Cheese and Garlic Crack Bread (Pull Apart Bread)

This Cheese and Garlic Crack Bread is EPIC! “Crack bread” is an appropriate name for this because it’s garlic bread – on crack! It’s basically a cheesy garlic bread, but so much more delicious!!

Cheese, garlic and bread – you can’t go wrong. This is a great cost effective FUN centrepiece for your next gathering!

“You will never be able to look at garlic bread the same again….”

If you haven’t tried this Cheese and Garlic Crack Bread before, let me warn you now: garlic bread will never be the same again. It’s like a pull apart bread, but tastes like garlic bread plus you have the mozzarella cheese which stretches wonderfully as you pull bits off.

Pull Apart Garlic Pizza Bread – pizza version of Crack Bread!

This is INSANELY delicious. I especially love the way the bread is cut into diamond shapes so you can tear bite size pieces off. Every piece is garlicky and buttery and oh-so-cheesy…….

“Kids go NUTS over this….and grown ups turn INTO kids when they get stuck into this.”

This is one the kids go NUTS over, don’t say I didn’t warn you! And grown ups turn into little kids when they get stuck into this. I made this for a dinner and let me tell you, it took 5 hands about 30 seconds to demolish this!

The best bread to use for Cheese and Garlic Crack Bread is crusty sourdough or another dense type of bread, but it works well with plain crusty loaves as well. The reason it works better with sourdough is because the bread is denser so the bread tends to hold together better when you pull bits off. But believe me, there is no compromise on flavour if you use other types of bread! In fact, in the photo I chose to use a crusty Vienna loaf because it was on special.

And I really recommend using mozzarella cheese for this, you want it to stretch and pull when you tear the pieces off. I kept the flavours quite simple, going for a garlic bread with cheese, but you can go really wild with the flavours for this! Ranch dressing, kick of chilli, other herbs – the possibilities are endless!

More easy, cheesy goodness – No Washing Up Ham Egg Cheese Bread Bowls (only 330 cal!)

This is a great centrepiece for a dinner that could just be accompanied by a fresh salad to make a complete meal. Or as a fabulous appetiser or party food – think game day!

PS The best bit is the base of the bread….the butter and cheese drips to the bottom and it bakes so nice and crispy…..

PPS If you like cheesy things you can eat with your hands, you will probably also love these No Washing Up Ham Egg and Cheese Bowls (named as such because you won’t have to wash a single pot, pan, baking tray of any other kitchen utensil!)

4.89 from 92 votes

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Cheese and Garlic Crack Bread (Pull Apart Bread)

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

20 mins

Total Time

30 mins

 

This is garlic bread - on crack! Great to share with a crowd, or as a centre piece for dinner accompanied by a simple salad.

Course: Appetizer, Side Dish

Servings: 8 - 10

Calories: 191 kcal

Author: Nagi | RecipeTin Eats

Ingredients

• 1 crusty loaf , preferably sourdough or Vienna
• 3/4 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese (or other melting cheese)

Garlic Butter

• 100 g /3.5 oz / 7 tbsp unsalted butter , softened
• 2 large garlic cloves , minced
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley , finely chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.
2. Combine butter, garlic and salt in a heatproof bowl and melt in the microwave. Stir through parsley.
3. Cut the bread on a diagonal into 2cm/1" diamonds but do not cut all the way through the bread (just like you would cut a french stick for garlic bread).
4. Use your fingers or a knife to pry open each crack and drizzle in a teaspoon of butter and stuff in a pinch of cheese. This might sound like a bit of an effort, but I promise you it is worth it! You don't need to be super neat, it's nice to have some of the butter drizzled over the crust.
5. Wrap with foil and bake for 15minutes until the cheese has mostly melted, then unwrap and bake for 5 minutes more to make the bread nice and crusty.
6. Serve immediately.

Recipe Notes

1. To make ahead, after wrapping with foil, wrap with cling wrap as well. Store in fridge overnight or freeze to store for longer. To cook, thaw then follow recipe instructions to bake.

2. The denser the bread, the better the pieces will hold together when pulled off.

3. Use already baked bread, not uncooked bread dough.

4. **Update** A reader reminded me of a fabulous "SPEEDY" tip that I should share with you! Instead of melting the butter, cream it. Then cut diagonal slices (in one direction only) and use all the butter and generously spread it in each crack, on both walls. Then cut the bread to make diamonds and as you drag the knife through the bread, it will spread the butter into the new crevices you are cutting. This doesn't provide quite the same even coverage of butter but for a speedy version, it is a small compromise. Thank you to CJ for the tip!

5. Cheese and Garlic Crack Bread nutrition per serving, assuming this serves 10.

WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT

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