Super Cool Salt Baked Garlic

Baking anything in a salt crust is cool because you get to tear it open before you eat the gloriously tender and wonderfully moist treasure within BUT salt-baking garlic is a whole new level of cool since it turns harsh, strong, raw garlic into sweet, melt-in-the-mouth deliciousness - to die for!

I like to make this quite regularly because it honestly goes with anything from meat to fish to vegetables, but it is particularly tasty as an awesome addition to a roast dinner. Yes, there is a slight element of patience involved since the crust has to rest in the fridge for an hour and then it bakes for 45 minutes in the oven but trust me, it's worth every second!

Super Cool Salt Baked Garlic

Whole head of garlic, separated into cloves and peeled 
1 lemon 
Few sprigs of rosemary 
For the crust: 
500g plain flour 
150g table salt 
200ml water 
2 egg whites 


Mix all the crust ingredients together in a stand alone mixer using the dough hook attachment and knead for 2 minutes (you can of course do this by hand but it will take around 5 minutes). Wrap the dough in cling film then chill in the fridge for an hour. Preheat the oven to 180C.

Once chilled, roll the dough out to a centimetre thick and then cut into a rough circle. Lay a sheet of muslin cloth over the top and place the garlic and rosemary in the centre. Cut a slither off the bottom of the lemon so it will stand upright in the centre of the garlic pile and cut a deep cross in the top (as shown in the photo). Bring the muslin cloth up into a purse around it and secure with string. Bring the dough up around the muslin parcel and mould it into a sort of sack shape. 

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes. Once cooked, tear the top off the parcel and tip the contents onto a board. Chop everything except the actual salt crust together (including the whole lemon) and serve. Alternatively toss it into a salad or some wilted greens.