Pan de ajo

Directions

1. Start by adding the water, milk and sugar to a jug and placing it into the microwave for 1 minute on medium heat - you are just warming it to around 30-35c (85-95f). Once it's warm, add the yeast to the milk/water and stir.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the hook attachment (or you can just use your hands), add the flour and salt, give it a mix before you add the milk/yeast mixture to it and then mix it on medium for 4-5 minutes or until you have a smooth dough.
3. At that point add the room temp butter and mix again until it's incorporated into the dough, this should take 2-3 minutes.
4. Take the dough from the bowl and make it into a tight ball, then place it into a bowl (I just use the mixer bowl), cover it and let it double in size, this will take 1-1.5 hours.
5. Once it doubles in size, give it a quick knead and then cut it into 9 even pieces. Roll them tightly into balls and then grease a 22cm springform cake tin.
6. Place the balls into the cake tin evenly, then cover the tin and leave it to prove for another hour or the dough balls have doubled.
7. While they are proving, preheat your oven to 180c (355f).
8. Once the dough has proved, brush it with some milk and sprinkle some salt flakes on the top. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden and cooked through.
9. Just before they come out of the oven, add the butter and garlic to a pot and cook on low for 4-5 minutes to take some of the sharpness of the garlic, note you don't want to fry the garlic (make sure it has no colour) then at the end add some finely sliced parsley.
10. As soon as the bread comes from the oven, pour over the garlic butter and let it cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the tin.
11. Enjoy while it's still warm!