So, I had this idea the other night: That I could take my tried and true soft pretzel dough recipe and turn it into a pull apart bread, layered with garlic and herb butter, goat cheese, and sun-dried tomato. Well, I did it and guess what. It turned out even better than I could have imagined! I mean, just look at those layers and that wild, crazy top! So much fun and so delicious.
Like all yeast doughs, this takes a bit of time and planning
BUT - it is not difficult. The dough for this pull apart bread whips up in minutes, takes about an hour for the first rise, then we roll it out, fill it, slice, and stack. Then into the pan for a final rise before we bake it. Just give yourself plenty of time, read through the whole recipe before starting, and enjoy the process. I guarantee you will enjoy the final product!
Make this pull apart bread your own
If you aren't a fan of goat cheese, use cream cheese, feta, or boursin, or sprinkle in some shredded cheese. You really can have fun here and mix and match flavors that you love. Don't love basil? Use a different herb! Like I always tell you, let your imagination run wild! These are some of my favorite flavors and I think they all go so well together.
I should also mention, this same dough would make THE BEST sweet pull apart bread too. Cinnamon sugar, cream cheese and jam... I'm already dreaming up some ideas. Stay tuned.
I hope you'll give this pull apart bread a try! Let me know if you do by dropping a comment below or by tagging me on Instagram or Facebook. It's always so much fun seeing you make my recipes! Don't forget to save this for later; just click on any image to save to Pinterest.
Happy Baking! xo - Anita
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Sun-dried Tomato and Goat Cheese Pull Apart Bread
My tried and true soft pretzel dough layered with some of my favorite savory flavors and baked to perfection. This sun-dried tomato and goat cheese pull apart bread is so fun to make and eat!
- Total Time: 2 hours 45 minutes
- Yield: 1 loaf
Ingredients
For dough:
- 2 cups milk, heated to 100-110 degrees F
- ¼ cup honey or malt syrup
- 3 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 5 cups all purpose flour
- ½ stick butter, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
For filling:
- 4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled (I used plain, but feel free to use an herbed one or any savory flavor you like)
- ½ cup sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, blotted dry and chopped finely
- ¼ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- ½ cup fresh basil, chopped
For herb butter:
- ½ stick butter
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
Line a 5" x 10" loaf pan with a parchment paper sling, so that the middle and sides of the pan are covered and you have enough to hang over the long sides. This will be very useful for lifting the loaf out of the pan later. If using non-stick, no need to butter or spray the pan, but if not make sure to give it a good coating of oil, butter, or non-stick spray.
Set pan aside and proceed with recipe.
For the dough:
Place warm milk, honey, and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir to combine and let sit for 5-10 minutes until foamy.
Next, add flour, salt, and butter to bowl with yeast mixture and mix on medium speed until dough comes together. This should take about 5 minutes.
Cover bowl with a damp towel and allow dough to rise for one hour.
While dough is rising, get filling ingredients prepped.
For the butter mixture:
Place butter, herbs, and garlic powder in a small saucepan and melt over medium heat. Remove from heat once melted and allow to cool slightly.
Once dough has risen, turn dough out onto a lightly oiled surface.
Roll into a roughly 20 x 12 inch rectangle.
Brush dough generously with herb butter, reserving a bit to brush over after baking. (You could also brush some in the pan at this point if you wanted.)
Sprinkle over goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, parm, and basil and press down with your palms so the filling really sticks into the dough.
Next, using a pizza cutter, slice into 6 even strips in one direction, then 6 in the other direction. You will be left with 36 little squares. Stack them a few at a time and place vertically in loaf pan so when you look down on the pan you see all the layers. You'll have to really squeeze them in, but they will all fit. If you have any extra long pieces, trim them just a bit, but it's ok if they aren't all exactly the same size; that's part of the fun when it bakes! Some will droop over the ends, some will go left while others go right. It's meant to be imperfect and kind of wild after it bakes.
Once you have filled the pan, cover with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let rise for 30-60 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 during last 20 minutes of rising.
Brush top of dough gently with herb butter. Bake bread in center of oven on a baking sheet for 45 minutes until top is nicely browned.
Remove from oven and slather with remaining herb butter and let cool for 15 minutes in pan before transferring to cooling rack, plate, or serving board.
Enjoy!
Notes
It's so hard to give an exact time for rising dough. It depends on so many factors: the temperature and humidity of your kitchen, the time of year, your yeast, how long you kneaded the dough. A good indicator that your dough has risen sufficiently is to press it gently with your fingertip. If the indentation springs back at you, it needs more rising time. If the indentation stays, your dough is done rising.
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: yeast bread
- Method: baking
Marian R says
When you say stack the cube do you mean like Tetris or janga where they fit Perfectly together or just pile them on top of each other in an abstract way?
Anita Parris Soule | Cook on a Whim says
Hi Marian! Your comment made me giggle. I would say stack them as evenly as you can on top of each other - doesn't have to be perfect - and then place them in the pan so that the layers are visible when you look down at the top loaf pan. They will rise and flop on top of each other a bit, but if you look at the photos you'll see how the layers are arranged. I hope this helps! This recipe would benefit from some process shots for sure. Let me know if you need anything else! - Anita
egilbert6258 says
I love the way this bread has so much personality! It already sounds good just by it's name, but looks so good and very pull-apart-able. I've got to make this soon 🙂 Thanks Anita!