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!
