These beautiful, soft little knots of dough are a perfect, simple bread that can be prepared with any pre-made (or homemade) pizza dough. I am a fan of making my own pizza dough, but sometimes, it’s easier to just buy the pre-packed stuff at Publix… They always have a bag full-o-dough in the bakery section, so I grabbed this up while Greg’s mom was in town. Garlic knots were ON my mind.
We have a little pizza place near our house that makes AMAZING garlic knots that you can order as an appetizer. Soft, garlic-y, tied-up dough… a perfect pre-course to a big ol’ slab of pizza. We had their pizza tonight actually, and it was awesome, as usual. New York style — my fav.
These garlic knots are based on Emeril’s recipe from foodnetwork.com. I left my dough out of the fridge for about an hour to let it rise a little before I rolled it out and formed the knots. Once you form the knots, cover with a kitchen towel, and let them do another round of rising.
I served this with Fusilli with Pork Sausage Ragu, and they were an awesome match. The dough was still soft and warm inside, and the butter/garlic/cheese mix on the top was the bomb.
After removing them from the oven, toss in a sautéed garlic/butter/Parmesan mix, and have one or three. Add some fresh herbs if you want.
- Let pizza dough rise about an hour after buying/making. Roll out dough into a large rectangle (about 16x12-inches). Brush with olive oil and cut in half. Then cut each half into 1 1/4-inch strips. Tie each strip into a knot and place on baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Sprinkle with salt, and cover with a kitchen towel for about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Saute butter and garlic over medium heat, and cook until garlic is fragrant ~ a few minutes.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes until bread starts to get golden and brown.
- Remove from oven. Add garlic/butter mixture and Parmesan to a big bowl. Toss garlic knots to coat with butter mix and cheese.