The Carmine Street Benchmark Garlic Knots
Chapter 4 — Slice Shop Specials
In the high-volume engine of a New York slice shop, nothing is wasted. The garlic knot was born of pure frugality—a post-shift hustle to repurpose leftover pizza dough into a savory, architectural marvel. This isn't a fluffy Italian brioche. It is a lean, highly hydrated, 72-hour cold-fermented dough, blistered on a 550-degree baking steel until structurally sound enough to withstand a torrential soaking of hot garlic butter and sharp Pecorino Romano. When executed correctly, the outside shatters, the inside pulls, and you are instantly transported to Carmine Street.
Before you start
Whisk the dry ingredients together in the bowl of a stand mixer.
Combine the high-gluten flour, instant dry yeast, and diastatic malt powder.
Hydrate and knead the dough until a smooth, slightly tacky mass forms.
Dissolve the fine sea salt into the ice-cold water, then slowly pour it into the dry ingredients with the mixer running on low. Once a shaggy dough forms, drizzle in the olive oil and knead for 5 to 7 minutes until the dough hits an internal temperature of 75 to 80 degrees.
Execute the 72-hour cold ferment.
Let the dough rest at room temperature for 1 hour to gently awaken the yeast, then divide out a 510-gram portion. Form it into a tight boule and transfer to an airtight, lightly oiled container in the coldest part of your refrigerator for 48 to 72 hours.
Ingredients
- high-gluten flour500 g
- ice cold water325 g
- fine sea salt11 g
- olive oil15 g
- diastatic malt powder5 g
- instant dry yeast1/2 tsp
- unsalted butter57 g
- extra virgin olive oil50 g
- fresh garlic20 g
- pecorino romano cheese25 g
- fresh flat-leaf parsley15 g
- crushed red pepper flakes1/4 tsp
- kosher salt1/4 tsp
- semolina flour2 tbsp
Method
- 01
Temper the dough and saturate your baking steel with heat.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator two hours before baking so it can come to room temperature, and preheat your oven and baking steel to 550 degrees for at least one hour.
- 02
Cut the dough and tie the knots.
Dust your work surface with semolina flour and gently press the dough into a flat rectangle without fully degassing it. Cut into 12 to 16 equal strips, roll each into an 8-inch rope, tie a simple overhand knot, and tuck the loose ends underneath.
- 03
Proof the knots while you prepare the garlic emulsion.
Place the formed knots onto a semolina-dusted pizza peel, cover lightly with plastic wrap, and let them rest for 15 to 30 minutes to relax the gluten.
- 04
Sweat the garlic in the butter and olive oil without letting it brown.
In a skillet over medium-low heat, melt the butter into the olive oil, add the minced garlic, and cook for 1 to 2 minutes just until fragrant and pale gold, then immediately transfer the hot fat to a large mixing bowl.
- 05
Bake the knots on the steel for six to eight minutes.
Slide the knots directly onto the preheated 550-degree steel and bake until they develop a deep golden-brown crust with distinct, charred leopard spotting on the undersides.
- 06
Toss the blistering hot knots in the garlic emulsion and serve immediately.
Drop the knots straight from the oven into the bowl of garlic butter—the cooling dough creates a vacuum effect that draws the fat deep into the crumb. Add the parsley, Pecorino Romano, red pepper flakes, and kosher salt, toss vigorously to coat, and serve.
Notes
Do not skip the diastatic malt powder if baking in a home oven.
A 72-hour cold ferment exhausts the natural sugars in the flour. The malt enzymes continuously convert complex starches into simple sugars, ensuring your crust deeply browns on the steel instead of baking up pale and blonde.
High-gluten flour is strictly required for the benchmark texture.
If commercial 14.2 percent protein flour is unavailable, substitute standard bread flour mixed with 1.5 percent vital wheat gluten. Using all-purpose flour will result in a flabby, cake-like crumb that tears under the weight of the heavy garlic butter.