These pesto garlic knots are just like the classic garlic knot, but with herby pesto added in for extra flavor.
My bar for garlic knots is pretty high. When we lived in Virginia Beach, we used to go to this local pizza place with the best garlic knots I had ever tasted. They were huge, the size of baseballs, and served in a bowl with a pool of garlic butter at the bottom. They were soft and fluffy and just the right amount of doughy and chewy. 100/10 on flavor, and worth every extra calorie I’m sure they had. So, after eating these, a lot of places garlic knots just don’t measure up.
Am I trying to recreate those? No. But, am I trying to create something different but just as good? Yes. I thought about what flavors would be great with garlic and butter and pesto with it’s herbs and cheese and olive oil just came to mind. Boom, pesto garlic knots.
Baking Notes & Tips
There are a lot of different brands and kinds of pesto in the world. If you want to make your own, please be my guest. I’m positive it will be better than store bought. In the interest of keeping this recipe concise, I’m using pre-made. Because there is pesto going IN the pesto garlic knots dough, you want a pesto that is more loose with a little more oil. I adapted this recipe from my Olive Oil Rolls, and swapped out the oil for pesto (which has olive oil) which is why you want one with a higher oil content.
Pesto Garlic Knots Key Ingredients
- Pesto – As I said above, you want a pesto that is more loose than paste. I used this one by Mezzetta but I know the Classico one is also a similar consistency. I found these in the pasta aisle, not the refrigerated section.
- Garlic – Fresh garlic is always best. Jarlic if you have to, but the garlic flavor is imperative in pesto GARLIC knots.
- AP Flour – Because I wanted these to be extra soft I chose AP over bread flour. Either is fine, and I do use King Arthur AP which does have a little bit higher protein content than some other all purpose flour brands.
Ingredients
- 360 g AP Flour 3 cups
- 2 tsp Sea salt
- 2 tsp Granulated sugar
- 2¼ tsp Instant yeast
- 60 g Pesto ¼ cup
- 205 g Water warm (~105°F), ¾ cup + 2 tbsp
- 30 g Pesto 2 tbsp, for brushing
- 42 g Salted butter 3 tbsp
- 2-3 Garlic cloves minced/grated
Instructions
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, add all of your ingredients except topping ingredients (2 tbsp pesto, butter and garlic). Mix on low until dough is smooth and stretchy, not sticking to the sides of the bowl nor should it tear easily. (10-20 minutes)
- Remove dough, shape into a ball. Lightly grease bowl with olive oil and replace dough.
- Cover and let sit in a warm space until dough has doubled in size. (1-2 hours)
- Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.
- When dough is ready, punch down and transfer to workspace.
- Divide dough into 8-12 equal portions. Weighing the dough will help insure equal size knots, but is not required.
- Flatten each piece of dough into a rectangular shape, then roll into a cylinder. Roll the cylinder into a rope about 10 inches long. Loop the dough and pull one end through like you would tying a basic knot. Tuck the ends underneath.
- Place dough ball in prepared baking sheet, then repeat with the rest of the portions of dough.
- Cover your baking pan and allow your dough to proof in a warm place for 30-45 minutes. While your dough is proofing, preheat your oven.
- When dough is ready, brush all the extra pesto onto the tops of the knots. Place the baking sheet on the center rack of your oven. Bake for about 18 minutes until the top of your bread is set and the bottoms are golden brown. It will be harder to tell the browning elsewhere because of the pesto in the dough.
- While your garlic knots are baking, in a small sauce pan melt down your butter. Once it's melted add your garlic and cook on low for another 60 seconds or so – until the garlic is fragrant. Remove from heat into a small bowl.
- Remove from oven, and allow knots to cool for about 5 minutes before brushing with the melted garlic butter.
- Store uneaten rolls in an airtight container for 2-3 days. Enjoy!
