Cheesy Pull-Apart Bread

Superbowl is coming on Sunday, and it's the best excuse to eat "bad for us food", drink lots of beer and sit with good company.  Here's a recipe we're going to be making this Sunday.


If the prospect of filling your belly with nothing more than carbs and cheese excites you as much as it excites me, then you need to run, not walk, into the kitchen and make this bread. I am the certified queen of the carbs and cheese combo. Give me a loaf of bread and a hunk of cheese and I’m all set. Imagine cheesy garlic bread on steroids… that you can pull apart with your fingers. Yes, it’s every bit as amazing as you’re imagining it to be.


The best part about this little gem? It’s seriously the easiest thing to prepare.
Take one loaf of bread… cut it up into a grid pattern… pour a mixture of melted butter, garlic and scallions into all of the crevices, cover with foil and bake.
Take it out of the oven… stuff and cover it in shredded cheeses and pop it back into the oven, uncovered.

Voila! Crusty, cheesy awesomeness, right on your kitchen counter.

You don’t need me to tell you that you won’t be able to stop eating this. I dare you to try. Three of us demolished this entire loaf and, truth be told, it would have been very easy for only two of us to do it. In situations like this, it’s a good thing that I was taught to share at an early age.
I’m looking forward to consuming many, many more loaves of this cheesy bread. You owe it to yourself and those you feed to make at least one!

Cheesy Pull-Apart Bread

Yield: 4 to 8 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes

This cheesy pull-apart bread has been made in countless forms; this cheesy garlic version is my favorite.

Ingredients:

1 large loaf or boule-style Italian bread (Sourdough or French could also work)
½ cup butter (unsalted or salted is fine), melted
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bunch scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced
8 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded (about 2 cups)
8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (about 2 cups)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a sheet of heavy-duty foil with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
2. Cut a cross-hatch pattern into the top of the bread by slicing ½-inch grid lines into the bread, stopping about ¼-inch from the bottom of the bread so that it stays together. Place the bread on the piece of foil that has been sprayed.
3. Stir together the melted butter, garlic and scallions.
4. Gently separate the bread with your fingers, then spoon the butter mixture in all of the seams, making sure it is evenly distributed among the whole loaf. Wrap the loaf up in the foil and place on a baking stone or directly on the oven rack and bake for 10 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven and increase the oven temperature to 425 degrees F.
6. Open the foil and sprinkle the shredded cheese on top of the bread. There will be a lot of cheese, so try to push down as much as you can in between all of the crevices in the bread. Leave the foil open and return it to the oven. Bake until the cheese is completely melted, bubbling and starting to brown on top, about 15 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving, then dig in!