Pull-Apart Bread
The countdown is on to Thanksgiving, my favorite food holiday of the year.
If you have been following along with the blog, you know I say that exact thing every November.
Apologies for the repetition! But I have talked to other people who feel the same way.
Per usual, I have sides and dessert on the brain right now and of course bread.
It’s often a forgotten detail of a big meal.
Of course there’s nothing wrong with a store-bought loaf.
One of the best tips for any big meal is to figure out what shortcuts to take advantage of to relive some of the pressure of turning out a multi-dish meal.
If you are going to do homemade bread, then I say go all in.
A loaf of pull-apart bread is worthy of the extra work.
I try to figure out how to squeeze baking it in between all the classic oven hogs like turkey that take over on T-Day.
How To Make Pull-Apart Bread
The dough for pull-apart bread is enriched with milk and butter. After letting it rise, the real work starts.
Before tackling the dough, you make a fragrant garlic butter spread.
Then you roll out the dough and use a 3-inch round cookie cutter to cut out circles.
With the dough cutouts, you spread the garlic butter on one side and fold in half.
You tuck the half-moon garlic-buttered dough tightly into a loaf pan. A second rise happens after that, so the dough really puffs up.
The final result is a beautiful bread with buttery layers that lend themselves to sharing.
When my husband tried pull-apart bread for the first time, he said it was like the Pepperidge Farm rolls he loved as a kid. A definite compliment in my book!
No knife is required. Just a gentle tug and the loaf splits into individual slices.
PrintPull-Apart Bread
- Prep Time: 3 hours 30 minutes – 4 hours
- Cook Time: 30-40 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours – 4 hours 40 minutes
- Yield: 1 loaf 1x
Ingredients
For dough
1 cup milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
4 cups all-purpose flour plus more for work surface
1 tablespoon potato flour
For filling
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
In a large saucepan over low heat, warm the milk, butter, sugar and salt, stirring until the butter has melted. Allow the mixture to cool to lukewarm. Pour into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Add the eggs, yeast and flour. Mix on low for a couple minutes until the dough is shaggy. Increase the speed slightly and knead the dough until smooth and elastic, about 3-4 minutes. Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, cover and let rise for 1-1/2 to 2 hours until nearly doubled in volume.
While the dough is rising, make the filling in a small bowl by whisking together the butter, salt, garlic and parsley.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough until it is about 1/4-inch thick. Use a 3-inch round cookie cutter to cut out circles. Reroll the scraps and repeat. Spread the butter filling on one side of the circles and fold in half. Place in a greased 9-inch by 5-inch loaf pan round side up. Once the pan is full, cover with greased plastic wrap and let it puff up for 1-1/2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the bread for 30-40 minutes until golden brown. Let the bread cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan. Serve warm.
Notes
Adapted from King Arthur Flour
This sounds super tasty! But I don’t have a stand mixer. Is it very difficult to mix by hand? Thanks.
You can definitely do this without a mixer. You just need some elbow grease to knead it by hand. It’s always a good workout!
I made this for thanksgiving and it was a hit!! So yummy and really fun to make too 🙂 100% recommend!
That’s great. Thanks for letting me know! I made a loaf for our Thanksgiving dinner, too.
I baked this bread today, it’s delicious! Greetings from Poland 🙂
I’m so happy you liked it!!!