Martha Stewart Just Cracked the Code to Making the Perfect Garlic Bread

Pizza, wings, and breadsticks. When it comes to takeout food, they are the holy trinity for any party, tailgate or sporting event. Add to this trinity a carbonated beverage, and you’re now stepping into the world of premier pizzeria combo deals that will up the excitement level to any late night or early evening plans. The combo usually goes undefeated, but what do you do when one of the essential corners of the trio are lacking?

I often find myself with a tough decision to make because the two local spots with the best pizza don’t share in also have the best wings and breadsticks — or in my case, garlic knots. My favorite pizza spot has terrible wings, but excellent garlic knots. While my second favorite pizza spot has incredible wings, but horrible garlic knots. As such, I find myself in a consistent conundrum. Do I sacrifice the garlic knots for good wings or sacrifice the wings for good garlic knots? I face this dilemma more often than I’d like and have often thought to myself: How hard could it be to make my own garlic knots?

Well thanks to this post by Martha Stewart's magazine, my question has been answered, and this problem is now solved. This simple yet delicious looking recipe for Mozzarella-Stuffed Garlic-and-Herb Bread aims to be a surefire winner. And with football season in full swing, it couldn’t have come at a better time.

Get the recipe: Martha Stewart's Mozzarella-Stuffed Garlic-and-Herb Bread

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Ingredients for Martha Stewart's Mozzarella-Stuffed Garlic-and-Herb Bread

To get started on this garlic bread that's reminiscent of a stuffed crust pizza, you’ll need a few ingredients: ready-made dough, thinly sliced low-moisture mozzarella, olive oil, finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, minced garlic, Italian seasoning, finely chopped parsley, red pepper flakes, sesame seeds, and some (optional) warm marinara of your choice on the side.

How to Make Martha Stewart's Mozzarella-Stuffed Garlic-and-Herb Bread

Start by preheating your oven to 450°F. Take your ready-made dough (I grabbed mine from the Publix bakery) and cover it with an even coat of olive oil. Punch down your dough and cut it in half. In my case, the dough was already punched down and only needed to be covered in oil and cut in half. Using one half of your dough, stretch and work it out until it's in the shape of an oval and measures about 9 to 13 inches long.

Using more olive oil, brush about two tablespoons across a rimmed baking sheet. Place your first piece of dough on the sheet and top it evenly with your sliced mozzarella. As a tip, you’ll want to create a 1-inch border around the edges. This will come in handy during the next step.

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After your mozzarella is in place on the first piece of dough, take the second piece and stretch it into the same shape as the first and top it. Gently press out all the excess air between the pieces. For best results, fold the edges of the bottom dough over top of the edges of the top dough, and pinch them together in a sealing fashion. Sprinkle an even layer of Parmigiano on top and drizzle on more olive oil, about 2 tablespoons.

Finally, mix together your garlic, Italian seasoning, parsley, red-pepper flakes and sesame seeds, before sprinkling evenly across the dough. Make several cuts — about two-inches apart — throughout the top of the dough so that steam may vent through while cooking. Then, place the bread in the oven for 18-20 minutes.

After baking, transfer the bread to a cooling wire rack and let rest for a few minutes. Now you’re ready to slice and serve up your very own mozzarella-stuffed garlic-and-herb bread! Eat it as is, or try pairing it alongside some warm marinara sauce for a complete restaurant experience.

What I Thought of Martha Stewart's Mozzarella-Stuffed Garlic-and-Herb Bread

My honest thoughts on this stuffed garlic and herb bread are that it’s better than any garlic bread I’ve ever had from any national pizza chain. It’s really that good!

The bread had the right amount of crispiness, chewiness, softness, and cheesiness. It was quite delicious and could easily be eaten throughout the course of a day. I had my first piece with breakfast and doubled back for seconds at lunch.

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I think the addition of the freshly mixed seasonings is what really takes this bread to the next level. Sticking to the recipe is great, but adding a bit more of your favorite seasonings is what really gets this bread fine-tuned to your liking.

3 Tips for Making Martha Stewart's Mozzarella-Stuffed Garlic-and-Herb Bread

1. Buy the ready-made dough. The best time saving tip that will help you reduce your prep time and cut down on the mess in the kitchen is to buy a ready-made pizza dough from your local bakery. In my case, the ready-made dough was already flattened and folded, so it saved me the hassle of creating my dough from scratch and sending plumes of flour throughout my kitchen.

2. Make sure you have a 1-inch dough border. The next tip I could offer is to place a lot of attention on the 1-inch border for your base level dough. It will help you fold the edges and keep your bread shapely in the oven. My edges could have used a little more attention, so this tip comes from a place of learned opportunity.

3. Don't skimp on the seasoning. Although the bread was very delicious, It would have been even better had I doubled or even tripled up on the amount of seasoning. I don’t think there is such a thing as too much garlic when it comes to garlic bread. In fact, I think the more garlic, the absolute better.

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