Garlic Knots

Garlic Knots are soft little rolls tied into a knot and brushed with garlic butter. They come out of the oven golden and smelling like a pizzeria, and they usually disappear before dinner makes it to the table. The dough is made from scratch, but it’s an easy one and the mixer does most of the work.

These are the rolls that come in a basket at an Italian restaurant, the ones you eat 4 of before your food arrives.

The dough is a basic soft yeast dough. Flour, water, butter, an egg, a bit of sugar and yeast. You mix it, let it rise for an hour, then roll it out and cut it into strips.

Then you tie each strip in a knot. That sounds fussier than it is. You make a loop and tuck the end through, like tying a shoelace and then giving up halfway.

The garlic butter goes on before they bake, so it soaks into the dough instead of sitting on top. Basil goes in with it, which is a small change that makes them taste less like garlic bread and more like something from a good kitchen.

They take about 2 hours start to finish, and most of that is the dough rising while you do something else.

If you don’t want to make the dough, don’t. Store bought pizza dough works and nobody will know.

Buy a 1 pound ball of refrigerated pizza dough. Let it sit on the counter for 30 minutes so it comes to room temperature, because cold dough fights you when you try to roll it.

Then roll it out, cut it into 12 to 15 strips, and pick up this recipe from the knotting step. Same butter, same bake time, same result. You skip the mixing and the rise, which takes the whole thing down to about 30 minutes.

The scratch dough is softer and a bit richer because of the egg and butter in it. The pizza dough version is chewier and faster. Both are good, and on a Tuesday I know which one I’d pick.

• Warm water (1 cup): Warm, not hot. If it’s too hot it kills the yeast. If you can hold a finger in it comfortably, it’s right.
• Active dry yeast (3 teaspoons): Goes into the warm water with the sugar first. Give it 10 minutes and it should look foamy on top. If nothing happens, the yeast is dead and you need new yeast.
• Sugar (1 tablespoon): Feeds the yeast and gives the knots a little color in the oven.
• All purpose flour (3¼ cups): Plain flour. Nothing special needed.
• Unsalted butter (2 tablespoons, softened, plus 2 tablespoons melted): Softened butter goes in the dough and makes it soft. Melted butter gets mixed with the garlic and brushed on top.
• Egg (1): Makes the dough richer and the crumb softer.
• Salt (1 teaspoon): Bread without salt tastes like nothing at all.
• Garlic (2 cloves, minced): Fresh, minced fine. Mixed into the melted butter.
• Fresh basil (1 tablespoon, chopped): This is what sets these apart from plain garlic knots. Fresh, not dried.

Start the yeast: Stir the 3 teaspoons yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar into the 1 cup warm water. Leave it 10 minutes until it looks foamy.

Make the dough: Add the 3¼ cups flour, 2 tablespoons softened butter, the egg and 1 teaspoon salt. Mix with a dough hook until it comes together into a smooth dough.

Let it rise: Cover the bowl and leave it somewhere warm for 1 to 2 hours, until it’s doubled in size. This is the part where you go do something else.

Roll it out: Heat the oven to 400°F. Tip the dough onto a floured counter and roll it to about ½ inch thick. Cut it into 15 strips.

Tie the knots: Take a strip, make a loop, and pull one end through the middle. Tuck the ends underneath. They don’t need to match. Lumpy knots are part of the look.

Butter them: Mix the 2 tablespoons melted butter with the minced garlic and chopped basil. Brush it over the knots.

Rest, then bake: Let them sit 10 minutes, then bake 9 to 12 minutes until golden on top.

Serve warm: They’re best in the first 20 minutes, which has never once been a problem in my house.

• Check your yeast is alive. Ten minutes in warm water and it should foam. No foam, no knots.
• Warm water, not hot. Hot water kills yeast. Comfortable to touch is the right temperature.
• Don’t add too much flour. The dough should be soft and slightly tacky. More flour makes drier, tougher knots.
• Let the dough actually double. An hour is a guide. In a cold kitchen it takes longer, so go by size and not by the clock.
• Mince the garlic fine. Big pieces sit on top and can catch and burn in the oven.
• Brush the butter on before baking. It soaks in rather than sitting on the surface.

Anything with sauce you’d want to mop up. Creamy Carbonara and Easy Beef Lasagna are the 2 I make them with most. The Best Lasagna and Baked Spaghetti work just as well, and Creamy Parmesan Spaghetti is a good one too.

Soup is the other obvious one. A bowl of Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup with a couple of these on the side is a whole dinner.

And a small bowl of warm marinara for dipping. Not optional, in my opinion.

If you want more bread on the table, Garlic Parmesan Skillet Rolls and Garlic Bread both belong in the same basket.

To make them ahead, shape the knots, cover them, and keep them in the fridge overnight. Take them out 30 minutes before baking so they lose the chill, then butter and bake as usual.

To store, keep baked knots in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Warm them in a 350°F oven for 5 minutes to bring them back. The microwave works but makes them chewy.

To freeze unbaked, shape them, freeze on a tray until solid, then bag them. They keep 2 to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight, let them come to room temperature, then butter and bake.

To freeze baked, cool completely and bag them. Reheat from frozen at 350°F for about 10 minutes.