Description
The ubiquitous BBQ side of griddled butter-soaked bread from the great state of Texas gets a serious upgrade starting with easy and fast to make English muffin bread which toasts up into butter-soaked crispy edged Texas toast that will put the squishy white bread stuff to shame.
Ingredients
- 2 loaves sandwich bread (1 batch of English muffin bread or other bread—see post)
- 2 sticks butter, at room temperature (227 g)
For garlic Texas toast
- 2 cloves garlic or 1 teaspoon garlic powder (use powder for grilling)
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil (30 mL)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Prep the bread
- Slice your bread into thick slices. For bread loaves, shoot for 1″ thick slices. On a standard 9×5″ bread loaf, that works out to 8 slices per loaf. For rolls, simply cut them in half.
- Prep the garlic spread (if using): For the garlic version, smoosh the garlic, olive oil, butter, and salt into a paste.
- Slather both sides of the bread with either plain butter or the garlic butter. Be generous here, allotting about 1 tablespoon of butter for each slice of bread, spreading it over the bread from edge to edge.
Choose your cooking method
- Oven-baked version (the best for use with fresh garlic): Place slices of the buttered bread in a 400F oven for 12-14 minutes, flipping the bread over about halfway through baking. You should see light brown edges and feel some slight crunch on the bread. Do not bake further so that the inside of the bread is still soft.
- Griddled version (best for butter or for use with garlic powder): Preheat a cast iron grill pan or griddle for about 5 minutes over medium heat. You can use the preheating time to butter the bread. After 5 minutes of heating the pan, turn down the heat to low and place your bread across the pan. Toast the bread undisturbed for about 4 minutes and then flip it to the other side to toast for another 4 minutes. Past that, you can decide if you want it toastier or not.
Serving
- Serve this bread hot with anything meaty or turn it into cheesy bread (see notes).
Freezer directions for later baking
- Freeze slices: Lather up your sliced bread with the plain butter or garlic butter. Set the slices on a parchment -lined baking sheet. Freeze for about 2 hours.
- Gather and wrap: Gather up the pieces into a loaf, placing a piece of parchment between each slice. Wrap the whole loaf in plastic, and then place the wrapped loaf in a plastic bag. Texas toast wrapped like this can keep for up to 3 months.
- Bake frozen: When you want to eat your Texas toast, break off as many slices as you’d like from your loaf. Set the frozen slices on a parchment -lined baking sheet and bake at 400 for about 10 minutes.
Notes
The Absolute Best Cheese Bread: Bake the garlic bread slices for 6 minutes. Flip over the bread slices and sprinkle them with about 2 tablespoons each of shredded provolone or mozzarella. Bake the slices until the cheese gets melted and bubbly. You can place the bread under the broiler right at the end if you want a little browning on the cheese, which is utterly delicious.
Texas Toast grilled cheese: Use the griddle cooking method here. Once you flip the bread, sprinkle the top of the first cooked side with cheese. Place a domed lid over the bread while the second side cooks to help the cheese melt. Lay two melted cheese sides together to create your sandwich once the bottom bread is cooked.
Can you make this with good old squishy white bread?: Yes you can, though it won’t have the delectable crunch of homemade bread. Try to find double-thick sliced bread or use store-bought French bread if you’re not starting with homemade bread. But this is the moment I try to convince you to make English Muffin bread again because it only takes 5 minutes of work and is done in 1 hour! You can make it; I believe in you!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Category: Breads
- Method: Grilling, Oven
