Cheats Home-Made Garlic Baguette

You're probably wondering how you can fake home-made garlic bread, aren't 'cha? Well, I'm here to show you but first I'll answer the WHY. WHY would anyone fake home-made garlic bread?

Well, in my opinion, home made, hand cooked, from scratch ... whatever you want to call it ... food is always about 700 bazillion times better than anything that comes in a packet or needs to be cooked in a microwave, or re-heated in an oven. 

On the other hand, let's be honest, garlic bread is never going to be the star of the show. The show, of course, being the meal. It's always a bit player a.k.a the side dish a.k.a. the thing that you'd quite like to be there but if it isn't, well, life goes on. So, I do the math and it doesn't seem logical to make home-made garlic bread from scratch to go on the side of a pasta dish which you absolutely have to make from scratch. But like I said earlier, home-made stuff is much better than non home-made stuff - yes, I'm aware that I'm going in circles but I'mma reach my point right about ... now - so how about mixing and matching the two. Part baked baguettes with home made garlic butter and voila, kinda sorta 'home-made' garlic baguette. 

For the how, check out my easy peasy recipe below.

Ingredients

2 part-baked baguettes (See below for a picture of the ones I used - from Sainsburys - but any will do)
60g unsalted butter, softened
3 cloves garlic, crushed or chopped finely
1/2 tsp salt
1 heaped tbsp finely chopped parsley

 1 - Pre-heat your oven according to the instructions on your part-bake baguette packet

2 - Put your butter into a bowl along with the garlic, salt and parsley. Mix well until the ingredients are well combined. Taste a teeny eensy bit to make sure there's enough salt

 3 - Cover and put aside for at least half an hour to allow the flavours to infuse the butter

 4 - About 20 minutes before you are ready to serve your garlic bread, slice approximately 6 diagonal cuts in each baguette - being careful not to slice all the way through - and spread the garlic butter generously on the baguette either side of the cut

 5 - Wet your hand under a running tap and rub a wet palm lightly all over your baguettes (if you like your bread crusty on the outside, skip this step)

 6 - Wrap baguette loosely in foil and bake in your pre-heated oven for the time stated on your baguette packet

 7 - When baked and still warm, rip into slices and serve