Best Cheesy Pull Apart Bread Recipe From Scratch

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This cheesy pull apart bread recipe will easily become the most popular thing at any gathering you take it to! And it’s so easy to make, it will become a staple in your house. It’s simply delicious and, most of all, it’s funny to make and to eat.

The dough is in fact made up of many small balls which, when placed close together in the pan, stick together during cooking and not only give life to a result that is beautiful to look at but allow people to make the best thing one can do with food: to share.

In addition to being very soft, the balls are also stuffed with ham and cheese in quantities that do not suffocate the taste of the dough but enrich it; the filling can actually be made in different ways, using other types of meat, using only cheese or, why not, vegetables. Once the basic dough is made, therefore, the filling can be customized as desired and also based on the ingredients you have at home.

This cheese pull apart bread is not difficult to prepare but, like almost all other common leavened products, takes a long time: in fact the secret to getting a perfect pull apart bread is the mixture of ingredients, which must be done following the correct order and rest. The first dough must rest for at least 1 hour, followed by a second rest of at least 5 hours, when the dough is ready and before being stuffed.

As far as flour is concerned, you need to use a strong stone-ground flour, but I always prefer to use Manitoba flour, which has an even greater power than all other flours; to guarantee correct leavening, I also add honey that allows the activation of the so-called Maillard reaction, which is a chemical process that allows correct leavening.

Honey in bread making is also excellent not only to regularize the leavening process but also to increase the softness of the crumb and to make the crust more crisp.

The following is the perfect recipe to prepare a simple and delicious cheesy pull apart bread from scratch: the little balls when cooked can round themselves even more or take a slightly more rectangular shape. The result is the same and with this cheesy stuffed pull apart bread recipe you will be loved by all your guests, any time of the year.

How to make the best cheesy pull apart bread

• This cheesy pull apart bread is best kept at room temperature wrapped in plastic wrap or in an envelope for at least 3 days;
• This cheesy pull apart bread can be frozen once cooked, both whole and in pieces. To consume it, it must be left to thaw at room temperature and heated quickly in the oven;
• If you need to prepare this bread in the gluten-free version, use a mix of rice and corn flour and use xanthan as a glue between the flours;
• The leavening can also be done in the refrigerator, remembering however that the dough in this case must be softer and more liquid otherwise in the leavening phase in contact with the cold it will tend to dry out and the bread will be excessively hard;
  
• You can prepare your cheesy pull apart bread the day before, leaving it to rest all night so as to guarantee even better leavening. In the morning you will only have to put it in the oven;
• Some add the potatoes to the dough, to make the bread even softer: the potatoes must be boiled and one must be added every 500 grams of flour so as to reach the perfect proportion, ie half flour and half potato.

The easiest and quick cheesy bread ever

If you don’t have enough time to prepare your cheesy pull apart bread recipe from scratch, you can go for the easy version:

Grab some crusty sourdough and cut on a diagonal into 2cm/1″ diamonds paying attention not to cut all the way through the bread. Use your fingers or a knife to pry open each crack and stuff inside the small cracks cheese and ham. Brush the surface with some melted butter then wrap with foil and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the cheese has mostly melted. Serve immediately.