This beautiful and tasty Pull-Apart Bread Recipe is easier to make than you think!
On a chilly winter weekend, I love to make a big, hearty meal for my family. While my husband and sons watch football, I putter in the kitchen and occasionally holler at one of them to come help with something. One of my favorite weekend recipes is this bread. When it is baking, it fills the whole house with a delicious, buttery aroma, and my family loves it with dishes like lasagna or chicken Parmesan.
Pull-apart bread is easier than you think to assemble and bake. Even though I love to bake, I don’t consider myself a master bread baker. I feel most at home making pies, cakes, and cookies. Yet this bread is definitely doable.
You will love it because you end up with an impressive loaf with sectioned pieces, and the taste is amazing. Bread, garlic, butter, and mozzarella cheese are some of the best standalone ingredients, but in this recipe, they come together to form a loaf that is pure heaven. It’s soft, buttery, and slightly salty, with the right amount of garlic to complement whatever dish you serve it with.
Bread Baking: How Warm is Warm Water?
When baking a yeast bread like this one, you often need warm water. “Warm” is a somewhat relative term. What does it really mean? In most cases, the water you use in the first step should be around 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Use a candy thermometer to check the water temperature before mixing with the active dry yeast. If the water is too hot, it will kill the yeast, so it’s always a good idea to check first.
How To Make Ahead And Store
You can make pull-apart bread ahead of time and refrigerate or freeze it for later. Once the loaf is cool, place in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 4 days. To freeze, remove the loaf from the pan, wrap it in plastic and then wrap again in foil. Freeze for up to 3 months, and thaw overnight in the fridge before eating. To enjoy warm, simply wrap the loaf in foil and reheat at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 5-10 minutes.
Tip: Monitor Baking Time
To avoid overbaking or overbrowning, eyeball the bread at around 22-25 minutes. If the top is getting too brown, you can loosely tent it with foil without taking it out of the oven (wear your oven mitts—safety first!). Once the bread is finished baking and set out to cool, I like to brush the top with a little extra melted butter and sprinkle it with fresh herbs for that extra touch.
Serving Suggestions
You can serve pull-apart bread as a standalone appetizer. It’s yummy on its own or with marinara sauce for dipping. My family likes it as a side to hearty Italian dishes like Homemade Lasagna. If you’d prefer a meatless lasagna, try this Delicious Vegetable Lasagna. Since pull-apart bread needs oven time, you can also serve it with a stovetop classic like Vegetarian Minestrone Soup or even Slow-Cooker Beef Stew.
Pull-Apart Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter softened
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley chopped
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine warm water, yeast, and sugar. Let it sit until the mixture is frothy, about 5-10 minutes.
- Add half of the flour and salt to the yeast mixture and stir until combined. Gradually add the remaining flour until a soft dough forms.
- Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.
- Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover with a cloth, and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Roll out the dough on a floured surface into a rectangle. Spread softened butter over the dough, then sprinkle minced garlic, chopped parsley, and shredded mozzarella evenly on top.
- Cut the dough into squares and stack them into a greased 9×5-inch loaf pan. Let it rise again until puffy, about 30 minutes.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.
- Let the bread cool for 10 minutes before pulling apart to serve.
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