200 Garlic Knots

Last superbowl, along with Donut Upsidedown Cake, I made a small batch of Garlic Knots. They were a big hit! So big in fact, when my friend Annie was getting ready for her wedding this July, she asked me to make them to be part of her wedding dinner. Without even blinking, of course, I agreed. It wasn't until after I had agreed that she told me that it wasn't 2 or 3 batches that would be necessary, but 200 Knots!

This caused a little bit of panic... My first batch took me hours to complete, and that made MAYBE 16 knots. How was I going to make 200 knots? I briefly considered the possibilities of making THIRTEEN batches of dough. It would take FOREVER and would probably kill my poor Kitchen Aid! I took a few deep breaths, calmed down, and started to think. There was nothing special about the dough, it came from, I'm pretty sure, the side of a flour carton! I didn't actually have to make the dough, I could buy the frozen dough loafs and save my self a ton of time!

And so began the great Garlic Knot Adventure of 2010!

First, I had to individually bag up all 13 loaves of bread...


... into the Fridge the bread went for 48 hours. Luckily, I have an extra fridge in my basement that is mostly used for holding beer. There is a special bit of appropriateness to this.


Two days later, the bread was perfectly risen!


There was no time to waste here, so perfect was second to expediency. Each loaf was spread out on parchment paper, one loaf at a time. It was roughly squared off into a vague rectangle shape. The loaves were then cut in halves, quarters, eighths and finally approximately Sixteenths!


Each strip, about 1-Inch by 10 Inches, was then rolled like a snake and twisted into knot shape as per the directions. Eight knots per pan...


... The knots were then covered in saran wrap and allowed to rise for an hour on my kitchen table. This is only 5 of the 13 loaves I cooked up.


After rising, the knots when into the oven, 4 cookie sheets at a time for 16 minutes.


When they were done cooking, I quickly hit the knots with Garlic Butter and allowed them cool down to room temperature (or really only about 15 minutes until the next batch was about to come out) before bagging.


And here is the result: 203 Garlic Knots. That's right, 203. Two knots fell on my floor while being rolled out, I ate one (because how can you NOT?), and I gave one to each of my roommates. Total prep time, not including defrosting the dough: 4 Hours, 15 Minutes! I finished MINUTES before the wedding and got there Just in time. The Wedding, in case you're curious, was beautiful, and the reception was a BLAST!