The Best Cheeses To Use For Garlic Bread

There are many different ways to make garlic bread (here are a few of our favorites), but the classic preparation, a staple of the '70s, involves little more than bread, garlic, and butter, with perhaps a pinch of dried parsley for color. Over the years, though, people have been cheesing up their garlic bread since most things do go better with cheese. (So says the Wisconsin dairy industry, although it's not sponsoring this shout-out.) Is there any one type of cheese that's best for garlic bread? Patrick Och certainly thinks so, and he's a corporate chef with INK Entertainment so we welcome his culinary expertise.

In Och's opinion, "The best cheeses for cheesy garlic bread are those that melt well and offer a rich, gooey texture, like mozzarella, fontina, or provolone." As he explains, "They provide a stretchy, satisfying melt and complement the garlic flavor." He doesn't advise using an aged variety, however, cautioning that these drier cheeses "don't melt as smoothly and can result in a dry, uneven texture." He also says to steer clear of limburger and its ilk because, as he warns, "Overpowering cheeses are not good as you want the garlic to shine."

While Patrick Och doesn't typically use dry, non-melty cheeses for garlic bread, numerous garlic bread recipes do call for parmesan cheese. How can this be? Well, garlic bread is pretty adaptable stuff. You can cook it on the stove top instead of the oven, or even shoot it into space should you be so inclined, so adding a crumbly cheese is no big deal. There are two main ways to go about doing this, and one of these involves simply mixing the cheese with softened butter, garlic, and any other desired seasonings and spreading it over the sliced loaf before baking.

When parmesan is your sole source of cheese, you won't get that cheese pull so beloved by anyone who likes to post food shots on social media. but that need not be a deal breaker if you're willing to try a two-cheese blend. By using equal parts of each, you get the photogenic meltiness of mozzarella — or unaged provolone or fontina, as per Och's recommendation — along with the tasty tang of parmesan.