Garlic Knots

Made a pizza dough with equal proportion of All purpose flour and Wheat flour to enjoy it guilt free, used up half of this dough to make Garlic knots.
It was tough for me to take pictures of these as my family and also myself couldn't wait to enjoy these.
Quick toss of hot baked bread in a garlic infused oil & Parmesan cheese made our mouth water and the aroma of the same filled the whole house.

That's my eerie finger on top ;) 

If I had waited to take another pic, two of these would go missing hence thought to stop clicking. 

Ingredients 

If you are making pizza dough for the first time , its better to try staring it with All purpose flour alone for the best results. 

For the Dough

1 cup All purpose flour

1 cup Whole Wheat flour.

Yeast - 1 sachet of Active dry yeast, about 2 tsp.

Sugar - 1 table spoon

Olive Oil - 2 tablespoon ( or use vegetable oil) 

Warm water - 1/2 cup (or a little more , required to make a soft dough)  

For the Garlic Coating.

Olive oil or Butter - 3 table spoon 

Garlic - 4 to 5 cloves minced 

Parsley - 1/4 cup (I didn't have fresh Parsley ,I used Cilantro/coriander leaves or use any other herb you like or have in your kitchen like Oregano,Basil etc

Salt to taste 

Parmesan cheese - to sprinkle (Optional ) 

Method

* Mix the yeast and sugar in warm water and keep it for rising in a warm place, usually it happens within 10 minutes.(water shouldn't be hot) 

Just on time :) 

* Mix All purpose flour , wheat flour, 1 table spoon oil and salt , pour this yeast mixture to the flour and work with it to make a soft dough, Coat the dough with the rest of the Olive oil and keep it for rising in a warm place again , may take an hour to 1 and 1/2 hour.

Before and After 

* Punch'em down and then I used half of this dough , will use the other half the following days , store it in an air tight container or bag and refrigerate. 

* Roll'em to what ever shape , only thing is you need to get almost equal parts to make these knots, so I rolled'em to 1/4 inch thickness and then divided it with a knife to get equal quantity dough strips , like the following.

* Take each strips to make these in to knots. 

* Arrange these knots in a baking tray and keep for rising again for another 1/2 an hour to 1 hour , cover 'em with a wet kitchen towel or paper towel.  

 

* After an hour , brush these with milk (or egg wash - brush these with beaten egg white & water) this helps to give nice brown glaze on the outside after baking, this also prevents'em from drying.

* Preheat the oven to 400 degree F , bake these for 12 to 15 minutes , till the outside is nice and brown and of-course get fragrance of nice baked bread. 

*While these are baking , heat butter or olive oil in a pan , add the minced garlic saute for a few seconds then add chopped Parsley , I used coriander leaves , add salt to it and switch off the heat.

   

 * Coat the baked bread knots in this garlic oil , right from the oven. 

* Toss these again with Parmesan cheese (If using) and serve hot.

Enjoy !!

Notes : Since Yeast plays a major role in the making of Bread , it should be given all the comforts it needs to get activated and grow , ensure yeast is active that's by checking the water initially in which yeasts are mixed ,it should tend to rise , sometimes if the water is hot or if the outside temperature is cool , it may stay inactive then the bread wouldn't rise. 

Cheers

TN