Parmesan Pull-apart Bread

This Parmesan pull-apart bread, with butter, onion flakes, dill seeds, and fresh parsley is completely irresistible. 

Between each layer of soft homemade bread enjoy a buttery mix of Parmesan cheese, lots of garlic, dried onions, dill seed, and a big handful of fresh parsley, this loaf will call your name. It's really hard to resist pulling off layer after layer to enjoy while the loaf is still warm. 

Years ago, when I was a new mom, my mother gave me two cookbooks. One is called "Come for Lunch," and the other is "Come for Dinner." 

Remember those spiral bound collections of personal recipes put together to raise money for a school or a charity? That's what these are. To quote from Come for Lunch, "Assembled in this modest cookbook is a collection of tried and proven recipes particularly suited to noontime entertaining...... We have tried to make it a bit easier for the harried hostess who finds she has invited a number of her friends to COME FOR LUNCH." 

Most of the recipes in these books involve a can of cream of something soup and the names of the dishes and include words such as "supreme, medley, fiesta, and princess." It was a different time. I always wondered what it would be like to have a bunch of ladies over for lunch and maybe have a standing Thursday bridge game. 

There is one recipe that I have made over and over, mostly for holidays. You take a can of refrigerated buttermilk biscuits, cut them into quarters, and toss them in melted butter, parmesan cheese (from the green can), dried parsley, dill seeds, garlic powder, and onion flakes and then bake them in a metal pie pan. They are goooooood. Ever since I started baking bread from scratch, I've been thinking about how to interpret that recipe.

This bread, beginning with homemade bread dough served pull-apart style, is my interpretation of the cookbook recipe, and it is even better. The bread dough is enriched and the filling includes fresh Parmesan and lots of fresh parsley. 

Ingredients:

For the Bread Dough: Bread flour, sugar (a small amount to boost the yeast), instant yeast, salt, unsalted butter, milk, and eggs. 

Fresh Parsley: Instead of the dried parsley in the original recipe, you will need 3/4 cup of chopped fresh Italian parsley (flat leaf). 

Parmesan Cheese: Instead of the stuff in the green can, grate your own. 

Garlic: Instead of garlic powder, use fresh minced garlic. 

Butter: For the filling, I used salted butter. 

Dill Seed: From the original recipe. It's an ingredient often used to make bread or pickles. 

Dried Onion: Also used in the original recipe. They are rehydrated in the melted butter and add a wonderful onion flavor. 

Procedure to Make this Bread:

This dough is super easy to make and will rise fairly quickly. You can also break into the loaf while it is still warm! Just let it sit for 20 minutes... if you can. 

First, combine the dough ingredients and knead it for just a few minutes. You start with a smaller amount of flour and add more until you have a tacky dough. The dough should have some "stick" so that it will hold together (until you pull it apart) after it's baked. I added about two tablespoons of flour after first mixing everything together. 

Let the dough rise until doubled, about an hour depending on the room temperature. While the dough is rising, mix the melted butter, onion flakes, and minced garlic and set it aside. 

After the dough has risen, deflate the dough and spread it out with you hands or a rolling pin to a 20 inch by 12 inch rectangle. 

Brush it with with the butter/onion/garlic mixture. and then sprinkle it with the dill seeds and Parmesan cheese. 

Next, add the freshly chopped parsley. 

Once you've added all of the filling ingredients, cut the dough, widthwise, into six evenly sized strips and then stack them on top of each other. Then, cut the single stack into six evenly sized stacks. 

Turn the pan on its end and stack the dough in the pan. Turn the pan back to where the bottom is on the work surface and evenly distribute the slices as best you can. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and let the dough rise for about 45 minutes, until doubled. 

Finally, bake the loaf for about 30 to 40 minutes, until the interior of the loaf reaches 190 degrees F. Let the bread cool in the pan for about 20 minutes. 

About the Pan:

For this post, I baked the bread in a 9 inch by 4 inch Pullman loaf pan, which is not my usual pan for baking this bread. The pan has straight sides and is narrower. I've been using it a lot lately, without the lid, for making different breads such as this apple oatmeal bread, chocolate zucchini bread, and sourdough seeded bread. I've usually made this bread in a 9 inch by 5 inch standard loaf pan. 

Rest assured, either pan is fine, but the baking time might be about 5 minutes longer by using the Pullman pan. 

The spacing of the squares is a little less easy to control with the standard loaf pan, but it's no big deal. Below are three photos from the first time I made this bread, 13 years ago! The bread pan doesn't make a bit of difference in the flavor! 

Recipe Variations:

You can fill this bread with both savory and sweet ingredients. I've used the dough to make a cinnamon sugar pull-apart bread and a roasted blueberry pull-apart loaf. Pretty much many of the fillings you might use to fill babka would also work. 

Serving Suggestions:

This bread is wonderful warm from the oven on the day that it is made. It's also great reheated in the toaster oven. I like to spread it with even more butter!

I've also used this cheesy bread to make grilled cheese sandwiches and ham sandwiches. They are both pretty tasty. 

Sunday Funday - Bread Recipes:

Let's see what the Sunday Funday bakers made this week! 

• Air Fryer Small Sourdough Sandwich Bread from Sneha's Recipe
• A Magical Small Sourdough Loaf from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Herb Flatbread from Culinary Cam
• Homemade Pitas from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• No Knead Ciabatta from Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Orange Cinnamon Swirl Bread from Mayuri's Jikoni
• Parmesan Pull-Apart Bread from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Two Ingredient Cottage Cheese Rolls from Our Good Life
• Vanilla Mirabelle Plum Jam - Small Batch from Food Lust People Love

Parmesan Pull-apart Bread

Yield: 24 Slices

Author: Karen Kerr

Prep time: 30 MinCook time: 35 MinInactive time: 1 H & 45 MTotal time: 2 H & 50 M

This Parmesan pull-apart bread, with butter, onion flakes, dill seeds, and fresh parsley is completely irresistible. 

Ingredients

For the Dough

• 300 to 361 grams (10.6 to 12.75 ounces / 2 1/2 to 3 cups) unbleached bread flour
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 ounces (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons whole or low fat milk, lukewarm
• 2 large eggs at room temperature

For the Filling

• 5 tablespoons salted butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon dried onion flakes
• 1 tablespoon fresh minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon dill seed
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 3/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Instructions

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl, whisk together 2 1/2 cups of the flour, the sugar, the yeast, and the salt.
2. Combine the melted butter and warm milk. The temperature should be about 115 degrees F.
3. Whisk the eggs into the milk mixture and pour the milk and eggs into the dry ingredients and stir with a large spoon, dough whisk, or spatula. If you are using a stand mixer, knead on low for a few minutes, adding flour as needed. The dough should be very tacky and may stick to the sides of the bowl.
4. Place the dough in an oiled bowl or dough rising bucket and spray the top with spray oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rised until doubled in size, about 60 minutes.
5. While the dough is rising, mix the melted butter, dried onions, and garlic. Set aside.
6. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead the dough to deflate. Form it into a ball, cover it, and let it rest about five minutes.
7. Line a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with parchment paper and spray with spray oil.
8. Pat or roll the dough out into a 20 x 12 inch rectangle. Brush the entire rectangle with the butter, onion, and garlic mixture, and sprinkle with the dill seeds. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese and then the parsley evenly over the butter dough.
9. Cut the rectangle crosswise into 6 even 12 inch strips. Stack the strips on top of each other, and cut the stack into 6 evenly sized square stacks.
10. Set the loaf pan on its side, and stack the squares into the pan. Straighten the pan and cover it with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise until doubled, 30 to 45 minutes.
11. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 to 40 minutes until golden brown and the interior of the bread reaches 190 degrees F. If the top gets too dark before the bread is done, tent with foil and continue baking.
12. Remove from the oven and let the bread rest in the pan for 20 minutes. Remove from the pan. Best served warm. Keep any leftovers in foil or plastic wrap.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

113

Fat (grams)

6 g

Sat. Fat (grams)

3 g

Carbs (grams)

12 g

Fiber (grams)

1 g

Net carbs

11 g

Sugar (grams)

1 g

Protein (grams)

4 g

Cholesterol (grams)

29 mg

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2012/09/parmesan-pull-apart-bread-for-twelve.html

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