Cheese And Garlic Pull-Apart Bread

 Cheese And Garlic Pull-Apart Bread

Bread:

1 crusty loaf, preferably sourdough
1 1/2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese

Garlic Butter:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened 2 large garlic cloves, minced
3/4 tsp. salt
1 T. finely chopped Italian parsley

Serves 8 to 10.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine butter, garlic and salt in a heatproof bowl and melt in the microwave. Stir in the parsley.

2. Cut the bread on a diagonal into 1-inch 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. 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. (If preparing ahead, use very soft butter rather than melted before wrapping. Refrigerate wrapped bread until ready to bake.)

3. Wrap bread with foil and bake for 20 minutes until the cheese has mostly melted, then unwrap and bake for 5 to 10 minutes more to make the bread nice and crusty. Serve immediately.