The Buttery Pastry That Will Transform Your Next Batch Of Garlic Bread
Making new dishes out of classic ingredients is a fun culinary trend that brings some of our favorite foods together to create tasty, elevated flavor profiles. Nobody is reinventing the egg, but cooks can develop new flavor combinations and techniques that yield real palate-pleasers. While some food hybrids are questionable (looking at you, donut burger), others are so good that you'll wonder why they weren't paired up before.
When it comes to baked goods and sweet treats, food hybrids abound. In 2008, cake pops hit the scene and inspired foodies to enjoy cake in a bite-sized, mobile format. Brookies combined rich brownies with classic cookies, and macaronuts paired delicate French macarons with donuts in reinvented treats that had us all busting out the mixer to try making our own. Perhaps the highest honor in the recent history of hybrid goodies goes to Dominique Ansel's frenzy-inducing Cronut® in all its buttery-sweet glory.
But there are also plenty of savory food combos for diners with a salt tooth. Chili on macaroni and cheese? Some say, "Yes, please." Spaghetti tacos combine two all-time favorite foods, while poultry fans flip for the turducken trifecta when they can't settle on just one bird. It's all about finding that perfect pairing that enhances the core flavors of each food when they are brought together — so you'd better believe there's a perfect pairing out there for garlic bread lovers, too.
Ditch the bread and use croissants instead
Cronuts® set the table for delectable goodies like cruffins (croissant muffins), cragels (croissant bagels), and crotillas (you get the idea), and there's a good reason that so many food hybrids are created with croissants. Though they're delicious on their own, when croissants bring their rich buttery flavor and delightfully flaky texture to dinner, magic happens.
Making homemade croissants requires patience and a time commitment. Still, that first bite of flaky golden crust surrounding a cloud-like, delicate interior makes each rolling pin-induced hand cramp worth it. Using quality butter and avoiding some common pitfalls will ensure French pastry perfection, leaving you time to come up with the next ideal croissant hybrid.
In the meantime, using croissants as a medium for the rich, piquant flavors of garlic and butter will make you question how a French loaf was ever the original base for garlic bread. Slicing your croissants length-wise opens up the delicate layers of the pastry that are enhanced when softened butter and spicy chopped garlic fill each crevice. A quick toast in the oven develops the rich, nutty flavor of butter and the spicy sweetness of garlic, while the croissants gain a bit of texture from an extra bake session. Feel free to add cheese, chopped herbs, and other ingredients that make it yours. The result is a batch of buttery garlic croissants that are a little bit sweet, a little bit savory, and all gone very soon.