Hi, I love garlic and add quite a lot of it to my recipes, however, I'd like to make my own garlic bread.

I'm using some baguettes and slicing them in half, length ways, then adding a few slices across them.
I make garlic butter by finely chopping garlic in my processor and add butter. I then spread it on the baguettes and pop them in the oven. Sometimes I'll add a bit of cheese or tomatoes and mushrooms.
I keep them in the oven as long as I can but the garlic still tastes raw. Where am I going wrong? Do I need to fry the garlic first?

Ta

No, don't fry the garlic first. Use a garlic crusher, or a pestle and mortar to make the garlic into paste, rather than finely chopping it, then mix with the butter. Are you wrapping your baguettes in foil? If not, try that, removing them from the foil at the end, just to brown them a bit.

ok, cheers. I'll try that

There are a few more methods for pureeing garlic.

You can mash it down with a knive
You can use a pestle & mortar
You can use a microplane/fine grater

yeah I used to make it into a paste using a knife and a little salt, but these days it's a bit difficult cos I got a duff shoulder and so my hand doesn't work so well

Sliced garlic fried in butter is nice, I sometimes put it on toast.

A little oil in with the butter helps to reduce the risk of burning, but it goes from brown to black quite quickly.

Why not experiment with different ways of using garlic, and see which you like best? I think experimenting is one of the joys of cooking.

Crushing in a press does extract maximum flavour, but roasting and frying produces a mild and slightly nutty flavour.

I buy part-baked baguettes from Lidl - really cheap, and they bake in ten minutes. If you slice one of those and then drizzle hot butter and fried garlic over they are delicious.

What??
Garlic bread??
Garlic bread??
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aJ7DXU_1as

ooh, that sounds like a plan

I was waiting for someone to post that

Try this, dead easy:

Bread of your choice (ciabatta for me)
Slice and toast it up
Peel whole garlic clove
Rub garlic clove all over bread
Spread real, salted butter on garlicky bread

Roast garlic in its skin, pop it out of its skin straight onto crusty bread or toasted ciabatta. Lovely sweet garlic flavour and no need for butter, so a bit healthier.

If you really want the butter (and who can blame you?), then I agree about starting it off in foil so that the garlic has time to cook out without the bread burning. I also add some chopped flat leaf parsley to the butter mix.