I recently realized that every time I try to write or talk about food it pretty much always breaks down into me ranting and raving about how amazing something was and how emotional it made me. I’m not really sure why food has such an effect on me but for as long as I can remember I have been moved by almost every aspect of cooking and eating. Maybe its because of memories associated with certain food items or the fact that even the smell of something can send you rushing back through those unique and irreplaceable moments of your life. I especially find joy in sharing my cooking with others. Obviously I love to cook, so to share my finished products with my friends and family is, for me, the easiest and most sincere way to show how much I value and love them. (I know, vooomit) Anyways, this week I couldn’t resist taking pictures of my roomies enjoying my latest cooking attempt. They all look so happy! Makes sense though…these knots were beyond unreal…

I saw this recipe a little while ago on some blogs I follow and decided I’d give it a try. Well, I don’t know if I can really express how freaking amazing these knots where. So soft! So fluffy! So delicious! And to top it all off…so easy! I figured my knots would come out horribly misshapen cause I’m pretty awful at making delicate baked goods look nice. But hey, they looked looovely and it was all easy enough to be done while watch Beetlejuice…and Ghostbusters…and Hocus Pocus…I’m a really big fan of Halloween movies.

The consistency of the dough pre-knead was pretty nasty and sticky so I wasn’t too excited about getting my hand all up in there. Also both of the recipes I read used stand mixers (lucky bastards) with a dough hook. Of course I don’t have a mixer or a dough hook so I decided to experiment. Instead of dumping it out onto my sketchy residence counter I kneaded in the bowl and used my fist as a dough hook (I took photos for yoooou cause I’m that nice). I just twisted my fist down into the dough then pulled up and out, basically hooking it on my hand and twisting it like a dough hook would. It worked surprisingly well and was quite fast. Soon I had transformed my sticky pile of flour, yeast, and water into a nice smooth ball of dough. I sat back to let it rise and enjoyed my various Halloween movies (there were so many! It was so great!) Once it had doubled it was time to separate and shape!

The first step here is to separate the dough into then pieces. Then you take one and roll it out into a piece about 8-10 inches long. Tie it into a knot then tuck the piece coming out of the top under and pull the piece coming out of the bottom over (look at the pictures people.) Throw them onto a greased baking sheet, cover them with plastic wrap, and let them rise for another 45 minutes. Make sure you do this step, it makes them so nice and fluffy! Check the difference:

After the second rise I mixed up some smashed garlic, italian seasoning, and olive oil then spooned it over the buns and threw them in the oven.

They went in for about 20 minutes and came out looking pretty damn sexy. They were ridiculously hot but I still tried to eat one. After burned fingers I decided to wait a little. I ate mine with marinara sauce. I recommend you do the same. I will without a doubt make this recipe again but I’ll probably tweak it a bit. It was nice having the garlic and herbs on top BUT I think it would be even nicer to have them mixed into the dough. I’ll give it a shot and let you know how that goes!

Garlic Knots

adapted from annie’s eats

For the dough

• 3 cups flour
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp dry active yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 cup lukewarm water

For the garlic oil

• 2 cloves of garlic, put through garlic press or finely chopped
• 2 tsp italian seasoning or whatever herbs you’d like
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 350ºF. To make dough mix flour, sugar, yeast and salt in a bowl. In other bowl or measuring cup mix water, milk and olive oil. Slowly add wet ingredients to dry, stirring while mixing. Once all the dry ingredients have been incorporated knead dough for about 8 minutes, until supple and smooth. Put dough into well oiled bowl and let rise for at least one hour or until doubled in size. Once dough has doubled, dump out of bowl and divide dough into ten equal pieces. Take each piece and roll out to 8-10 inches. Tie piece into a knot and tuck upper end of the dough under the knot, then pull the lower end of the dough over the top (look at the picture.) Once finished, place knots on a greased baking sheet, cover, and let rise for another 45 minutes. Meanwhile, chop or press garlic and mix with olive oil and seasoning. Once knots have risen spoon the garlic oil mixture over each knot. Place knots in the middle of the oven for about 15-20 minutes, turning the baking sheet halfway through the baking process. The knots are done when they have lightly browned. Remove from the oven and let sit for approx ten minutes before eating. Serve warm.