My wife and I grew up in Milwaukee/West Allis/New Berlin Wisconsin and
lived there until moving out here to Arizona in 1992.

One of the most enjoyable things we had in Wisconsin (West Allis in particular)
was the ability to visit Mamma Mia's at 8533 West Greenfield Avenue in West Allis,
and enjoy their world famous Garlic Bread - made fresh for every order!

Being permanent residents of Phoenix Arizona now - for the last 16 years, we
no longer are able to go back to West Allis for Mamma Mia's at any given time
of the year, hence my desperate plea:

DOES ANYONE HAVE THE RECIPE FOR MAMMA MIA'S HOMEMADE GARLIC BREAD?

NOBODY out here in Arizona can make it the way Mamma Mia's can, and even
though I am on my New Year's Diet - I STILL HAVE A 16 YEAR LONG CRAVING
for Mamma Mia's Garlic Bread!!!!! :(

Trust me on this -
YOU HAVE'NT L I V E D........
UNLESS YOU HAVE HAD MAMMA MIA'S HOMEMADE GARLIC BREAD!!!!!!!!

CAN ANY OF YOU HELP A TRANSPLANTED CHEESEHEAD???

Thanks in advance..........

kevin

GILROY GARLIC BREAD

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, room temp
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 3 ounces)
6 tablespoons mayonnaise
3 large garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon (generous) dried oregano, crumbled
1 1-pound loaf French bread, halved lengthwise

Thoroughly combine first 6 ingredients in medium bowl. (Can be prepared 2 days ahead. Refrigerate. Bring to room temp before continuing.)

Preheat oven to 375*. Spread garlic butter on cut side of bread, wrap each half in foil. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Refrigerate.) Place bread on baking sheet cut side up. Bake 20 minutes. Remove foil from bread.

Preheat broiler. Broil cut side up until golden brown, about 2 minutes.

The Mamma Mia Garlic Bread loaves are aprox. 3" wide by 10" long by 4" tall,
and they are served to you "swimming" in a puddle of garlic/butter..
they are crispy crunchy on the outside, and soft and chewy in the inside
(not at ALL what I should be eating when I am trying to loose weight).....
I am getting hungry just describing them to you!!!

Once you have had Mamma Mia's Garlic Bread - you won't want ANYONE ELSES'S!!!!!!
Their Pizza and Antipasto Salads are to die for too!!!
Since we moved to Arizona in 1992, I have been back to Milwaukee two times,
and on each visit, I brought back MULTIPLE Pizzas and
and over a dozen orders of Garlic Bread - as "carry-on" stuff
on the plane - it all barley made it off of the plane!!!
Everyone was asking for a little taste of "that stuff the smelled
SOOOOOO GOOOOOOOD!!!!!" HA!

THIS is why I want to get the recipe - I can't always be running to Milwaukee
to pick up a carry put order from Mamma Mia's!!!!!!! So I want to try to
at least make some every now and then for my family and friends!!!!

Thanks again

kevin

Capri Pizza Restaurant
8340 W Beloit Rd
Milwaukee, WI 53219
(414) 543-5510ý

Leah's Italian Catering
1303 West Edgerton Avenue
Milwaukee, WI 53221
(414) 281-0556ý

and

Mario's Natural Roman Pizza (The bread here is even larger and I think a little better...)
225 Bay View Rd
Mukwonago, WI 53149
(262) 363-3661ý

Call them and ask!

Alexa

Sounds good to me.

America's test kitchen has a pretty good recipe. They said the trick is to grate the garlic (5 cloves), so it is very fine, no discernable pieces in it (a press doesn't make it fine enough). Then, take the garlic and a little water and saute at very low heat for a few min, then add 1 T butter to the pan and cook for about 10 min., still at the low heat. Add 7 more T butter, 1/4 t salt and 1/4 t pepper. spread over whole loaf of french bread (halved long way). Put halves back together, wrap in foil and put in 400 degree oven for 15 min. Remove from oven, unwrap, un-halve. Leave open on foil and put back in oven for 10 min to crisp up a bit. Take out of oven add 1/2 c grated parmaesan cheese and broil til lightly browned.

This was good, but next time I'll skip the cheese and added some oregano back in the garlic/butter melting step.

The flavor is different, lighter, somehow. It's a great way to use up some stale bread,

I am on a world tour right now for my business.. Currently writing this
posting from Pitesti Romania. In the last three weeks, I've been to LA, London
England, Frankfurt Germany, Addiss Abbaba Eithiopia, Sana'a Yemen, and now
Romania. I went to the best pizza place here in Pitesti last night to try (what I
was told) was the "best" garlic bread in Romania... well... it was good....

but it was NOT Mamma Mia's by any stretch of the imagination :-(

I'll keep looking for it, but my gut tells me that all roads point BACK to
West Allis Wisconsin - On Greenfield Avenue west of 84th Street -
actually, if my memory serves me right, Mamma Mia's is located on
the South East corner of 85th Street and Greenfield Avenue.

Anyways... I'll keep hoping that SOMEONE will chime in with the recipe!!!!

BUMP!!!!

Dough recipe...
3/4 cup warm water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups flour
2-3 teaspoons gluten (found in most baking areas)
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 (or one package yeast)

I mix the whole thing up and let it rise,
punch it down and rise again,
punch it down a 3rd time and divide into half
I roll into little logs about 2 inches wide and place in
length and place in a bread pan.
Butter the tops so they will split when pulled apart.
Let rise again. to the top of loaf pan
bake at about 375 for a glass pan till lightly golden brown,
Then brush with water for that crispy crust and bake until golden brown. Let them cool if you like. just heat and dip into lots of butter!
The gluten makes the dough stretchy and elastic....especially for flipping the dough and tossing
It also make the bread dough rise Up instead of like homemade bread.

Let me know if you try it!
Marcia

We've been eating at Mamma Mia's since they turned an old pharmacy into their West Allis restaurant back around 1967. I've had some wonderful garlic bread elsewhere but nothing can compare. Try as I may I can't figure it out.

We've lived in Madison for 35 years and still drive to the Milwaukee area to get our fix. It has got to be one of the most unhealthy treats available but ohhhhhh so worth it.

When our kids were much younger and trapped into going to places of our choosing our daughter said, "You're not really going to eat that, are you? Look at all the grease." We got to eat her share as well.

Delicious!

"... slice off the top and bottom of whole bread, melt 1 stick butter, brush on top and flip bread over then brush butter on bottom and generously sprinkle garlic salt on each side Bake 5-7 min @350, turn over and bake another 5 min."

If this is correct, thank Sande.

Part of the mystique is that the bread is fairly dense. I'm not sure that it is straight butter over the top. It is not an expensive restaurant so I am wondering if it might be an oil/butter/garlic mixture. I've been making garlic bread of one sort or another for over 45 years and haven't nailed Mama Mia's recipe yet.

Thanks for contributing to this thread - I will try these recipes and report back..

ANY Italian Restaurant that wants to supercharge their sales should try serving
Mama Mia's style of garlic bread... I am surprised that more places don't offer it..

kevin

You mention the loaf served swimming in garlic butter. I suspect that the secret you are looking for is melted butter with a few squeezes of Amore Concentrated Garlic Paste added to taste. This comes in a tube and should be available in good grocery stores. It makes delicious garlic bread. Hopefully this will work for you.

The one who supposedly worked there says to cut loaves and make the bread so obviously these are two different approaches and can't be the same thing.

Also, if you could give some idea about the flavor that's so great. Or is it the presentation of a wet loaf that's so appealing? I'm too far to go try it so it'd be nice to get some more info about this. Would certainly be easier to try to help if we had some more info.