Garlic Herb Swirl Bread

This bread is so delicious! It wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it would be, either. I made this bread to go along with chicken stuffed shells. The roasted garlic gives this bread an amazing flavor. If you’re not a big fan of garlic, no need to fret. Roasting the garlic gives it a more subtle and sweet flavor.

Roasted Garlic
-Preheat oven to 400°.
-Peel away the outer layers of the garlic bulb skin, leaving the skins of the individual cloves intact.
-Using a knife, cut off 1/4 to a 1/2 inch of the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic.
-Place the garlic heads in a baking pan; muffin pans work well for this purpose.
-Drizzle a couple teaspoons of olive oil over each head, using your fingers to make sure the garlic head is well coated.
-Cover with aluminum foil.
-Bake at 400°F for 30-35 minutes, or until the cloves feel soft when pressed.
-Allow the garlic to cool enough so you can touch it without burning yourself.
-Use a small small knife cut the skin slightly around each clove.
-Use a cocktail fork or your fingers to pull or squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins.

Source: Simply Recipes

Garlic Herb Swirl Bread
Ingredients:
3 ¼ cups bread flour, divided
1 tbsp. sugar
1 pkg. active dry or quick-rising yeast
½ tsp. salt
1 cup very warm water (115-125°)
2 tbsp. butter or margarine, softened or melted

For the filling:
4 tbsp. butter, softened
5-6 cloves roasted garlic
1 tsp. dried parsley
½ tsp. dried oregano
½ tsp. dried basil
¼ cup Parmesan cheese

Directions:
-In a large bowl or in the bowl of a heavy duty mixer combine 2 cups bread flour, sugar, yeast and salt.
-Add in water and butter/margarine and mix by hand or on low speed for 1 minute.
-Add in remaining flour ¼ cup at a time until the dough is moist but not sticky.
-Knead the dough for about 10 minutes by hand or with the dough hook on low to medium speed, until the dough is smooth and elastic.
-Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl and turn it over to coat with oil.
-Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 40-45 minutes.
-Grease a 9×5” loaf pan.
-Punch down the dough on a lightly floured surface.
-Roll the dough into a large rectangle no more than 9” wide.
-Combine butter, garlic, parsely, oregano, basil and Parmesan cheese in a small bowl and mix until well combined.
-Spread the butter mixture over the surface of the dough rectangle.
-Tightly roll up the dough into a cylinder shape, pinching and tucking ends to form a tight seal.
-Place seam side down in prepared loaf pan.
-Oil the surface of the loaf and cover loosely with a clean cloth.
-Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 20-45 minutes.
-Sprinkle the top of the loaf with Parmesan cheese if desired.
-Preheat the oven to 450°.
-Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350° and bake for about 30 minutes more.
-To prevent over-browning, cover with foil toward the end of baking if necessary.
-Bake until crust is golden brown and loaf sounds hollow when tapped.
-Transfer from pan to a cooling rack and let cool completely before slicing.

Source: Annie’s Eats (originally adapted from Amber’s Delectable Delights)