The Extra Step For More Flavorful Homemade Garlic Knots
If you ever find yourself with extra dough scraps after making a pizza crust, you might want to consider giving those scraps a second life by making garlic knots. Invented in New York City as a way to prevent food waste, per Spoiled NYC, garlic knots can be topped with your favorite herbs, cheese, or oil. Unlike the crust of a pizza, these little babies have their name for a reason. They are traditionally topped with garlic butter or garlic oil, so they are rich in garlic flavor and can have a pleasant oily sheen that might leave you licking your fingers clean. You can dip garlic knots into your favorite sauces or eat them as they are hot from the oven. They're also perfect along side any Italian dish like meatballs in marinara or bucatini caccio e pepe.
While you can make garlic knots from pre-made dough that you buy at the store, they're even better when they're homemade and you can take a special extra step to give them an even better texture.
The proof is in the proofing
According to Simply Recipes, an essential step when making garlic knots is to let the dough proof twice. Here's how you do it. Once you have let your dough proof the first time and have rolled it out and cut it into small sections, you'll want to tie the bits of dough into knots. At this point, you'll place your knots onto a baking sheet or into a cast iron pan. After brushing your garlic butter, or garlic oil onto the knots, you'll top them with any kind of dried herb, cheese, or sliced pepperoni or salami you might choose to add. Next up, you'll want to let them proof for the second time. This is where the magic happens.
By allowing the dough to proof a second time before baking, the knots will puff up twice their size and this will give them a lighter and fluffier texture than if you just put them into the oven after assembling them, per Serious Eats. This step takes up to four hours, but the results will be well worth it. The good news is that after waiting those four hours for the dough to proof a second time, the knots will only need to cook for 25 to 30 minutes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Enjoy!