Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Garlic Parmesan Pull Apart Bread

Garlic Parmesan Pull Apart Bread

via The Pastry Affair

I love this recipe.  When my boyfriend and I decided to get into the habit of having one Saturday every couple of weeks where we made dinner with our best friends, this is one of the first things that we made.  And by made I mean barely escaped the oven intact because I nearly nabbed it out of the bundt pan before anyone could notice.

Looks scrumptious, don't it?
Ingredients
  • 2 tsp active dry yeast
  • 1 1/3 cup lukewarm water
  • 2 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup (2 Tbs) butter, melted
  • 1 Tbs dried parsley flakes
  • 2 cloves minced garlic
  • 1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
You will also need: 
  • Large mixing bowl (I prefer glass)
  • Bundt pan
  • Nice thin kitchen towel
  • An oven

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the yeast and water.  Let it sit until 5 minutes so the yeast gets nice and foamy.  Mix in the olive oil, salt, and flour.  If you have a stand mixer, attach the dough hook and knead the dough for 5-6 minutes until it's elastic.  If you are doing this by hand, knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until elastic, 7-10 minutes.  

*If you have a bread machine, be sure to follow the machine's instructions on throwing everything together*

Transfer dough to a lightly oiled (I prefer glass) bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel.  Allow to rise for 1 1/2 - 2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size.

**Hint** I always put the bowl on top of a dryer that's running, can cut down your rising time by as much as 30 - 60 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine melted butter, parsley flakes, and minced garlic.  Set aside.

My first modification to the recipe, is to use MUCH more parmesan cheese.  Makes it gooey-er and scrump-didili-umptiouser.  I do a thin layer of sprinkling on the bottom of the bundt pan until you can't see the metal under the cheese.  Punch down the dough.  Or squash, squish with your fingers...  Tear off small pieces of dough (a wee pinch, size of a truffle or standard cookie dough ball), coat in the butter/herb mixture, and squish down on the cheese layer in the bottom of the bundt pan.  Repeat the process until you've made one complete layer on the bottom of the pan, then sprinkle a nice layer of parmesan cheese.  They got to 3 layers, I only got to 2.

Once you run out of dough (and cheese!) cover the pan with the same kitchen towel you used earlier, and let sit until dough has doubled in size, 20 - 30 minutes.  Again, I recommend putting on top of a running dryer :-)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake for 25 - 30 minutes, or until the bread has turned golden brown.  Serve with a hot side of marinara or some delicious spaghetti sauce.

Enjoy!!

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