Greek Garlic Bread

Oh golly. This bread is definitely an indulgence, but one that is well worth it. I knew I wanted garlic bread to go with a meal I was planning for some friends coming over, but with a Greek flavour to it. Essentially, this bread is saturated with an unholy amount of butter and spices and (of course) feta cheese, making it the perfect crunchy side for any meal. It can easily be prepared the night before to reduce meal prep time if needed. (Another idea would be to divide the bread in half before baking and freeze the other half in foil for another use - this bread is best fresh!)

It would be possible to vegan-ize this recipe by eliminating the feta cheese and either using vegan butter or simply brushing the loaf with 1/4 cup of olive oil combined with the other seasonings, if necessary. It would still be incredibly delicious!

I'm already looking forward to tweaking this recipe for other purposes in the future!

Greek Garlic Bread
Difficulty: easy
Author: Amanda
Serves: One loaf

Ingredients

• 1 unsliced loaf French bread (or similar, for example, two baguettes would work)
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• fresh cracked pepper, about 20 cranks
• zest of one lemon
• 1/4 cup finely crumbled feta (optional)

Directions
Slice loaf of bread lengthwise, like a hot dog bun. Mash spices and lemon zest with softened butter with a fork until well combined, and use a butter knife or spatula to spread half of the butter over each half of the loaf of bread. Sprinkle feta on one side of the bread. Wrap bread back together in tin foil and bake at 375F for approximately 20 minutes. Remove from foil, slice, and serve.

Step-by-Step Photos

Take the softened butter, and mash in the garlic powder, oregano, paprika, salt, fresh cracked pepper, and lemon zest with a fork. Adjust and add more seasoning if necessary. And try your hardest to not eat all the butter here because it will taste amazing and lemony.

Take your loaf of French bread (I even made this one myself from scratch!) and cut it like a big ol' hot dog bun. Spread the butter over both sides of the exposed bread and sprinkle feta on one side.

Place the bread back together and wrap it tightly up in foil. At this point you could put it in the fridge overnight before serving if needed. Or if you were only going to cook a portion of the bread at one time, cut the loaf in half (the other way) and wrap each half in foil individually. It can be kept in the freezer for a couple weeks if needed.

Bake at 375F for approximately 20 minutes - the butter will have soaked into the bread and made it super amazing, and the crust will have a bit of extra crunch. Once baked, remove from foil and slice on a cutting board.

Serve.