Ode to Grilled Bread
(violins & cellos in the air… Masterpiece theatre sets the stage…)
Crusty, charred Lines of Black
Gentle crumb singed Golden. Soft.
Day old. Resuscitated.
Screetch!!!Stop! We’re not really going to torture you with our bad food poetry. We’ll let our poetic verse lay in what you see before you, and leave the real deal to those skilled in pen and word. But we have to admit that it is hard not to be inspired when grilled bread is your muse.
It is such heavenly, yet simple and rustic fare. Taking a beautiful crusty loaf of bread, say a ciabatta or any other spongy-crusty loaf, slicing it thick, then brushed and grilled to consummate perfection.
There is the alluring play in textures between the charred, crunchy crust, the slightly crisped, golden crumb surface, and the soft, chewing interior crumb. And that is just the bread.
Don’t forget about the infinite topping possibilities… Herbed butters, simple sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper, grated parmesan, roasted peppers, halved sun gold tomatoes with balsamic, tuna and capers… what ever your appetite desires.
One can even dessert-ify the grilled bread by spreading chocolate, or bananas and caramel or any other creative personal pleasure. Simply put, we love grilled bread. The glory of grilled bread is that versatile.
Or, you can eat it alone, warm off the grill, and dirty yourself with fragrant charred crumbs. Now that alone is an ode to good eating.
What’s your favorite way to have grilled bread?
Enjoy.
-Todd and Diane
Grilled Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Loaf Crusty Bread
- 2-3 Garlic Cloves , gently smashed - optional
- Olive Oil or Butter
- Sea Salt
- fresh cracked Black Pepper
Instructions
- Slice the bread into 3/4" slices. Rub slices of bread with garlic cloves. Gently oil or butter each side of the slices.
- Heat grill or pan over med-high heat. When hot, oil grates with a paper towel dipped in a bit of cooking oil, then grill each side until gently golden (@2-3 min on each side depending on heat level.)
- Season with sea salt and black pepper. Serve immediately or top with preferred topping and serve.
Funny you should write this post. I’m currently having a little love affair with toast, so it’s nice to see your elegant version of my obsession. Gonna get to grilling me some sexy bread!
xoxox
Brooke
In Catalonia, we grill the bread, rub some garlic and rub some tomate, a bit olive oil and salt, that´s it.
Dipping fried/grilled bread into the yolk of a perfectly fried egg is one of the best ways to start a day.
I was happy with your poetry and those mouth-watering photos. I could (but don’t) eat it every meal, every day!
We’re ok for a line or two of poetry, then we start to fall apart 😉 We could, but thankfully don’t, eat grilled bread daily too!
As a very young child, my grandmother lived out in the country. She did not own a toaster. Every morning she made pan fried ie grilled toast for us when we visited. I loved that pan fried toast. It was a sad day when we all went in together and bought her a toaster. I was so excited for her to open her present only to be dismally depressed when I realized there would be no more pan fried toast. “What have we done?” screamed through my young brain. But being a grandmother, she still continued to make us pan fried toast.
Oh how I miss Ciabatta 🙁
Wow!! now I desire a piece of grilled bread, topped with a good olive oil, freshly pressed, or some chopped tomatoes, olive oil & basil. The pictures are extremely beautiful. And as Lisa said, Nutella is great with hot bread, it will warm up the chocolate. Yummiii!!!! Perfect pictures, did I just say that or what??!!! Again..
We love grilled bread here. We grill all of our sandwich buns and even sausage buns. We eat it along with pasta or topped with pesto, and I have to say the latter is probably my favorite.
Grilled bread with a schmear of roasted bone marrow. mmmmm. . .
There really is nothing better than grilled bread… Unless it’s grilled bread topped with prosciutto. This post made me SO hungry 🙂
Oh yes! Grilled bread is one of the best things in the world. The only thing that comes close? Bread grilled over a campfire. Yep. Had it this past summer and it was fantastic. Great idea to post this simple way to enjoy day-old bread. And the photos are great, of course!
Where did you guys get that bread knife? It’s beautiful!
Matt- thanks, it’s one of our favorite knives too. We bought it at a vintage store. We love vintage stores and happened to find it randomly at a store somewhere.
Grilled Bread Haiku:
Crisp Ciabatta Bread
With Gold Oil and White Salt Crown
Food fit for a King!
Donna- thank you for terrific Haiku!
Got hooked on Haiku after winning 1st place in the Washington Post’s May, 2008 “Pie-ku” contest. A Haiku about pizza!
Rising discs of dough
Tossed, twirled, like small planets on
A one arm axis
Best thing about it? Robert Pinsky, former poet laureate, chose the winner! Needless to say, I’m proud 🙂
I could look at those photos all day. Its amazing how you can turn something as simple as grilled bread into a beautiful photograph. This is one of my favorite ways to eat bread too. I love to have fresh tomato, basil and olive oil on mine.
We do this all the time, but never ever could make them look so wonderful as you did. We love them in summer with fresh tomatoes and basil. also with sundried tomato and pepper pesto.. and some wine. Where did you find that beautiful knife with curves?!! I heart it.
hi soma- we found the knife at a vintage antique store!
What’s my favorite way to eat grilled bread? Any possible way you could eat grilled bread! I’m with you- grilled bread topped with number of items makes an instantly satisfying meal. Some of my favorite combos:
Fig jam/Gruyère/proscuitto
Garlicky greens w/ a bit of hot red pepper
Plain yogurt mixed with horseradish/salt/pepper topped with any kind of smoked fish, garnish w/ pickled onions
Slow-roasted tomatoes w/ garlic, thyme and olive oil on a bed of goat cheese
Sliced skirt steak drizzled with chimichurri
Rub raw garlic on the bread and top w/ sautéed mushrooms
I’d be happy sitting down to any of (or all of!) these with a nice bottl……ahem, glass, of wine.