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This Pull Apart Pizza Bread is everything you love about pizza and garlic bread in one pan. Soft, buttery pieces are tossed in garlic butter, packed with your favorite toppings, and blanketed in mozzarella for a pull apart pizza bread recipe that vanishes fast. Serve with Cocktail Meatballs for an easy party pairing that is saucy, cheesy, and impossible to resist.
What Makes This Recipe Work
Pull Apart Pizza Bread bakes up with crisp edges and a soft, pullable center. Tossing the dough pieces in garlic butter coats every surface so the cheese melts evenly and every bite tastes like garlic butter pizza bread. It is simple to assemble and ready fast.
The method is flexible and forgiving. You can use homemade or store bought dough, swap in your favorite toppings, and serve it straight from the pan for easy sharing. This pull apart pizza bread recipe delivers all the fun of pull apart pizza with less mess and maximum cheese.
What Goes Into Pull Apart Pizza Bread
A handful of staples turns this Pull Apart Pizza Bread into a cheesy, pullable showstopper. Keep the loaf unsliced so the garlic butter and fillings can seep into every cut for true garlic butter pizza bread goodness.
- Pane Di Casa or Sourdough Loaf: A sturdy, unsliced crusty loaf holds the crosshatch cuts, soaks up flavor, and bakes up crisp outside and soft inside.
- Butter + Garlic: Melted butter mixed with crushed or minced garlic coats every nook for rich, savory flavor in each bite.
- Mozzarella: Low moisture shredded mozzarella melts smoothly and gives that stretchy pull without making the bread soggy.
- Pizza Sauce: A light brush adds classic pizzeria flavor and helps the toppings stick. Tuck mini pepperoni or your favorite veggies into the cuts.
Note: Please see recipe card at the bottom for a full list of ingredients with measurements.
How To Make Pull Apart Pizza Bread
- Preheat and Line: Heat oven to 176 C | 350 F. Line a baking tray with aluminium foil or parchment for easy cleanup and stable support.
- Make Garlic Butter: Stir melted butter and crushed garlic in a small bowl until combined. Set aside so the flavors marry while you prep.
- Score the Loaf: Place the unsliced loaf on a board. Slice diagonally almost to the base, leaving about 2 cm intact so the loaf holds together.
- Crosscut into Diamonds: Rotate the loaf and repeat diagonal cuts the other way to form diamond wedges. Hold gently to maintain shape and spacing.
- Add Butter and Sauce: Transfer the loaf to the lined tray. Drizzle half the garlic butter into the cuts, then spoon in pizza sauce to lightly coat.
- Load the Fillings: Tuck onion, tomato, mini pepperoni, and basil throughout the cuts. Sprinkle mozzarella over and into gaps for even melting.
- Season and Start Bake: Drizzle remaining garlic butter over the top and sprinkle Italian herbs. Cover loosely with foil and bake 15 to 20 minutes.
- Crisp, Melt, and Serve: Uncover and bake about 10 minutes until the crust is crunchy and the cheese is fully melted. Rest briefly, then pull apart.
Make it a little feast by pairing this Pull Apart Pizza Bread with 15 Minute Creamy Tomato Garlic Butter Shrimp so you can swipe every drop of sauce with the cheesy wedges. Add a cozy bowl of Creamy Roasted Tomato Basil Soup for classic dunking. Round it out with a fresh Pesto Grilled Chicken Avocado Salad to balance all that melty goodness with crisp greens and herby brightness.
Recipe FAQ’s
Yes. Store bought pizza dough works perfectly and keeps this pull apart pizza bread recipe fast. Let it sit at room temperature 30 to 45 minutes so it stretches without tearing.
Low moisture mozzarella gives the best stretch and browning. You can mix in a little provolone or Parmesan for extra flavor.
Drain wet toppings well and use low moisture cheese. Do not overpack the loaf so heat can circulate and crisp the crust.
Garlic Butter Pizza Pull Apart Bread
Ingredients
- 1 Pane Di Casa Vienna or Sourdough loaf of bread, unsliced
- 2/3 cup butter melted
- 4 cloves garlic crushed, or 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1/3 cup pizza sauce
- 1/4 red onion finely chopped
- 1 tomato large, ripe, finely chopped
- 3 1/2 ounces mini pepperoni slices
- fresh basil leaves finely shredded
- 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 tablespoon dried Italian herbs or Italian seasoning
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 176°C | 350°F degrees.
- In a small bowl, combine the melted butter and crushed garlic. Mix well to combine. Set aside.
- Place the loaf of bread on a chopping board. Using a sharp bread knife, cut the bread diagonally in rows across the top, down to 1-inches (2 cm) above the base in depth. (Be careful not to cut through to the base of the loaf.) Holding the bread firmly and gently over the top, cut through in rows in the other direction to create diamond shaped wedges.
- Transfer to a baking sheet / tray lined with aluminium foil, or parchment paper.
- Drizzle half of the garlic butter in between each wedge, followed by the pizza sauce. (It doesn’t need to be neat!)
- Follow with the onions, tomatoes, pepperoni slices, basil, and cheese.
- Drizzle the remaining garlic butter over the top of bread and top with the Italian herbs (or seasoning).
- Cover with foil and bake for 15 – 20 minutes, or until cheese has started to melted.
- Uncover and bake for a further 10 minutes, or until bread is crunchy and the cheese has melted all the way through.
- Remove and allow to cool slightly before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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What an awesome collection of recipes! I’ve found several that I would like to save to Pinterest. However, I can not find a link to do that on your site. I have printed the recipes but would love to be able to save them so that I can access them on Pinterest wherever I am & not have to take the printed recipes with me. Am I missing something?
Oh my damn…sooooo good. My family attacked this pull apart pizza bread like they had never eaten before! The recipe is a little time consuming, stuffing all the ingredients in between the slits, but so worth it. This recipe is definitely a keeper!
Everybody loved it!
Hi! Instead of a Roma tomatoe can you use homemade pizza sauce?!
That’s what I used and it was great!
I am from Suriname, South America. I made this pizza bread yesterday and it was so delicious. Everybody loved it. I am pleasantly surprised to find so many chicken recipes on your website, as we eat a lot of chicken in Suriname. I already tried some of the roasted chicken recipes and they were all very very good. Thank you very much for sharing your recipes. This is my number 1 website for recipes. Widjai
Yumm????
OMG!!! I can wait to start preparing this amazing garlic butter pizza recipe. When I’m done I will definitely add some pictures of mine. Thank you for this amazing recipe.
I love these ingredients but have no luck cutting the bread. I get about 1/3 of the way through the second set of slicing and the bread just falls apart (I don’t cut all the way thru). Any suggestions?
Your either using too soft of bread, or not a sharp enough knife
Thank you for this recipe. I love reading and making them. I’m serving this with tonight’s dinner.
My kids would kiss me on the lips is I made this!