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This Cheesy Pull Apart Bread is everything you crave in a comfort food—warm, gooey, and packed with chessy goodness in every bite. Golden on the outside and soft on the inside, it’s made for tearing, sharing, and dipping into your favorite sauces. Whether you’re feeding a crowd or treating yourself, this pull apart masterpiece never dissapoints.
Inspired by the flavors of pull apart bread pizza and the stretchiness of classic pull apart cheese bread, this easy pull apart bread recipe takes things to the next level. You can stuff it with mozzarella, pepperoni, garlic butter, or anything your snack-loving heart desires. Just bake, pull, and watch it dissapear in minutes.
What Makes This Cheesy Pizza Pull Apart Bread Work
This Cheesy Pull Apart Bread is all about simple technique with big payoff. Deep crosshatch cuts let cheese, garlic butter, and herbs melt right into the loaf, delivering maximum flavor in every pull-apart bite. The crust gets golden and crisp while the inside stays warm and fluffy.
What Goes Into This Cheesy Pizza Pull Apart Bread
This Cheesy Pull Apart Bread keeps things simple but packs in tons of flavor. With just a few fresh and pantry-staple ingredients, you can turn a humble loaf of bread into a melty, savory, pull-apart masterpiece.
- Sourdough Bread: Choose unsliced round or oval loaves with a crusty exterior—perfect for holding in all that melted cheese and flavor.
- Mozzarella Cheese: Thinly sliced mozzarella melts beautifully into every crack and crevice for that irresistible cheesy pull.
- Garlic Butter: Melted garlic butter (or garlic-infused olive oil) soaks into the bread for rich, savory flavor in every bite.
- Italian Pizza Herbs: A dried seasoning blend that gives this bread its pizza-like aroma and a bold herby finish.
Note: Please see recipe card at the bottom for a full list of ingredients with measurements.
How To Make This Cheesy Pizza Pull Apart Bread
- Preheat the Oven Set your oven to 350°F (176°C) and lightly grease a baking tray with cooking spray to prevent the bread from sticking.
- Prepare the Bread Place the unsliced sourdough loaves on the tray. Use a sharp knife to cut lengthwise rows, stopping just above the base. Rotate and repeat widthwise to create a crosshatch pattern.
- Add the Fillings Stuff chopped red onions into the cuts first, followed by tomatoes, then slices of mozzarella. Gently press the ingredients down into the bread to fill all the gaps.
- Add Garlic Butter Drizzle melted garlic butter or garlic infused olive oil generously into each cut and across the top of the bread.
- Season the Loaves Sprinkle Italian pizza herbs all over the loaves, making sure the seasoning gets into the crevices for extra flavor.
- Cover and Bake Cover the loaves lossely with foil and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and the bread is heated through.
- Uncover and Crisp Remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes, until the tops are golden and crispy.
- Cool and Serve Let the loaves cool slightly before pulling them apart. Serve warm and enjoy each cheesy, flavorful wedge!
This Cheesy Pull Apart Bread is a crowd-pleaser on its own, but it’s even better alongside hearty mains or dipping sauces. Pair it with comforting classics like Lasagna Soup, Creamy Chicken with Herbs, or Bake Ziti for the ultimate cozy dinner spread. It also makes the perfect side for Garlic Steak & Potatoes—the gooey, garlicky cheese soaks up every bit of that juicy steak flavor for an irresistible combo.
Want to keep things casual? Serve it with Marinara Sauce, Pesto, or a Spicy Garlic Aioli for dipping. It also makes a great sidekick for game day eats like Sticky Thai Chicken Wings, Grilled Sausages, or Big Italian Chopped Salad to balance all that melty goodness. For something fun, make my Focaccia Pizza. Trust me, once you try it, you never go back.
Recipe FAQ’s
Yes! While sourdough holds its shape well, you can also use crusty Italian loaves. French bread, or even ciabatta. Just avoid soft sandwich bread—it won’t hold up to the stuffing and baking.
Mozzarella melts beautifully and gives that classic cheese pull, but you can mix in cheddar, provolone, or Monterey Jack for extra flavor.
You can prep the bread a few hours in advance. Stuff and season it, then cover tightly with foil and refrigerate. Bake just before serving for best results.
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Cheesy Pizza Pull Apart Bread
Ingredients
- 2 loaves sourdough bread (unsliced)
- 10 oz mozzarella cheese thinly sliced
- 2 medium tomatoes thinely chopped
- 1/2 medium red onion finely chopped
- 10 leaves basil shredded or chopped finely
- 1/3 cup garlic butter melted (or 1/4 cup garlic olive oil)
- 1/4 cup Italian pizza herbs (dried seasoning)
- Optional add in: pepperoni slices
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 176C℃ | 350F℉ degrees.
- Place the loaves on a lightly greased baking tray (I use cooking oil spray). With a sharp knife, cut the bread in rows lengthwise being careful not to cut through to the base of the loaf. Holding the bread over the top, cut across into it widthwise, again about 1cm above the base crust.
- Insert onions first into each slice/wedge, then tomatoes, and finally cheese. Push all ingredients down into the bread really well.
- Drizzle the garlic butter or garlic oil into each cut and over the top of bread. Sprinkle with the italian pizza herbs.
- Cover with foil and bake for 15 – 20 minutes, or until cheese has melted.
- Uncover and bake again for a further 10 minutes, or until bread has turned golden and crispy.
- Remove and allow to cool before ripping it apart and devouring each wedge!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hello:
Do you have a recipe for garlic olive oil- the alternative to the garlic butter? Would you believe that I don’t like butter , haha!!!!
Is the bread already baked?
Yes
Great recipe, awesome bokeh!
Why, thank you!
Oh my word, I need this in my life! Seriously!!!
haha seriously!