Cheesy Pull Apart Garlic Bread
This Cheesy Pull Apart Garlic Bread is a must make. Fresh rosemary is added to soft homemade dough, then a garlic herb butter is spread between each layer of dough and a generous sprinkle of mozzarella cheese is added on top. The bread is baked to golden perfection then enjoyed warm. Each bite is filled with garlic, fresh herbs and gooey melted cheese.

Homemade bread is my weakness. I love the smell of it when it bakes, and I love tasting it warm out of the oven even more. My mom used to make homemade bread for our family all the time growing up. I fondly remember the smells of the bread as it baked, traveling through the house. I began making my own bread when I was in high school, but didn’t really get into it until after I graduated college.
Then, I had kids and life just became hectic. Needless to say, I gave up baking bread and really baking in general for about 2 years while our first two kids were really young. Finally, once I figured out juggling two kids, I began slowly getting back into cooking, then eventually got back into baking and wow did I ever miss it!
Okay, okay, enough about my busy life, let’s talk about this bread. This garlic bread is by far one of my favorites to make. I mean, you can’t beat the classic crispy, butter herb loaded garlic bread, but this? This is another level. The fresh rosemary in the bread adds a nice dimension of flavor. Add in the melty gooey cheese and butter herb spread between each layer and oh my word! It’s good.
The details
Making the dough
This cheesy pull apart garlic bread dough uses instant yeast, which means you don’t need activation time for the yeast. Simply add the yeast in with the other ingredients and mix. Even though the yeast doesn’t need activation time, I still like to add the yeast with the honey and milk, then add the remaining ingredients on top. Don’t add the salt directly on top of the yeast (I like to add the flour on top of the yeast first, then the salt), as the salt can inactivate the yeast. Knead the dough for 5 minutes then add to a greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap. I prefer this over a kitchen towel, as the kitchen towel allows air to get into the dough and can cause the dough to form a skin on the surface.
first rise
If you have time, you can let this dough rise, for 60 minutes. However, if you would like to speed up the process, preheat the oven to 100F. Once the oven reaches the temperature, turn the oven off. Add the covered dough to the warm oven and allow to rise for 30 minutes.
while the dough rises
While the dough rises, make the herb butter. I like to use a stand mixer or handheld mixer to beat the butter and herbs together, but you can also do this by hand. Beat until light, creamy and fully blended.
divide and prepare dough
Punch dough down and divide into 12 roughly equal pieces. They don’t have to be exact. Roll each into a 4×4 inch square. Spread herb butter on each piece of dough. Sprinkle cheese evenly on one dough square, then place a dough square, unbuttered side facing down. Sprinkle cheese over top of buttered side, and stack with another piece of dough. Repeat one more time, then cut the stack in half.
Place stacks in greased 9×5 inch loaf pan, cut side facing up. This gives the bread a nice appearance, because the cheese is exposed directly and the surface of the dough is nice and even on top. Repeat with remaining dough until all the dough is used. Cover with plastic wrap.
second rise
Preheat oven to 100F. Once the oven reaches the temp, turn oven off. Place dough in warm oven and allow to rise until dough is near the top of the loaf pan.
bake and enjoy!
Brush surface of dough with beaten egg, then bake in 350F preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Enjoy the bread warm.
If you make this cheesy pull apart garlic bread, let me know what you thought in the ratings and comments below. Also, make sure you find me on instagram and youtube for the full baking video for this as well as some fun behind the scenes.
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Cheesy Pull Apart Garlic Bread
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 1 1x
Description
This Cheesy Pull Apart Garlic Bread is a must make. Fresh rosemary is added to soft homemade dough, then a garlic herb butter is spread between each layer of dough and a generous sprinkle of mozzarella cheese is added on top. The bread is baked to golden perfection then enjoyed warm. Each bite is filled with garlic, fresh herbs and gooey melted cheese.
Ingredients
- 1 packet (2 1/4 teaspoons) instant yeast
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 3/4 cup whole milk, warmed to 110F
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped
Filling
Herb Butter
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Cheese
- 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese
Egg Wash
- 1 egg, beaten
Instructions
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, add the yeast, honey, warm milk, flour, salt, egg, butter and fresh rosemary. Mix on low speed to combine then increase to medium-low speed and knead for 5 minutes.
2. Transfer dough to a lightly greased bowl. Spray top of dough with nonstick cooking spray. Cover with plastic wrap.
3. Preheat oven to 100F. Once oven reaches temperature, turn oven off. Place covered bread in warm oven and allow to rise for 30 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, make the herb butter. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or using a handheld mixer, beat the softened butter, rosemary, thyme, parsley and garlic powder until light and creamy. Alternatively, you may do this by hand, it’s just easier with a stand mixer or handheld mixer.
5. Punch dough down and cut into 12 roughly equal pieces (they don’t have to be exact). Roll into a 4×4 inch square. Spread herb butter on all 12 pieces. Evenly sprinkle cheese on top of one dough square, buttered side up, then place a dough square, buttered side facing up, on top of the cheese. Sprinkle cheese on top of the butter. Repeat this process two more times, so that you have a stack of 4 pieces of dough. Cut the stack of dough in half.
6. Place the stacked dough, cut side facing up, into a greased 9×5 inch loaf pan. You should have two stacks of 4 that you place in the loaf pan.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 with the remaining dough. It gets tough to stack more pieces of dough, because the cheese falls out, hence why the dough is stacked in portions. Further, the dough is cut in half to expose a smooth, clean cut surface on top, which has the cheese exposed.
8. Once the dough is completely stacked in the pan, cover the pan with plastic wrap.
9. Preheat oven to 100F. Once the oven reaches the temperature, turn oven off. Place dough in warm oven and allow to rise for 20-25 minutes, or until the dough is near the top of the pan. Remove from the oven.
10. Preheat oven to 350F.
11. Brush the top of the dough with egg wash, then bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown on top. Allow bread to cool slightly in pan. Serve warm, and enjoy!
- Prep Time: 70
- Cook Time: 20
- Category: Bread
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
We have a lactose intolerance problem, can I sub with margarine and oat milk? (We rarely use lactose free products, but I’ll look for them if I have to) Thanks!
(Cheesy pull apart garlic bread)
Carlin,
Essentially the milk in this bread recipe helps to make the bread have a softer texture. I think if you substitute with just oat milk it will be fine. I don’t think you need to add any additional margarine. The only difference will be in the texture of the bread. Since I’ve never baked bread with oat milk I can’t say for certain how similar the texture will be, but the recipe will work! Oat milk is a great plant based milk to use in baking.
Hope that helps!
-Jolene
Could I use this same bread recipe to make pull apart bread with apples and cinnamon, etc? Do you think the bread ingredients would change?
Deborah,
Yes you definitely could! The bread ingredients should be fine as is :). Perhaps I will work on making one sometime soon! That’s a great idea. Hope you enjoy!
-Jolene