear and share bread

Focaccia bread and tear and share bread can be made into garlic bread by drizzling melted garlic butter or dotting around pieces of butter so they can melt as they cook.

Garlic butter can be used as al alternative topping on focaccia bread or alternatively, follow the steps below to easily create garlic tear and share bread:

  • Make a basic white bread dough and rise the bread for at least an hour until doubled in size.
  • Divide the dough into ball-shaped buns and place them in a deep baking tray so that all the balls are touching.
  • Dot blobs of butter all over the dough and between any gaps so it drizzles down as it cooks. Prove the dough for at least an hour and then bake in the oven for half an hour or until golden brown.

Using part-baked bread to make garlic bread

The part-baked breadsticks you can buy in supermarkets are a great way to make quick and easy garlic bread.

Because they’re already part-baked they won’t overcook when you add the butter and bake them again. They also come in different shapes and sizes so you can make smaller or larger garlic bread depending on how much you want.

Follow the same instructions as a normal baguette (see above).


How to stop the butter leaking out of garlic bread

One of the main problems which you might experience when you make garlic bread is that all the butter drains out of the bread during baking and you end up with dry bread sitting in a pool of butter.

To get around this issue mould tin foil around the bread to capture the butter and hold it close the bread to retain moisture and flavour. You can also use baking parchment in the same way or a combination of both.

The bread can be served in the foil or paper so it can be dipped in any butter which has leaked out.


How to bake homemade garlic bread

Bake homemade garlic bread in a preheated oven at 200°C/392°F and bake for around 10-15 minutes (depending on the size of the bread) until the butter has melted and the crust of the bread is golden brown.


Freezing homemade garlic bread

Homemade garlic bread or shop bought garlic bread which has been sliced and buttered can be placed in a plastic bag and frozen.

When you’re ready to use the garlic bread remove it from the freezer and leave it to stand for an hour or two before baking as per the instructions above.

If the bread is still a bit frozen in the middle, make sure it’s cooked properly inside and the butter is fully melted before serving.


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I hope this post has helped to show you the different bread types you can use to make delicious homemade bread.

You might also like the following articles:

What makes ciabatta bread different from normal bread

Homemade breadsticks with camembert

Rachel Jones

Hi, I’m Rachel Jones, I’ve been baking bread for nearly 20 years now, and I’m excited to share my baking tricks with you at Loafy Bread. In the past, I baked on a professional level, but I no longer do that, because it’s physically exhausting! I still bake and cook all the time for my family and friends and to create new recipes for this site. Bread is in my genes, I was brought up on homemade bread and most of my close family are keen bakers, so my baking skills just happened naturally and have developed over time. Find more from Rachel Jones at weighschool.com where she helps visitors with food weights for cooking and calorie counting.

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