[2] Garlic bread is typically made using a baguette, or sometimes ciabatta which is partially sliced downwards, allowing the condiments to soak into the loaf while keeping it in one piece.

[3] Garlic bread may have originated after Italian immigrants started to use butter as a substitute for olive oil, which was uncommon in the United States in the first half of the 20th century.

Garlic bread stems from bruschetta,[4][5] which appeared in Italy around the 15th century, and can be traced back to ancient Rome.

[7] It was also prepared in other regions, such as Quercy, as a crust of bread rubbed with garlic and spiced with a pinch of salt along with a drop of walnut oil.

[10] Commercially manufactured frozen garlic bread was developed in the 1970s by Cole's Quality Foods in Muskegon, Michigan.