Garlic Knots

Garlic knots are lovely appetizers that most pizzerias would have in their shop.  These are actually the left over pizza dough so they do earn a lot of profit from the garlic knots.

I adapted this  Garlic Knots recipe from Martha Stewart.  I was  curious on how it really tastes...as you have known by now, my husband and I both love garlic and other spices in our food. I did a little bit of change though in the pizza dough.  I did not have enough time to buy one from IGA nor did I want the husband go there and get me a pack, so I decided to just make my own dough using the breadflour I have in the pantry.  Having a ready made pizza dough would make the job easier and quicker because I do not have to knead too much and wait for a long time before the dough would be ready for use.  I have also added parsley in the butter mixture.  You can actually replace the butter (for the coating) with olive oil. 

Ingredients

For the Dough
1 lb pizza dough or
           1 packet (7 g) of yeast dissolved in 3/4 cup of warm water
           1 3/4 c white breadflour mix
           1 tsp salt
           2 tsp sugar
           1 tbsp oil
all purpose flour (for dusting and shaping the dough)

For Coating the Knots
4 tbsp olive oil or 75 g butter
4 garlic cloves, minced or 1 1/2 tbsp ready made garlic minced (which I always use)
1/2 tsp salt
pepper
2 tsp parsley, McCormick

Procedure

For the Dough (If you are using the ready made pizza dough)
Roll out the dough in a lightly floured surface into a 16x10 inches size.  Cut with a pizza cutter or a sharp knife into 16 strips.  Tie each strip into a knot and place in a rimmed baking sheet. Brush with olive oil.

For the Dough (If you are making your own dough)
Dissolve the yeast into a 3/4 c hot water.  Let stand for 5 minutes.
Mix the dry ingredients of the dough in a big bowl. 
Make a well in the center.
Pour 1 tbsp olive oil into the well followed by the yeast water mixture.
Mix well using your flour dusted hands.
Knead for 5 minutes.
Form the dough into a ball.  Slightly coat with olive oil and cover the bowl with clingwrap.  Let rise in a room temperature until it doubles in size.

Divide the dough into two when already doubled in size.  Flatten each dough into a 5 inches long and a half an inch thick. 

Cut into strips with a width of 1 inch. 

Cut each strip into two and form a knot. 

Place the knots in a rimmed baking sheet ( you can put baking paper if you want). 

Brush with olive oil.

For Baking the Dough

Bake the knots for 15-20 minutes or until they become a bit brown in a preheated oven at 200C.

For the coating

Heat the olive oil or butter (if you prefer) in a saucepan together with garlic 1 tsp salt, and the herbs.

Brush the mixture onto the garlic knots.

Serve warm.

Note:  You can also add parmesan cheese or oregano or any herb that you like.
A comment or two will be appreciated...