Bread is so good, there is an entire industry devoted to convincing you don’t want or need to eat it, but even the diet industrial complex is no match for wheat, water, yeast, and salt. Bread doesn’t need our help, but that doesn’t mean we can’t zhuzh it with a quick garlic rub.
I’m not talking about a garlic flavored spice rub, but the physical act of rubbing a halved raw garlic clove on a piece of bread—the crustier, the better. The sturdy crumb roughs up the cut surface of the pungent allium, imparting an even and gentle, but still detectable, foundation of flavor.
This trick works best on a bread with some heft to it. Try it on a piece of white sandwich bread, and the bread will tear, but a baguette has the gluten to stand up to a bit of massaging. If you’re worried about compromising the structure of your bread, you can always toast it first. (Toasted bread can really shred a garlic clove.)
Executing this little maneuver is easy. Peel a clove of garlic, and slice it in half, tip to base. Grab some crusty or toasted bread, and slice it as needed to expose the crumb. Rub the cut side of garlic on the crumb. You’ll know it’s “working” when you smell garlic, and the clove starts to look a little roughed up.
You can use this method to make an easy garlic bread (fry the bread in olive oil or butter, rub it with garlic, and season with salt), or rub it on a crusty Italian roll before piling on the cured meats. It’s also the easiest way to give your bruschetta, mushroom crostini, or avocado toast a hint of aggressive garlic flavor, before layering on the toppings. (Extra credit if one of those toppings is another form of garlic, like garlic confit.)