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I have an enduring love affair with bread. It isn’t just the joy of pulling off a steaming heel, spreading cold sweet cream butter over it, sinking my teeth into the tender crumb and hearing the crust shatter—those alone are enough to keep me devoted. Making bread—the measuring, mixing, kneading, resting, shaping and the final bake—is often meditative and sometimes cathartic. The best part, though, is the slow, delicious anticipation while the loaf browns in the oven: the nutty, toasty aroma as dough becomes bread, followed by the impatient wait for it to cool. I never wait long enough.
I know you should let bread cool completely before slicing. I’ve found my own solution: tearing into hot bread with my bare hands, tossing pieces from hand to hand until they’re cool enough to hold. It’s a skill born of necessity and one I passed on to my family. Once a piece reaches the right temperature, it disappears quickly. Fresh bread in this house is shown no mercy—and that’s how it should be.
Bubble bread is the hard drug of the bread world; one taste hooks you for life. There are endless variations—chocolate, caramel, cinnamon, cheese, onion, dill and more—but our family favorite is this Garlic Butter Crusty Bubble Bread. Rolled in, topped with and baked in garlic butter and olive oil and scented with Italian herbs, these rolls develop a crackly, deep-brown crust and an impossibly tender interior. Served hot from the oven, they’re a savory, indulgent snack. Topped with grated Romano or Parmesan and paired with warm marinara, they’re unbeatable as a party appetizer.
This bread is more than just delicious: it uses the versatile Master Bread dough from the original Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François. That means the dough can be kept ready in the fridge for whenever a Garlic Butter Crusty Bubble Bread craving hits—and trust me, once you try it, those cravings will be frequent.
I’ll be honest: this bread isn’t diet-friendly. But sometimes you need to indulge. Feeding the soul occasionally means feeding the love handles—and I’m okay with that.
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Garlic Butter Crusty Bubble Bread
Ingredients:
- About half a batch of Master Bread Dough (recipe listed below)
- 1/4 lb (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
- 3/4 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon granulated dried garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt, plus an additional 1/2 teaspoon for sprinkling
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Optional for serving: grated hard Italian cheese (Romano, Asiago, Parmesan, etc.) and a bowl of warm marinara for dipping
As with many good foods, this starts with a stick of butter. Unwrap the butter and place it in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat until fully melted.
Stir the minced garlic, Italian seasoning, granulated garlic, 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt and black pepper into the melted butter. Set the mixture on the counter and turn your attention to the dough.
Dust the refrigerated dough in its container with a generous amount of flour. Pull dough up from the center and use a sharp knife to cut off pieces roughly the size of a golf ball to a plum.
Pull the sides of each piece down and under while rotating the dough to form a smooth ball. On a clean counter, place the dough ball seam-side down and gently cup it in your hand. Rotate it in one direction while applying gentle downward pressure to tighten and smooth the surface.
Carefully drop each dough ball into the butter mixture and turn it to coat completely. Use a fork to transfer the coated ball to a 9″ x 13″ pan.
Repeat until you have at least four rows of three dough balls. If you want very crusty individual bubbles, stop there. If you prefer crusty tops and softer sides, make six more slightly smaller dough balls and tuck them into the spaces between rows. Don’t crowd or mash the dough to fit more pieces in the pan. Drizzle any remaining garlic butter over the dough and sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt.
Allow the dough to rest while you preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C). When the oven is fully heated, place the pan on a rimmed baking sheet on the center rack and bake for about 25 minutes, or until the top is a deep brown. The rimmed sheet catches any butter that escapes—expect some bubbling butter around the edges; that’s a good thing.
Let the pan rest on the stovetop until the remaining butter is absorbed. Serve warm as-is, or top generously with freshly grated hard Italian cheese and offer warm marinara for dipping.
Update: This recipe was updated to remove 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. While the oil tasted good, it caused uneven results in some ovens, leading to scorched or overly crisp bottoms. Removing the extra fat produces a more consistent outcome.
Master Bread Dough Recipe
From the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Zoë François graciously allowed this recipe to be shared.
Ingredients:
- 6 cups lukewarm water
- 3 tablespoons instant yeast
- 3 tablespoons kosher salt
- 13 cups all-purpose flour
Mix the water, yeast and salt together in a large stand mixer bowl or in a 10-quart food-safe container. Add the flour and stir until the mixture is uniform—no dry patches. The dough will be wet and will take the shape of its container; there’s no need to knead.
Cover with a lid that fits but is not airtight. Allow to rise at room temperature for about 2 hours, until the dough collapses slightly. You can refrigerate the dough for up to two weeks and use it as needed, or use it immediately.