Sourdough Garlic Knots

Soft, infused with garlic and topped with a hint of flaky sea salt, these sourdough garlic knots are the perfect roll to pair with lunch or dinner.

One of our favorite dinners to pair with these sourdough garlic rolls is a hot, loaded meat and veggie stew with a fresh colorful salad on the side.

Why Sourdough?

Digestibility + Probiotics

Sourdough is a fermented food. This means that it includes beneficial live cultures and wild yeasts. These yeasts allow bread to rise as well as break down phytates in the wheat grain, making the flour more digestible and less inflammatory. 

Here is an excerpt from the book Real Food for Fertility by Lily Nichols RDN, CDE and Lisa Handrickson-Jack FAE, HRHP:

“In wheat, rye, and barley, the process of traditional sourdough fermentation reduces the level of the protein gluten as well as compounds called phytates, both of which can be irritating to the digestive tract and impair mineral absorption. Sourdough fermentation also changes the structure of starches and increases the levels of organic acids, which contributes to a lower glycemic index of the resulting bread (meaning that sourdough bread typically doesn’t spike your blood sugar as much as regular yeast bread).” pg. 82

• probiotics for gut health
• lower glycemic index
• improved digestibility of grains
• less inflammatory

By using the longer fermentation methods of sourdough baking, delicious baked goods and breads can be a little more digestible, good for gut health and have a lower glycemic index than other breads.

Flavor

Next to the delicious flavor, the nutritional benefits of sourdough make it a great grain option to be consuming above typical commercially produced breads.

Sourdough Garlic Knots

Makes 8 garlic knots

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons (28g) grass-fed butter
• 1 cup (240g) whole milk
• 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon (5g) salt
• 1/2 cup (100g) of active sourdough starter
• 2 1/2 cups (350g) all purpose unbleached flour
• 1 egg yolk (for egg wash)

Topping

• 4 tablespoons of melted butter
• 3 cloves of fresh garlic (minced)
• 2 tablespoons of finely chopped parsley
• flaky sea salt

Directions for sourdough garlic knots:

Feeding your sourdough starter

To make sourdough garlic knots you are going to want to start with an active sourdough starter. The night before you want sourdough garlic knots, feed your sourdough starter with flour and water until you reach a thick pancake consistency.

Cover and let bubble up and allow to reach an active state overnight. If your kitchen is really warm you may just feed it early the next morning or put it in the fridge before bed after feeding the night before.

The best time to use an active sourdough starter is when it has reached it’s peak fermentation and bubbly state. You can tell when it has about doubled in size.

Even if you miss this window of using the peak active starter, this recipe is very forgiving and turns out tasty.

Now I will walk you through an example baking schedule for sourdough garlic knots.

7:00am – In a sauce pan over low heat, mix butter, milk and sugar until butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat.

Then sift in your flour and salt. Mix well and allow to cool just slightly in order to not kill the wild yeast in the sourdough starter.

Mix in active sourdough starter until well combined and no dry bits remain.

Cover with plastic wrap, beeswax or air tight lid.

7:30am – Every 30 minutes perform one set of stretch and folds. You will do 3 total sets of stretch and folds.

Stretch and fold

To perform a stretch and fold, I like to mentally split the dough into four equal parts. Starting with one part I stretch the dough pulling it up and then into the center of itself.

Turning the bowl I repeat this process until all 4 parts have been stretched and folded.

Back to the baking schedule.

9:00am – After you have completed all three sets of stretch and folds, cover the bowl again and allow the dough to ferment on the counter for 2 hours. For a longer fermentation, I like to stick the dough in the fridge at this point at least overnight and up to 3 days.

Making the knots

11:00am – After two hours (or your desired fermentation time is finished), you are ready to make your sourdough garlic knots. I like to use a bench scraper and section out my dough into equal parts of about 70g each. You can eyeball this part if you do not have a scale. The goal is to get them all about the same size.

Next, I take each section of dough and roll it into a log about 3/4″ inch in diameter. Then, I tie it carefully into a knot shape.

Place onto a parchment lined baking dish.

Repeat for the rest of the dough, spacing about 2 inches apart.

Cover the rolls with a wet tea towel to prevent the dough from drying out on top or sticking to a dry towel. Allow to rise for 3-4 hours until the sourdough garlic knots double in size.

Baking

30 minutes to an hour before you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. You want the oven to temperature fully before placing the rolls in to bake.

3:00pm- Mix up the egg yolk with a splash of water to create an egg wash and brush over the garlic knots.

Bake for 18-20 minutes until the tops are nicely golden brown.

Topping

Melt butter and mix it together with the minced garlic and finely chopped parsley.

Brush the herb butter onto the hot rolls.

Finally, sprinkle flaky sea salt over the top of the rolls to finish off.

Serve warm for peak freshness.

These rolls will keep for up to 2 days in an air tight container or 5 days in the fridge.

Other sourdough recipes you may enjoy:

• Lemon Berry Sourdough Discard Muffins
• Sourdough Blueberry Bread

Did you enjoy this recipe? Let me know in the comments!

Sourdough garlic knots are one of our absolute favorites. Always a hit with family and friends.

Until next time!

Amanda