Side

Garlic bread

Name: Garlic bread
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Australian
Ingredients: 1 French stick / baguette (about 60 cm); 125 g unsalted butter, softened; 2 tsp very finely minced fresh garlic (3–4 cloves, packed); ½ tsp cooking salt; 2 tsp finely chopped parsley (optional)

Serves 6 Prep 10 min Cook 15 min Total 25 min

This garlic bread recipe is written for Aussie home kitchens — australian leaning, supermarket ingredients, and timings that match a real weeknight rather than a studio set. As written it serves 6. Budget about 10 min to prep and 15 min to cook or bake, roughly 25 min all up, across 5 ingredients and 6 method steps. Shop first for French stick / baguette, unsalted butter and very finely minced fresh garlic; those ingredients do the heavy lifting for flavour and texture, while the rest of the list seasons, binds, or finishes the plate. One practical flag before you start: Use a basic supermarket French stick, not a thick artisan crust. The Notes section expands shopping, heat, texture, and leftovers so the page stays useful beyond a bare ingredient dump. Everything on this page is metric-first for Australia. If you are converting from cups on an old card, weigh flour, sugar, and butter whenever the ingredient line shows grams.

Ingredients

1 French stick / baguette (about 60 cm)
125 g unsalted butter, softened
2 tsp very finely minced fresh garlic (3–4 cloves, packed)
½ tsp cooking salt
2 tsp finely chopped parsley (optional)

Method

Heat oven to 200°C.
Cut the stick in half, then slice almost through at 2 cm intervals.
Mash butter, garlic, salt and parsley. Taste and adjust.
Spread garlic butter into every cut, then over the top and sides.
Wrap each half in foil. Bake 15 minutes until the crust is crisp.
Unwrap and serve hot.

Tip: Use a basic supermarket French stick, not a thick artisan crust. Fresh garlic, not jarred. Do not skimp on butter — 125 g is the point.

Notes

From our tested tip, expanded: Use a basic supermarket French stick, not a thick artisan crust. Fresh garlic, not jarred. Do not skimp on butter — 125 g is the point. Treat that as the non-negotiable. If something still feels off — too wet, too pale, too tight — adjust one variable at a time (heat, liquid, or bake time) rather than changing three things at once.
Before the heat goes on, line up French stick / baguette, unsalted butter and very finely minced fresh garlic and anything perishable from the list. Soften butter, bring eggs off the fridge if the method needs them room-temp, and preheat so you are not waiting mid-recipe. For a side cook of this size (6), a clear bench saves more time than any gadget.
Heat and timing: the method calls for 200°C. Fan-forced ovens run hotter and dry things faster — if your oven runs hot, check a few minutes early. Tray position matters: middle rack for even colour unless the recipe says otherwise. If you open the door a lot, add a minute or two back on.
Putting it together for Garlic bread: work clean, taste as you go, and do not rush browning or reduction steps if they appear in the method. If you are cooking for mixed diets, plate sauces and toppings separately where practical. Keep this page bookmarked if it becomes a household regular — we update wording when cooks report a confusing step. Metric consistency across Scoops & Dishes means once you trust the cups and scales here, breakfast through dessert behaves the same way.