Cheesy Garlic Pull Apart Bread
This cheesy garlic pull-apart bread is the perfect bread for sharing! It is a homemade bread that is loaded with flavour.
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Garlic, herbs and cheese are always a winning combination in our house. In this recipe all of that is encased in a bread and saturated in butter to create this delicious cheesy garlic pull-apart bread.
This bread is great to serve this up as a side or an appetizer. You can peel the layers apart with ease to enjoy every slice.
Yeast based bread can sometimes be intimidating but this recipe is easy to follow and is very forgiving!

Key ingredients
Yeast – An active dried yeast or fast action yeast.
Flour – Use high grade flour for best results.
Butter – I use salted butter for all of my recipes.
Garlic – I like to use dried garlic for this recipe but 2 tablespoons of crushed garlic works well too. You could even use a whole head of roasted garlic for a delicious flavour boost.
Herbs – Use your favourite dried herbs. I like to use 2 teaspoons of a basic herb mix boosted with a teaspoon of extra rosemary for this recipe. You can absolutely use fresh herbs if you have them on hand. To do this make sure they are finely diced and use two tablespoons instead of one.
Cheese – A nice sharp cheddar cheese is great in this recipe. But honestly, I mostly just use whatever cheese is in my fridge at the time when I make this. Any cheese will make a delicious addition.

Risen dough

Dough rolled and ready to prepare

Dough prepared and ready to stack
How to ensure your garlic pull apart bread bakes perfectly
This is such a common question when making yeast based breads. There is nothing worse than spending hours watching over your dough, taking it out of the all oven golden brown and delicious looking, only to look inside to find a centre that is still doughy.
So here are some tips to make sure that your bread bakes perfectly.
- Activate your yeast before starting. This step comes at the beginning of many bread recipes. The yeast is activated with warm water and a little sugar. If the yeast is active it will foam and bubble. If it doesn’t do this then your yeast may not be good for bread making anymore and needs replacing.
- Mix/ knead the dough to build elasticity. For this recipe you need to mix your dough a lot in its early stages. This will reduce the need for you to do too much kneading later on though. A well mixed and kneaded dough will be soft smooth and elastic.
- Make sure that your dough has risen enough. The dough should have doubled in size on each of its rises. To check that it is well risen press the dough gently with your finger, the dough should deflate easily and recover in a short amount of time.
- Coat the dough in milk or water before baking. This adds moisture to your crust. The moistened crust should be a lovely golden brown colour by the time the entire loaf is cooked through.
- Ensure that your bread is fully baked through before removing it from the oven. Some things to look for to tell if your bread is done, the crust will be golden and the layers will easily pull apart if you gently prod them. If you have a thermometer on hand you can check this way. The centre of the loaf should reach 90 degrees celcius.

Before Baking

After Baking
Serving suggestions
This cheesy garlic pull-apart bread goes so well with a lot of dishes. I especially like to have this bread as a side to a soup or pastas.
Tomato Soup with Roasted Vegetables
Creamy Pea Soup With Bacon and Pesto
Roasted Red Pepper Pasta

Some other things I like to make with this recipe are….
Single serve cheesy garlic muffins – To make this follow the recipe until you are ready to cut the dough into squares. Cut the dough into 12 evenly sized pieces. Place the pieces into a greased muffin tray with the toppings facing upwards. Fold the corners of the dough in towards the centre. Let rise and bake for 20 minutes.
Cheesy garlic bites – To make this follow the recipe until you are ready to cut the dough into squares. instead of placing your squares into your loaf tin, place them onto a lined baking sheet. Let rise and bake for 20 minutes.
Cinnamon sugar pull-apart bread – To make this as a sweet style bread loaded with cinnamon sugar, leave out the garlic, herbs and cheese. Mix together 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 2 teaspoons of cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg. Brush the rolled out dough with the butter and then sprinkle over your cinnamon sugar. Continue with the remaining recipe steps.

Ingredients
Method
- In a small cup/bowl mix together the starter ingredients. Set this aside for 10 minutes to allow the yeast to activate. The yeast should be fuzzy when it is ready.
- In a small saucepan melt the butter before adding the milk and salt. Heat until the mixture is warmed through. The temperature should be around 40 degrees celcius.
- Pour the starter and butter mixture into a large bowl and combine together with the sugar, and eggs . Mix well to combine.
- Add in half of the flour and mix together really well. After 2-3 minutes it should start to become a little stringy and gloopy.
- Continue to mix the dough adding the flour a little at a time until it is all incorporated. Turn your dough out onto your bench top and knead together for a minute or two. The dough should be thick and elastic at this point.
- Transfer your bread dough into a clean bowl that has been well oiled. Cover the surface of your dough with a little more oil and press small indentations into the surface using your fingers.
- Leave the dough in a warm place for 1 hour or until it has doubled in size.
- Roll dough out onto a lightly floured surface to about 1 -1.5 cm thick.
- Mix garlic and herbs into the melted butter and brush over the entire surface of the dough before sprinkling over the grated cheese.
- Line a loaf tin with baking paper.
- Using a pizza cutter cut the dough into squares as wide as the loaf tin.
- Hold the loaf tin on its side and stack the dough squares. Lay the loaf tin flat and spread the stacked slices out a little more to fill the whole thing with even spacing.
- Leave in a warm space to rise a final time for 1 hour or until it has doubled in size.
- Brush a little bit of extra milk over the surface of the dough.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 160 degrees for 45 minutes. Cover the loaf with tinfoil about halfway through to prevent over browning. When it is ready it will be golden and baked through.
Notes
Thank you so much for taking the time to read through my cheesy garlic pull apart bread recipe. I hope you enjoy trying this out for yourself. Please feel free to add any questions or comments below. I am happy to help out wherever possible and I would love to hear how this recipe worked out for you.
Crystal Rose
