Homemade Garlic Cheese Pull Apart Bread
Homemade Garlic Cheese Pull Apart Bread
This Homemade Garlic Cheese Pull Apart Bread is unbelievably soft, fluffy, buttery, and loaded with melted cheese between every layer. The homemade yeast dough is made with a tangzhong, which gives the bread an incredibly tender, pillowy texture that stays soft long after it comes out of the oven.
Instead of shaping the dough into a traditional loaf, the dough is rolled out, cut into squares, and stacked in a loaf pan. Each layer is brushed generously with seasoned garlic butter and filled with white cheddar and Parmesan cheese.
As the bread bakes, the dough rises into a beautiful golden loaf with cheesy, buttery layers that can literally be pulled apart piece by piece.
Serve it warm from the oven alongside pasta, soup, lasagna, or your favorite Italian dinner—or just set it in the middle of the table and watch it disappear.
Why You’ll Love This Garlic Cheese Pull Apart Bread
This bread is all about the layers.
Rather than brushing garlic butter over the top of an ordinary loaf, the garlic butter and cheese are tucked between the individual pieces of dough. That means almost every piece you pull from the loaf has buttery garlic seasoning, melted white cheddar, and Parmesan attached to it.
The tangzhong makes a big difference, too. Cooking a small portion of the flour and milk before preparing the dough helps create an exceptionally soft bread with a tender, almost cloud-like interior.
It looks impressive when it comes out of the oven, but the process is surprisingly simple.
Servings: 8–10
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Rise Time: About 1 hour 30 minutes
Bake Time: 30–35 minutes
Total Time: About 2 hours 35 minutes
Oven Temperature: 350°F
Ingredients
Tangzhong
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup whole milk
Bread Dough
- Prepared tangzhong
- 3/4 cup whole milk, warm
- 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast or instant yeast
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 3 tablespoons butter, softened
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus additional as needed
- 1 teaspoon salt
Garlic Butter
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted
- 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley, optional
- Pinch of salt
Cheese Filling
- 1 1/2 cups freshly shredded white cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
For Finishing
- 1–2 tablespoons melted butter
- Additional grated Parmesan
- Chopped fresh parsley, optional
Make the Tangzhong
Add 3 tablespoons flour and 1/2 cup milk to a small saucepan.
Whisk until smooth.
Place the saucepan over medium-low heat and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens into a smooth paste.
This should only take a few minutes.
Once the whisk begins leaving visible lines through the mixture and it has a pudding-like consistency, remove the pan from the heat.
Transfer the tangzhong to a small bowl and allow it to cool until just warm.
Prepare the Bread Dough
Add the warm milk, sugar, and yeast to the bowl of a stand mixer.
If using active dry yeast, allow the mixture to sit for about 5–10 minutes, or until it becomes foamy.
Add the cooled tangzhong, egg, and softened butter.
Mix briefly to combine.
Add the flour and salt.
Using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until a shaggy dough begins to form.
Increase to medium-low speed and knead for approximately 7–9 minutes, or until the dough is smooth, elastic, and slightly tacky.
Avoid adding too much additional flour. A slightly tacky dough will produce a softer finished bread.
If the dough is extremely sticky after several minutes of kneading, add additional flour 1 tablespoon at a time.
First Rise
Lightly grease a large bowl.
Shape the dough into a ball and place it in the bowl, turning once to lightly coat the surface.
Cover with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel.
Allow the dough to rise in a warm place for approximately 60–90 minutes, or until doubled in size.
Make the Garlic Butter
While the dough rises, prepare the garlic butter.
Combine the melted butter, minced garlic, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, onion powder, parsley, and a small pinch of salt.
Stir until thoroughly combined.
Set aside.
Prepare the Cheese
Combine the shredded white cheddar and grated Parmesan in a bowl.
Freshly shredded cheese works particularly well because it melts smoothly between the layers of dough.
Set the cheese aside while you shape the bread.
Roll Out the Dough
Once the dough has doubled in size, gently punch it down and transfer it to a lightly floured work surface.
Roll the dough into a large rectangle approximately 12 x 18 inches.
Brush the entire surface generously with the prepared garlic butter.
Sprinkle the white cheddar and Parmesan evenly over the dough, pressing the cheese down gently so it stays in place.
Cut the Dough Into Squares
Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut the dough into approximately equal squares.
The exact size doesn’t need to be perfect. Aim for pieces that will fit comfortably upright in your loaf pan.
A good method is to cut the dough into long strips first and then cut each strip into squares or rectangles.
Stack the Garlic Cheese Bread
Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with butter or nonstick cooking spray.
Stack several pieces of dough on top of one another.
Turn the loaf pan onto its short end and place the stack inside.
Continue stacking the dough pieces until the loaf pan is filled.
Return the loaf pan to its normal position.
The dough pieces don’t need to look perfectly uniform. In fact, slightly uneven layers create the rustic pull-apart appearance once the bread rises and bakes.
If you have any garlic butter remaining, brush a little over the top.
Second Rise
Cover the loaf pan loosely with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap.
Allow the bread to rise for approximately 30–45 minutes, or until the dough looks noticeably puffy and has expanded to fill the loaf pan.
While the bread rises, preheat the oven to 350°F.
Bake the Pull Apart Bread
Place the loaf pan in the preheated oven.
Bake for approximately 30–35 minutes, or until the top is deeply golden brown and the bread is baked through in the center.
If the top begins browning too quickly before the center is finished, loosely tent the loaf with aluminum foil for the remaining baking time.
For the most accurate result, the center of a fully baked enriched yeast bread should be around 190°F when checked with an instant-read thermometer.
Finish with Garlic Butter
Remove the bread from the oven.
Immediately brush the top with a little additional melted butter.
Sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan and chopped parsley if desired.
Allow the bread to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before carefully removing it.
Serve warm.
What Is Tangzhong?
Tangzhong is a simple technique that involves cooking a small amount of flour with liquid before adding it to bread dough.
The mixture thickens into a paste before being incorporated into the remaining dough ingredients.
It may sound like an unnecessary extra step, but it makes a noticeable difference in homemade bread.
The finished bread is exceptionally soft, fluffy, and tender, which makes the technique especially good for pull-apart bread.
Why Tangzhong Works So Well for Pull Apart Bread
Pull-apart bread needs to be sturdy enough to hold all of those cheesy layers while still being soft enough to tear apart easily.
Tangzhong dough gives you both.
The outside becomes beautifully golden while the individual pieces inside remain pillowy and tender.
Because the dough stays soft, the bread is also delicious after it has cooled instead of becoming dry and tough quickly.
Don’t Add Too Much Flour
One of the easiest ways to turn fluffy homemade bread into dense bread is adding too much flour.
The dough should feel soft and slightly tacky after kneading.
If it’s sticking heavily to everything after several minutes of kneading, add a little more flour. But add it gradually—a tablespoon at a time rather than dumping in another half cup.
A soft dough will give you a much softer loaf.
Why White Cheddar?
White cheddar gives this bread a rich cheesy flavor without overpowering the garlic butter.
It also looks beautiful melted between the layers of golden bread.
For the best melting texture, buy a block of white cheddar and shred it yourself.
Pre-shredded cheese will work when you’re short on time, but freshly grated cheese generally melts more smoothly.
Parmesan Adds Even More Flavor
White cheddar provides the gooey melted cheese, while Parmesan adds a salty, nutty flavor.
Using both gives the bread much more depth than using a single cheese.
Make sure some of the Parmesan gets all the way to the edges of the dough so you get those delicious crispy cheese pieces around the outside of the loaf.
How to Stack Pull Apart Bread
Don’t worry about creating a perfectly neat loaf.
Once the dough has been covered with garlic butter and cheese, cut it into squares or rectangles.
Stack several pieces together and place them upright in the loaf pan.
Continue adding stacks until the pan is filled.
Leave a little room for expansion because the dough will rise again before baking and continue expanding in the oven.
As the bread bakes, those individual pieces become the pull-apart layers.
How Do You Know When Pull Apart Bread Is Done?
Because this is a thick loaf filled with butter and cheese, the outside can look finished before the center is completely baked.
Look for a deeply golden top rather than a pale one.
You can also gently separate two center pieces to check the dough. It should look fluffy and baked rather than wet or doughy.
For the most reliable test, use an instant-read thermometer. The center should reach approximately 190°F.
What to Serve with Garlic Cheese Pull Apart Bread
This bread is made for Italian-inspired dinners.
Serve it with:
- Spaghetti and meatballs
- Lasagna
- Chicken Parmesan
- Baked ziti
- Fettuccine Alfredo
- Tomato soup
- Chicken noodle soup
- Minestrone
- Chili
- Caesar salad
It’s also perfect for dipping into warm marinara sauce.
Make It Extra Garlicky
For serious garlic lovers, brush the hot loaf with another batch of garlic butter immediately after it comes out of the oven.
Combine melted butter with a little minced garlic, garlic powder, and parsley and brush it generously over the golden top.
Finish with grated Parmesan.
The warm bread absorbs some of the butter while keeping that glossy, garlicky finish on top.
Can I Use Mozzarella?
Absolutely.
White cheddar gives the bread a stronger cheese flavor, but mozzarella will give you those dramatic stretchy cheese pulls.
You can replace part of the white cheddar with low-moisture mozzarella or use a combination of all three cheeses:
white cheddar + mozzarella + Parmesan.
That combination gives you sharp cheese flavor, stretchy melted cheese, and salty Parmesan.
Can I Make Pull Apart Bread Ahead of Time?
The dough can be prepared ahead of time.
After the first rise, assemble the bread in the loaf pan, cover tightly, and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, remove the loaf from the refrigerator and allow it to come closer to room temperature and become visibly puffy before baking.
Because the dough is cold, the second rise may take longer.
How to Store Garlic Cheese Pull Apart Bread
Allow leftover bread to cool completely and store it tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to 3–4 days.
Reheat individual pieces briefly in the microwave or warm several pieces in the oven until the cheese softens and the bread is heated through.
This bread is definitely at its best served warm.
The Ultimate Homemade Cheesy Garlic Bread
This Homemade Garlic Cheese Pull Apart Bread takes garlic bread to an entirely different level.
The tangzhong creates an incredibly soft and fluffy homemade bread, while stacking the dough with seasoned garlic butter, white cheddar, and Parmesan puts flavor between every single layer.
Pull off a warm piece and you’ll get buttery garlic bread, melted cheese, crispy Parmesan edges, and that pillowy homemade dough all in one bite.
Set the whole golden loaf on the dinner table while it’s still warm and let everyone pull off their own cheesy, garlicky piece.
