Struggling with too much dough or rather the opposite is true? Check out this Garlic knots recipe that will solve both problems with a bow!

The kitchen is a wonderful place. It is the true birthplace of human creativity. Afterall, we wouldn’t need to do anything if the nourishment of our body wasn’t a priority. In essence the human race has done everything in fact still does to satisfy the basic human needs.

If we don’t count two of the modern age achievements, the WiFi and battery then there are five basic needs according to Abraham Maslow who was an early XX. Century psychologist.

The Maslow hierarchy of needs are organized into a pyramid with the basic, most essential needs being at the bottom and the rest building on the previous level going upward.

None of the needs on the upper levels are important or even exist until the needs underneath are not fully satisfied. Only after, we have fulfilled our needs on the given level let our brain step us up a level and pursue satisfaction on the new one.

Somewhat similarly to the tiny atoms that crave for electrons to complete their outer shells to be in harmony with themselves. Not many can do it on their own. Apart from a few noble gases most of them have to team up with other atoms and create a bond to be as one whole.

How fascinating is that the life we live, is governed by the tiny invisible forces of nature and all of the decisions we make are underpinned by atoms pursuing electrons in the hope of perfection.

But back to Maslow now. Food is at the bottom of the pyramid among the most important aspects of human needs, getting creative with it, needs four more steps to climb. We can’t reach our full potential without first satisfying our physiological and psychological needs.

That completely makes sense. Just imagine who would take the risks of experimenting with new flavors and ingredients when there is no abundance of food available. Equally no-one would cook up something hardly edible if there was a chance of getting beaten for it or cast out of the family entirely.

Doing something new always requires a certain level of confidence in ourselves. The feeling that we have achieved something propels us to explore new ways around us that needs to be trodden and explored.

This is why garlic knots have come to life or rather baked to life, not so long ago. Garlic knots are the brainchild of Amir Zamani from Ozone Park Queens.
Nowadays, it sounds unbelievable but before 1973 pizza dough scraps were thrown away contributing nothing to the pizza industry but waste. When the first knot was made then dipped in a garlic sauce everything was changed forever.

Garlic knots are now common items in pizzerias slowly carving out a special corner in the heart of pastry fans as it is not only can be brushed with garlic and oil but all sorts of herbs and spices too, making them truly stepping out of the shadow of pizza.

Our garlic knot recipe goes a bit further in seasoning the knots by applying a folding technique used with the croissants and fluffy cheese biscuits as well, providing a more intensive flavor profile.

As originally garlic knots were made from leftover pizza dough the best time is to make them when we prepare pizza or in fact any other yeast dough but of course we can make them just for the sake of it.

Pizza knots can be enjoyed as snack, accompanying some cheese, act as sandwiches or best of all dunk them into stew or soup.

Ingredients

Dough

7 cups / 850g All purpose flour
1 teaspoon / 5g Fresh yeast
2½ cups / 600g Lukewarm Water
¾ oz / 20g Extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoon / 10g Salt

Filling

4 cloves / 16g Garlic (pureed or diced)
4 tablespoon / 50g Butter
1 tablespoon / 15g Basil (freshly diced)
1 tablespoon / 15g Oregano (freshly diced)
2 teaspoons / 10g Table salt

Topping

1 clove / 3g Garlic (pureed or diced)
1 teaspoon / 3g Basil (freshly diced)
1 teaspoon / 3g Oregano (freshly diced)
1 teaspoon / 5g Table salt

If in doubt check out: How to bake with yeast.

Dough

Measure flour into a kneading bowl and sprinkle fresh yeast on top. No need to dissolve the yeast.
Pour in the olive oil and at least half of the water.
Knead the dough until it comes together gradually adding the remaining water and the salt. We are after a sticky humid dough as we are going to bake the dough in a low temperature home oven. Flouring our hand will prevent the dough to stick to it.
Cover the dough and place it to a 68°F – 81°F / 20°C – 27°C corner to raise.
It could take anything from 40 – 90 minutes depending on the temperature to double in size.

Filling

Crush or dice up the garlic.
Mix the garlic with the room temperature butter and the rest of the filling ingredients in a small bowl.

Cover

Prepare an egg wash by beating up an egg with a crushed garlic, basil, oregano and salt.

Assembly

After an hour waiting take dough out of the bowl onto a well-floured work surface. Roll it into a square. Flouring underneath the dough is important as this coating will prevent it to stick down.
Spread the butter with the herbs onto half of the dough.
Fold it in half so the butter creates a layer between the dough.
Then fold it again horizontally.
Leave it in a warm place under a kitchen towel for another 20 minutes.
After about 20 minutes when the dough have risen somewhat. Put it on a well-floured work surface to roll it in an approximately 10″ x 10″ / 30cm x 30cm square.
Cut about 1″ / 2cm wide stripes. Before cutting up the whole dough experiment with sizes. Find the length and with that is comfortable to make knots with.
Make knots out of the stripe and place roll into the the baking tray.
Give an egg wash to each roll before putting tray into the preheated oven.
If making knots gets boring just twist the stripes and make garlic twists.
Place the dough on the upper medium rack of a preheated 480°F / 250°C oven until golden brown spots start to appear on top, for about 10 – 15 minutes.