Garlic Knots

I love when friends come to visit me! Even more, I love when I know my friends well enough to know what they would like to eat without even asking. One such friend has been in town this week and came by yesterday for lunch. I was up early preparing lunch and desserts (yes, plural!).

There are a few lunch options when he visits, but knowing that lasagna tops the list, I made sure to make that a priority. The confusing part is that Peruvians like to eat rice with their meals and Americans enjoy bread, especially with Italian food. Sometimes I do serve lasagna with rice (weird, huh?) but yesterday I wanted to make bread to go along with it.

I had saved the perfect recipe from way back when a group of bakers put Garlic Knots all over the web one day. So in addition to the desserts and lasagna, Garlic Knots were also on the menu for the day.

Butterhorn Garlic Knots
Adapted from Pip in the City and Tartelette
Makes 10 knots

1/2 cup of whole milk
6 tablespoons of butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup of warm water (105F)
4 teaspoons of sugar, divided
2 teaspoons of active yeast
1 large egg, room temperature
3 1/2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of salt
1/4 cup of butter, melted
5 cloves garlic, minced finely

1. Heat whole milk and butter in the microwave for about 30 seconds, or until the butter melts. Let cool to 120F. Combine warm water, 2 teaspoons of sugar, and yeast in small bowl and let stand for 5 minutes.

2. In large bowl, beat egg and remaining sugar at low speed until blended. Beat in milk mixture. Gradually add 2 cups of the flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until blended smooth. Add yeast mixture, salt, and 1 cup of flour (1/2 cup at a time) and mix by hand. Turn this out onto a floured counter and knead in remaining flour and form into a dough ball. Place in a bowl, already covered with cooking spray, turning to coat completely. Cover bowl and let rise in a warm, draft free place until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.

3. Punch down dough, fold dough over in half and then half again. Cover bowl again and let rise again in same warm draft free place until double, about 1 hour. (I punched and turned another time to delay dough for the sake of space in my kitchen.) Follow the directions for making the knots as shown on the King Arthur website.

4. Cover and let rise until knots are doubled. Preheat oven to 375F Combine melted butter & minced garlic in a small bowl. Brush knots with melted butter and garlic and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Mmmm...we'll talk about the desserts next week.