Aaaaand back to baking! First up, pull apart pesto bread.
Side note: I am exhausted. We've been landscaping and I'm absolutely done in. It is horrendously difficult taking grass out without any kind of automated machine so I'm going to keep this post short and sweet (and get back to my couch nap).
Let's get to it. I nabbed and adapted this little peach of a recipe from Martha Stewart. I've made pull apart bread before but I just LOVED how this one looks like a sliced loaf right out of the oven! You roll out the dough into a rectangle, slice up squares, roll up the squares and then pop them in the loaf pan. GENIUS right???
As for the adaptations, I thought the original recipe was a bit on the eggy side, so I used just 1 egg in my recipe (Martha's recipe is for two loaves but uses 3 eggs). I also did a little more flour with a little less sugar.
Also, I switched out her herbed butter garlic spread for straight up basil pesto. A little more flavor!
Now it may sound complicated to cut the dough right but it's secretly super simple. Quick set of how to pictures to help:
PS. I halved the recipe because sometimes you just don't need two loaves of pull apart pesto bread when you're in self isolation trying not to eat every carb in the universe in one sitting.
To clarify, sometimes you do and I can promise you no judgement here! Nab the recipe below 😊.
Pull Apart Pesto Bread
- Total Time: 3 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 1 loaf 1x
Description
Much easier than it looks pull apart bread recipe from scratch with delicious pesto flavor in every bite!
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast (1 packet)
- ¼ cup water between 110 and 115°F.
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1 egg, whisked
- 3 cups unbleached, all purpose flour
- ¼ cup store bought or homemade pesto
- Optional: Extra 1-2 tablespoons melted butter and fresh chopped parsley for brushing
Get Recipe Ingredients
Instructions
- Activate the yeast: Pour warm water into the bowl of a standing mixer. Sprinkle yeast on top. Add sugar and give the mixture a small stir. Cover with towel and let sit for 10 minutes. Be patient! If yeast is activated, you will see foam on top of the mixture, and even a few small bubbles. Also, if you take sniff, it will smell very much like yeast.
- Fit mixer with dough hook attachment. Add the butter, egg, milk and salt to the bowl. Mix together on a low speed until combined.
- Still on a low speed, add flour 1 cup at a time and mix until just combined. Once all the flour is combined in the bowl, turn the mixing speed up to medium until it forms a soft dough, about 1 minute.
- Turn the speed up to medium high and mix for 4-5 minutes until the dough is elastic (this is kneading your dough).
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Grease a large bowl with a little butter (you can use the same bowl you made the dough in). Form the dough into a ball and place in the greased bowl. Cover with saran wrap or a towel and let rise in a warm place or in a bread proofer, until it has doubled in size, about 2 hours.
- Grease a 9X5 bread pan.Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll into a 8X12 inch rectangle. Spread pesto over dough in an even layer. Cut the dough lengthwise into 3 equal strips. Cut the dough crosswise in half. This will give you 6 4-inch squares. Fold each square in half, and place in pan, folded side on the bottom with the open (pesto visible) side on the top (pictures added in Notes).*
- Cover pan with saran wrap and let rest in a warm place for 25-30 minutes until it does not spring back when pressed with a finger.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake bread for 25-30 minutes until top is golden. Let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Brush with melted butter and parsley if using. Serve warm!
Notes
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
Dan Langholff says
Just drooling on my face mask.
Aberdeen says
😆 no higher praise than that!