This Cheese and Garlic Crack Bread is EPIC! “Crack bread” is an appropriate name for this because it’s garlic bread – on crack…..
It’s basically a cheesy garlic bread, but so much more fun AND delicious! Cheese, garlic and bread – in pull apart bread form. You can’t go wrong. Guaranteed to be the most popular thing at any gathering you take it to!
A CHEESY PULL APART GARLIC BREAD
“You will never be able to look at garlic bread the same again….”
If you haven’t tried this Cheese and Garlic Crack Bread before, let me warn you now: garlic bread will never be the same again. It’s like a pull apart bread, but tastes like garlic bread plus you have the mozzarella cheese which stretches wonderfully as you pull bits off.
This is INSANELY delicious. I especially love the way the bread is cut into diamond shapes so you can tear bite size pieces off. Every piece is garlicky and buttery and oh-so-cheesy…….
“Kids go NUTS over this…. and adults turn INTO kids when they get stuck into this!!”
This is one the kids go NUTS over, don’t say I didn’t warn you! And grown ups turn into little kids when they get stuck into this. I made this for a dinner and let me tell you, it took 5 hands about 30 seconds to demolish this!
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST CHEESY BREAD IN THE WORLD!
Best bread – The best bread to use for Cheese and Garlic Crack Bread is crusty sourdough or another dense type of bread, but it works well with plain crusty loaves as well.
The reason it works better with sourdough is because the bread is denser so the bread tends to hold together better when you pull bits off. But believe me, there is no compromise on flavour if you use other types of bread! In fact, in the photo I chose to use a crusty Vienna loaf because it was on special.
Best cheese – I really recommend using mozzarella cheese for this, you want it to stretch and pull when you tear the pieces off.
Other flavourings – I kept the flavours quite simple, going for a garlic bread with cheese, but you can go really wild with the flavours for this! Ranch dressing, kick of chilli, other herbs – the possibilities are endless!
When it comes out of the oven, it’s all golden, crusty and buttery on the inside and you know that’s just the start of the eating experience that’s about to commence….
….then the devouring begins…. that cheesy pull! That buttery, garlicky bread!! And yet, and yet, there’s even more to come….
THE BASE IS THE BEST BIT!!
Everybody goes so nuts over the cheese bits that you pull out, but my favourite part is the base of the bread. All the butter and cheese drips to the bottom and it bakes so nice and crispy…..
PULL APART BREAD for parties!
This is a great centrepiece for a dinner that could just be accompanied by a fresh salad to make a complete meal. Or as a fabulous appetiser or party food – think game day!
It’s by far the most requested party food by my family and friends. I usually make it at home then take it to the venue and bake it there. The best way to make ahead is to use softened butter instead of melted butter and slather it into the cracks, then stuff with cheese. Wrap and bake before serving.
But you can even bake it in advance then reheat quickly in the microwave as long as you use a crusty sourdough. The crust gets so crusty when you bake it, it stays crusty even if you reheat it in the microwave.
Go forth and enjoy! Make this cheesy garlic bread once, and you’ll be asked to make it again and again and again…. – Nagi x
CHEESE and GARLIC CRACK BREAD
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
Cheese and Garlic Crack Bread (Pull Apart Bread)
Ingredients
- 1 crusty loaf , preferably sourdough or Vienna
- 1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese (or other melting cheese)
Garlic Butter
- 100 g / 1 stick (8 tbsp) unsalted butter , softened
- 2 large garlic cloves , minced
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley , finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.
- Combine butter, garlic and salt in a heatproof bowl and melt in the microwave. Stir through parsley.
- Cut the bread on a diagonal into 2cm/1″ diamonds but do not cut all the way through the bread.
- Use your fingers or a knife to pry open each crack and drizzle in a teaspoon of butter and stuff in a pinch of cheese. This might sound like a bit of an effort, but I promise you it is worth it! You don’t need to be super neat, it’s nice to have some of the butter drizzled over the crust.
- Brush surface with remaining butter.
- Wrap with foil and bake for 20 minutes until the cheese has mostly melted, then unwrap and bake for 5 – 10 minutes more to make the bread nice and crusty.
- Serve immediately. (See note 1 for best make ahead methods)
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
Yesterday, today, tomorrow… #HardLifeOfDozer
Hi, would a small loaf of french bread work well with this recipe? Thank you!
Hi Shelli – it will be more difficult to cut into the “cracks” because french bread isn’t as wide but you won’t compromise on flavour! If you are using a french stick I would actually suggest just slicing it like traditional garlic bread then following the recipe for the garlic butter and cheese. 🙂
Thank you for the advice! Happy cooking!
This may sound like a stupid question but do you make this with bread dough or bread already baked from the bakery ?
Thanks
Hi Kayla! No such thing as a stupid question, means I haven’t written the recipe clearly enough! You use already baked bread from the bakery. I’ll update the recipe to make this clear! 🙂
Making this for Thanksgiving!!
Ooh, can I come over?? Thanksgiving in your household would be AWESOME!!
Hi Nagi!
This is such a fantastic recipe! My crack bread didn’t even make it onto a plate! Everyone could smell it’s sensational smell coming from the kitchen and ran in and ate it all off the cooking tray!
I then made it again with onion and bacon and it was amazing!
Thanks for sharing such a great recipe
Kirsten
Hi Kirsten! I am SO GLAD you enjoyed it so much!! And yes, the scene in my household is pretty much the same – it gets eaten straight off the baking tray with the foil still under it!! I’ve tried it with bacon too and it is sensational 🙂 Thanks so much for letting me know how much you enjoyed it!!
Hi Nagi,
I am really happy found your blog.
I have tried your pull apart bread recipe. And it was came out delicious even with simple ingredients. FYI, I have posted this recipe on my blog and link back to recipe tin eats. Thanks for sharing
I love your blog and I think I would love to try your other recipes. All your recipes look so yummy, your picture are awesome, really love them. Bookmarked already.
Thanks again for sharing.
Monica
Hi Monica! Thanks so much for our kind words. Popping over to your blog now to check out what you’re all about!
Please send me a copy of this crack garlic bread. This sounds beyond wonderful.
Hi Toni! I just emailed it to you 🙂 There is also an Email Recipe button at the bottom of every recipe so you can email them to yourself if you wish!
Please Email me a recipe of this bread , it looks so good. Thanks.
Done! Hope you enjoy it, love to hear what you think 🙂
My husband and I made this OH MY GOD I WILL NEVER LOOK AT GARLIC BREAD THE SAME WAY! It was amazing. Thank you for the recipe!
SO GLAD you enjoyed it!! I love your enthusiastic comment, you made my morning!!
Is there another herb you would suggest in place of garlic?
Hi Lori! Dried mixed herbs would go wonderfully with this. I would start with 1 tsp, see how strong it smells and if not strong enough, add another 1/2 tsp at a time until the strength of the fragrance is to your liking. Fresh herbs would also work but you’ll need double the quantity because the flavour is not as strong as dried herbs. Thyme and oregano would be very nice because they have a distinct flavour. Parsley does not have a strong enough flavour, and I don’t think basil is best for this recipe. Rosemary is too strong I think, though you could just use a small sprinkling of it (very finely chopped). The other option is to mix fresh herbs. Any combination of parsley with thyme and/or oregano, and a touch of rosemary would be lovely. Hope that helps!
Could you recommend a stronger cheese that still has the melting quality of mozzarella
Hi Rachel – sure! I choose mozzarella for this because I find the garlic butter has quite a strong flavour but you can definitely up it by using a stronger flavoured cheese! Provolone is a great substitute, emmenthal and gruyere are great too. In Australia where I live, these are more expensive than mozzarella. Tasty, cheddar, montgomery jack and other sharp cheese will definitely work in this, but you won’t get as much of the “stretch” that you see in the photo because though they melt well, they are not as elastic as mozzarella. The other option is to use a combination of cheeses. So you could use half mozzarella so you get the “stretch”, and half another type of cheese with a sharper, stronger flavour. That way you will get the best of both worlds! Hope that helps 🙂
Love the way you describe it – garlic bread on crack!! Looks super cheesy and yummy!
Can’t think of a better way to describe it!!
This may be a dumb question, but are you using dough or already made bread?
There is no such thing as a dumb question when it comes to cooking! It’s using already made bread 🙂 The denser (heavier) the bread the better because that way the pieces hold together better when you pull them out. Sourdough is great.
My former step mother in law used to make a similar bread. Her’s included chopped sautéd Vidalia onions. She would sauté them slowly in the butter and garlic. The onion was spooned in withe the butter. I like your idea of cutting into diamonds though better than just slicing straight. Either way it’s made, so so yummy.
Oooh, that’s taking this to the next level! I might trying adding onions to this next time, I know it would be fanatics. Plus maybe even bacon! 🙂
Bought everything making this tonight for dinner!!! I will let you know what my family thinks!!!
Please do! I will keep my fingers crossed that they approve 🙂
I couldn’t get this to print either! And it looks so good!
I’m so sorry, my website is struggling with the amount of traffic so I suspect the page didn’t load properly. I will email it to you!
yum!
Thanks Linda!
Out of this world fantastic . Good bye ordinary garlic bread . Thinking of using this for thank you’s . Presents beautifully on the table .
I’m alone so I used small loaf of sourdough bread and it was wonderful , fun also to make .
Definitely works with a small loaf! Though it keeps quite well, I was rather surprised! After baking it, I cut it up into chunks, cling wrapped it and even if you microwave it it stays quite crispy on the outside (assuming you used a heavy crusty bread like sourdough) but it works best in the oven (wrapped in foil). And it has to be cool before you wrap it. It was REALLY good even the day after. I tested freezing it and the crispiness didn’t hold up as well so to recrisp it I had to bake it to heat it up (in foil).
So much fun and easy to do . I used a small loaf of sourdough bread . Absolutely out of this world . Good bye to ordinary. garlic bread . Thinking of doing up a bunch for a special thank you gift .
I for one would love receiving this . By the way I’m alone so the small loaf is perfect for two .
This will be my go-to recipe when I make spaghetti next time. It’s so simple but so YUMMY. I’m usually horrible at cutting bread, I end up squashing it, but this looks simple enough!
Bolognaise + this crack bread is pretty much my idea of heaven……..!
You are amazing! How do you keep coming up with these fantastic ideas!? I don’t want this in my life, I NEED this in my life! I’m SO making this next spaghetti dinner!
With spaghetti? Ha! I love it! Go the carb overload!!