Seriously, this stuff takes like... nothing. But this is how I do it at home since the freezer-style store-bought stuff just isn't that good!
Also, goes great with pesto and pasta. *cough*
You will need:
One loaf of Italian bread or French bread, though Italian makes more sense
One half stick of butter - or more if needed later
Three or more cloves of garlic - I usually go with more. I like garlic too much.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
You'll probably want to cut the bread first. Make it as thick as you like, but I tend toward 1/2 inch slices. Find a bowl, put the butter in it. Peel the garlic so you don't get those nasty skin chunks in your food. If you have a garlic press, use it! Otherwise, you can crush the garlic and mince it. Put the garlic in the bowl with the butter, and stick it in the microwave for 30 or so seconds, however long it takes to melt the butter completely. If you have a pastry brush, it is ideal to use it to spread the garlic butter onto the bread. Otherwise, I've found a spoon works as well if you take a spoonful and drizzle it over each side and try to spread it out a bit with the bottom of the spoon. Or just douse the thing in butter with a spoon if you like it more buttery.
However you spread the butter, next you put it in the oven for 10-15 minutes. I'm pulling these numbers from memory, which isn't perfect, so check the bread every few minutes and make sure it isn't burning or that it is cooking properly. The idea is to have it come out with crisp but not too crunchy crust, a bit of a crisp outer layer of bread, and a nice squishy inside. It's kind of hard to do, but however it turns out, garlic bread is awesome anyway!
