Garlic Parmesan Pull-Apart Bread

I once made the driest pancake in the world.

I can see you sitting at home, staring at your computer screen, and scoffing at my bold statement. Driest pancake in the world? Yeah, right. How would you even know? But this is the truth, my friends. I really did make the driest pancake in the world.

Let me share my story with you.

A few years back, I made chocolate chip pancakes. The process to create them was normal and they tasted all right. They weren't bad and they weren't good; I ate them in peace. There were a few leftovers so I stashed them in the refrigerator for breakfast the next day.

Quickly flash to the next morning. It's 6 am. I was tired. I had to get to class early and barely had enough brain power to microwave the leftover pancakes from the day before. I don't know about you, but my brain doesn't begin to work properly until at least 8 am. After a minute on high, I took them out and proceeded to take a bite. The texture seemed off and they were ice cold, as if the microwave hadn't heated them at all. I put them back in for another minute. I was too sleepy to question this strange occurrence; it was 6 am, no high school student can be expected to reason at this obscene hour of the day. After the minute was up, I pulled them back out.

Still cold.

Confusion.

Was the microwave broken? I warmed up a piece of bread to test my theory. In 20 seconds, the bread was piping hot. Why wasn't my pancake?

I got angry, as one will when they want food and want it now. I stuck them back in the microwave for 5 minutes. I remember feeling very clever—I was going to beat the pancake at its own game.

When I took it out, the pancake was slightly less cool. Not warm, not hot, and definitely not enough heat to burn my mouth. In fact, it was probably only warmer because it had been out of the fridge for 10 minutes. What was wrong with this pancake? Did it develop magical superpowers overnight? I trashed the pancake and ate the warm slice of plain bread while running out the door.

It took me a few hours to realize what had happened. Microwaves work by hitting food with, well, microwaves; the energy from the waves are then absorbed by water or fats in the food. This process heats up the food quickly, making microwaves a quick way to cook or warm up food.

It only stands to reason that my pancake was so utterly dry that there wasn't enough water in it to be absorbed by the microwaves. I've seen plastics with a higher water content!

Thus, the world's driest pancake was born.

And to think I took a bite...

Luckily, this Garlic Parmesan Pull-Apart Bread is definitely not dry. The loaf is made of small pieces of dough rolled in a garlic herb butter and sprinkled with freshly grated Parmesan cheese before heading to the oven to bake. When it emerges, the bread is so soft, tender, and packed with flavor. The bread pulls apart effortlessly, turning a solid loaf of bread into bite-sized pieces. This bread is best served with a side of marinara or tomato sauce.

One Year Ago: Chocolate Orange Miniature Cakes

Garlic Parmesan Pull-Apart Bread

Yields 1 loaf

2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 1/3 cups barely warm water
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
3 1/2 cups all purpose (or bread) flour
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the yeast and water. Let sit 5 minutes until yeast is foamy. Mix in the olive oil, salt, and flour. If you have a stand mixer, attach the dough hook and knead the dough for 5-6 minutes, or until elastic. If you are doing this by hand, knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until dough is elastic, 7-10 minutes. Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Allow to rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until dough is doubled in size.

In a small bowl, combine melted butter, parsley flakes, and minced garlic. Set aside.

Punch down the dough. Tear off small pieces of dough (roughly the size of the bowl of a medium spoon), coat in the butter mixture, and place in the bottom of a bundt pan. Repeat this process until you have one layer of dough balls. Sprinkle on 1/3 of the Parmesan cheese. Continue layering the dough balls and cheese until you have 3 layers. Cover the pan with a clean towel and allow to sit until dough has doubled in size, 20-30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until bread is golden brown. Serve hot with a side of marinara or tomato sauce.

Comments

[Tina]

Made this tonight and it was deeeelicious! My husband and I ate half the loaf at dinner but now we are wondering how to store it so it stays delicious for tomorrow's dinner. How do you store fresh bread?

[Kristin Rosenau]

Tina-- I stored the bread in an airtight container at room temperature and it kept well until the next day. I hope this helps!

[Julia]

Wow, this looks and sounds delicious. I've never made pull apart bread before but I obviously need to try it out if it can be this amazing :)

[Jennifer @ Peanut Butter and Peppers]

Your photos are gorgeous! Not to mention the bread looks so yummy! I have such a bread addiction, I bet I could eat the whole loaf!!

[Sheila]

We made this for Thanksgiving. It was delicious!! Thanks for the great recipe.

[Jennifer]

was the Parmesan supposed to have been added to the Garlic mixture? somehow I am missing it in the reading of the recipe instructions.

[Dawnielle Foussard]

I'm so glad I found this! I cannot wait to make it. My mom passed away two years ago and had no recipes, everything was in her head! She used to make this bread all the time and my son loved it and I haven't been able to duplicate (I didn't inherit my mom's mad cooking skills).

[vedette]

OH MY GOD, this looks so incredibly good. I really cannot wait to try this recipe out.

[Steph]

I am making this now, but only came up with two layers, hope it turns out OK!

[Erin @ Texanerin Baking]

That second picture is everything that's right in the world. That probably doesn't make sense but it does to me (at least at the moment!). I hope to have some people over soon so that I can make this. This is just too dangerous for me to make without guests. It looks amazing. Wonderful recipe and awesome pictures.

Have a happy new year!

[jodie]

Hi! I made this and it was so delish and looked BEAUTIFUL! Intead of taking the time to make homemade bread like you i took refridgerated biscuts, seperated them, and cut them in to 1/8ths dipped them in the butter garlic and baked as you said. I might not have been as tall as it could have been but it still tasted great :) this is a "keeper"

[mamawolfe]

Yum! Have you ever made these with premade bread rolls? I do a similar recipe with cinnamon and sugar...can't wait to try them!

[Katie@Paisley Print Shoes]

Hi! I came across this recipe on pinterest and made it last night - it was DELICIOUS!! I was wondering if it is ok for me to post one of your pictures on our blog with a link back to here for the recipe. I would of course give you credit for the photo as well.
Thanks for the recipe!!
Katie

[Darcie]

I have made this 2 times a we love it! Only thing is that I can never seem to get 3 layers I only have enough bread for 2 still tastes amazing tho!

[drea]

THIS RECIPE CHANGED MY LIFE!!!! I have to much gratitude for the person who invented this recipe.

Thank you x a million!

[Viola]

Amazing bread!! I'm new to using yeast though, so I had to try three different times to make it foamy :( turns out...you need sugar to have the yeast react and make it turn foamy. Something that should have probably been explained in the instructions...but other than that, AMAZING tasting!! Super yummy. :)

[Kristin Rosenau]

Viola-- You do not need sugar to activate the yeast. While sugar can help, if your yeast was not activating it may not be fresh or you were not allowing it enough time for it to do so. So, you don't need sugar for this!

[Hipstarz]

Made this and it was dee-lishous!! The only thing i changed was adding garlic plus seasoning and sprinkled in some orange cheese between the layers. Its the best spice ever invented and i think it was made for this recipe!

[Cristalee]

I just pulled this out of the over and pretty much can devour this entire thing by myself. I did make a few adjustments though. I used Asiago Cheese (I prefer it over Parmesan) & I also am not a fan of parsley, so I used an Italian spice that I had. I also just put it in a loaf pan which I wish I would have used something else because half way through baking a few pieces that were over the rim fell off and in the bottom of the my over. Bread has always been a hit or miss for me, but this bread rose well and stayed super moist.
This is definitely a keeper for me

[Jamie]

I just made this today and it was SO good! I substituted mozzerella cheese for parm and it was still delicious. Thanks for the recipe!

[Deanna]

This was absolutely unreal. Thank you so much for sharing!

[Ambika]

I am going to make this awesome looking bread! This week, maybe tomorrow! Absolutely stunning!!!

[kelly Moser]

made this recipe after I saw it on pinterest. It is excellent. I substituted garlic powder for minced garlic and basil ( dried) for parsley because my garlic was rotten and I had no parsley. Thanks for sharing!!!!!!

[Cheryl B.]

Hi Kristin ;->
I had pinned this posting on Pinterest, then I made it. Twice now! today I posted about all of it. If interested, you can see it here --> http://thebzhousethatlovebuilt.blogspot.com/2012/03/garlic-parmesan-pull-apart-bread.html

[Runi]

Hi, this bread recipe looks delicious but I can't seem to make the bread rise either. I'm trying it out nevertheless as we speak but I was just wondering:

You say one 1/3 cup of warm water and 2 tsp of active dry yeast. Would that be one sachet? And also the 1/3 cup of warm water wasn't enough liquid to hand knead the dough so I added a tsp more. I'm not sure where I'm going wrong :(.

[Kristin Rosenau]

Hi Runi-- That is one packet. I would add more water until the dough comes together. Baking can be imprecise sometimes and if you packed more flour in your measuring cups than I did, you'll need a little more water to even it out. Don't worry about it. Bread can be pretty forgiving.

[Nicole]

What's funny is I somehow read your post a loooong time ago, probably sometime at the end of last summer. I think I may have Stumbleuponed it. Even though I didn't remember your website or where I found the story, I never forgot your pancake story and I actually didn't know that microwaves cook the water content to heat things up. But after your pancake incident, I was much more cautious about my cooking ever since then.

I finally got a Pinterest account and here I am again, back on your page looking at the bread! It's amazing how things work out xD

Looks delicious! I am a college kid with a new kitchen so I can't wait to try new things!

[Jenny]

This is awesome! I have made monkey bread before using a {cheat} can of GRANDS. Although I consider myself to be very aquainted in the kitchen- I'm more of a cook than a baker.. I wonder if I could follow the same directions with the GRANDS simplifying it to just add the parm, EVOO, and garlic? I'm sure your made from scratch way is way better, I'm just a shortcut kind of girl, I guess, when it comes to stuff like this. (Hey, I have a 2 year old. Who am I kidding I generally take shortcuts with everything I can get away with) hmmmm... worth a shot! I'll let you know how it turns out!

[mub]

This was soooo yummy! I brought it to a potluck and everyone was raving about it. I used half whole wheat and half regular flour and just tossed things into the bread machine on the dough setting. Since I don't have a bundt pan, I just used a big glass bowl to bake it in and it worked just fine. Next time I think I'll add a tad more garlic but I like things really really garlicky.

[Sheila]

For some reason, I'm terrified of making yeast bread. That, or lazy. So.... The Bread for Dummies question is: Can I use something that comes from a Pillsbury tube or a frozen bread dough?

[Kristin Rosenau]

Sheila-- Feel free to use frozen bread dough or dough from Pillsbury tubes. The bread should turn out just fine. :)

[Nate]

Thanks so much for the recipe. We featured it in our weekly food trend blog post. You can check it out here. Thanks again!

http://blog.recipelion.com/food-trend-pull-apart-breads/

[PK]

This recipe was delicious!!! Thanks so much. We all (my husband, me and my 2 girls) loved it.

[Johnna]

My daughter forwarded my this recipe so we could make it together, it looked so good I couldnt wait for her to come over to make it....i have it cooking in the oven right now and it smells so good my mouth is watering.....cant wait to try it.. :)

[Kiley]

I just made these this morning and wow they are good! I made a little olive oil/cheese/herb dip for it, and that definitely kicked it up a notch as well. Thanks for the great recipe! :)

[jsoon]

I made this yesterday for a get-together and it was really good. My loaf rose beautifully, but when I took it out of the mold, it no longer had the shape of the small pull-apart balls, it melded together in a giant loaf, which was not bad either. How do you get it to keep the individual shapes and also mine came out very dense. Any ideas on how to make it fluffy?

[Angela]

Finally, a bread that I made that came out GOOD!! Thanks for the recipe!

[Sandy]

This look absolutely delicious and I'm thinking of making it tomorrow, served with some piping-hot tomato soup! Question: A previous comment asked for a gluten-free substitute flour. I'm interested in the same, but no reply comments were posted. Any tips?

[Kristin Rosenau]

Sandy--I have never worked with or have experience with gluten-free flour so I am not sure what you could substitute to get the right texture for a loaf of bread. I wish I could help!

[Christine]

Thanks a lot for this great recipe! I read it last week, made it yesterday and now it's my favorite bread to prepare for partys or weekends! I Love it!
Greetings from Aachen, Germany
Christine

[Alana]

Hello there,
I thought I should comment because I make this bread at least fortnightl and it always looks impressive and tastes delicious. Thanks so much for a great recipe.

[Mary]

Is it possible to make the dough successfully in a bread machine. I love making bread, but my time doesn't allow for me to do it any other way. Love the idea!!!!! Perfect for a casual cocktail party.

[Jim B.]

Thanks for this, is very good, just a few tips for the first timers. Let the dough rise in your oven with the light on, mine heats the
oven to 104 F. When baking watch as the top may turn a dark brown, to prevent this, cover the pan with either foil or
parchment paper half way through the baking time. Also don't be afraid to change the herb and spices. Stick to the basic recipe but
try changing the flavor to your own liking. Happy Baking.

[Rhea]

This recipe looks so good I can't wait to try it. Do you think it is possible to make the dough one night and then bake it the next?

[Kristin Rosenau]

Rhea-- You can make the dough up until the second rising the night before. So, once they are properly seasoned and in the bundt pan, cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise in the oven overnight. You can bake it the next day, but don't wait too long or the dough will become slightly sour from overrising.

[Antonia]

Made this last night and it's divine! Didn't have parmesan or parsley on hand, so I used cheddar and rosemary. I swear, baking bread has got to be one of THE most relaxing and rewarding activities. :)

[Catherine]

Can you substitute whole wheat flour?