Cheesy Pull-Apart Bread
Drenched with garlic butter and stuffed with cheddar, Swiss, and bacon, this decadent Pull-Apart Bread will be the warm, cheesy star of your Super Bowl party or any gathering!
Servings 8 servings
Calories 610kcal
Ingredients
- 1 large loaf of French Italian or sourdough bread (I used a round loaf that weighed just under 2 pounds)
- ½ cup (1 stick) butter melted
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- 2 to 4 teaspoons fresh minced garlic
- 8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese shredded
- 8 ounces Swiss cheese shredded
- 8 slices bacon cooked until crisp and diced into small pieces
- Fresh parsley or chopped green onions for garnish optional
Instructions
- Place oven rack just below the center position. Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Lay bread on a cutting board. Use a bread knife to make diagonal cuts down through the top of the bread, leaving the crust intact. Repeat across the entire surface of the bread, making the cuts approximately one inch apart. Turn the bread 90 degrees and make a set of perpendicular cuts. When you are finished, the surface of the bread should be cross-hatched into 1-inch squares.
- Stir garlic salt into melted butter. With a basting brush, basting syringe, or spoon, drizzle the melted butter down into the bread between all of the cracks until all butter has been used.
- In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Use the side of a knife or the back of a spoon to mash minced garlic into somewhat of a paste. Mix garlic into cream cheese. Stir in cheddar, Swiss, and diced bacon and mix until well blended. Stuff clumps of cheese mixture down into all of the cracks of the bread.
- Lay a long piece of foil on the counter horizontally, and then lay a second long piece of foil on top of it vertically. Center the stuffed loaf of bread on the foil and wrap. Bake for 20 minutes, then open up the top of the foil and bake for another 10 minutes or until cheese is entirely melted. Watch carefully once foil is open to ensure that the top of the bread is not browning too much. Serve hot.
Notes
- If you use a smaller loaf of bread, you will obviously need to cut back on the amount of cheese/other ingredients that you use.
- How much fresh garlic you use should be dictated by how much you like it! I used 4 teaspoons and the bread was pretty garlicky, but it was perfect for my family because we are all big fans of garlic.
- I found that the cream cheese acts as a binder for the cheese and bacon and makes it easier to stuff everything into the grooves of the bread and have it actually stay in the right place.
Nutrition
Calories: 610kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 24g | Fat: 43g | Saturated Fat: 24g | Cholesterol: 116mg | Sodium: 1070mg | Potassium: 177mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 1070IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 469mg | Iron: 2.2mg