Homemade Garlic Knots

If you can't tell by what I've baked so far (garlic naan & garlic rosemary bread), I love garlic.  I swear, garlic and butter make everything better.  So when I started to feel myself getting bored yesterday, I decided that I needed to make garlic knots.

Honestly, these turned out a little bigger than I thought and I ended up freezing half of them, but between last night and today, we've eaten about 1/2 the ones in our fridge.  So I would definitely recommend making the whole recipe, even though 24 knots seems like a lot.  You'll thank me in the end.

These knots are light and fluffy on the inside with just a thin, crispy outer shell.  Oh, and topped with a TON of garlic butter to make them even more scrumptious.

Total Time: about 3 hours
Yields: 24 knots

Ingredients:
For the Knots:
4 tsp active dry yeast
2 cups warm water
2 tsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp salt
4 tbs olive oil
5 1/2 cups flour + about 1/2 cup flour for dusting

For the Garlic Butter:
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup olive oil
10 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
Optional: 2 tbs fresh parsley, finely chopped

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, add the yeast, warm water, and sugar  Allow to proof for  minutes until foamy.
2. Stir in the salt, olive oil, and 2 cups flour.  Once ingredients are incorporated, add 3 more cups flour and stir to combine.
3. Knead for 5-7 minutes, adding the last 1/2 cup of flour as you go.  The dough should be smooth and elastic and should not stick to your fingers (too much!).
4. Add olive oil to a large bowl and coat your dough ball with oil.  Allow to rise for 1 1/2 hours.
5. Once the dough has risen, punch it down and allow to rest for 10 additional minutes.  While the dough is resting, prepare 4 baking sheets with parchment paper or cooking spray.
6. Divide dough into 24 even pieces and roll into an 8 inch rope - it should be between 1/2 an inch and 1 inch thick.  Tie each rope into knots an place on the prepared baking sheet.
7. Cover with a clean towel and let rise for 45 minutes.  While the knots are rising, preheat oven to 425° F
8. Bake the rolls for 20-25 minutes, until the rolls are golden brown.  If using two racks, swap positions half-way through.
9. While the knots are in the oven, combine the olive oil, minced garlic, butter, and salt in a non-stick pan and cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes, until garlic is fragrant, but not browned.
10. When the knots come out of the oven, brush them 3-4 times with garlic butter mixture, allowing it to soak in between coats.
11. Enjoy while still warm!  But try not to eat them all 😀

 Make sure when you're proofing your yeast, you use a bowl that's big enough for all the flour.  

Once you've mixed in your flour and kneaded your dough, cover it with a thin layer of olive oil so it doesn't stick to the bowl.  Cover with a clean towel or cling film to rise.

Once it's risen, you'll punch the dough down and allow it to rise for an additional 10 minutes.  You can see in the photo below, the dough literally shows knuckle marks from where I punched it because it was so soft and fluffy!

Divide your dough into 24 even pieces.  This may take some time, but it's important that all your knots are about the same size so they'll bake at the same rate.

Once you've gotten your dough divided, roll it out into about 8" ropes and then tie into knots.

Tie them all up!

Here's what they should look like when they come out of the oven and get brushed with the garlic butter.  Make sure you get the bits of garlic on each knot and not just the butter!

The perfect bite.  Seriously, how could you resist?