“What must you break apart in order to bring a family close together? Bread, of course.” – Jodi Picoult, The Storyteller.
We are not really “bready” people at home. Not that we don’t like it but bread is an option for breakfast when I have run out of other options for breakfast. You know what I mean ?
That’s one of the reasons , I haven’t forayed much into bread making . The other being I wouldn’t know what to do with the loaves that I would manage to bake as there are only two of us at home. Unless I start distributing slices of bread among my near and dear ( and get rechristened as the “bread lady “ instead of my present title of “cake lady” )
But in the spirit of exploring new food groups and in the spirit of catering to requests from my lovely blog readers, I have been taking tiny baby steps into bread making. I do love anything and everything garlic. So it was a no brainer to give a garlic bread a go. I have made a pull apart garlic bread before and have tweaked the recipe so that it’s not only super easy , but herby , cheesy and a whole lot of garlicky !
Speaking of trying new things, I have made a simple step-by-step kind of video for the bread . You can check it out below and let me know if its too juvenile or if it actually helps !
Its quite a simple recipe and you can alter it according to your tastes. I used garlic (a whole lot of it !) and chopped coriander. I added some cheese but I don’t think it added anything substantial to the wow factor here. Skip it if you’d rather do that. Same with the spices – I used Oregano but you are the boss of your own spice trail . In case you have the habit of holding onto those satchets of spices that come with ordered pizza , then you can use a couple of them here !
Anything that is all about sharing gets a big tick from me and pull apart breads are the ultimate sharing food. You don’t need to bother with individual plates or cutlery or dips. This would double as an evening tea snack , a dinner accompaniment or a table warmer for the beginning of an Italian meal. Just put it there on the centre of your table and let everyone grab their little pillowy bites !
Easy pull apart garlic bread
Ingredients
For the dough
- 5 grams or 1 tsp active dried or instant yeast
- 120 ml or ½ cup milk
- 60 ml or ¼ cup water
- Pinch of sugar
- 190 grams or 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
For the garlic and herb mixture
- 56 grams or ¼ cup butter
- 16 to 18 pods garlic finely chopped or grated
- 5 to 6 sprigs fresh coriander finely chopped
- ¾ teaspoon Oregano powder
- 2-3 tablespoons grated cheese optional
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- In a saucepan , heat the milk and water together until lukewarm . It should be cool enough to put your finger in but too hot to keep it in for longer than 3 to 4 minutes. A thermometer should show a temperature between 105 to 110 F.
- To bloom your yeast , add the pinch of sugar and yeast to the lukewarm milk and water mixture. Let rest until frothy. This could take 5 to 15 minutes depending on your yeast.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Add the yeast mixture and mix until it comes together.
- Knead the dough for 5 to 10 minutes until dough is smooth .
- Place in a lightly oiled bowl , cover and place in a warm place for one hour or until doubled.
- As your dough rests , you can prepare your garlic mixture.
- Melt the butter and mix in the chopped garlic , coriander , Oregano , cheese (if using) and salt.
- Butter a loaf pan and dust it well with flour.
- Once the dough has proven or doubled , knock out the air by punching the dough down.
- Make small equal sized balls from the dough (16 to 20).
- Dip each dough ball in the garlic butter mixture and place in your prepared pan .
- Repeat with all the balls. Place them in rows , leaving some space in between. No pattern is necessary.
- Cover and let rest for 25 to 30 minutes until doubled.
- Meanwhile preheat your oven to 180 C / 350 F.
- Bake for 35 to 38 minutes until the top is well browned.
- Brush some melted butter on top as soon as it is out of the oven to soften the top.
- Serve warm directly from pan or unmoukded onto a serving dish
Notes
This can be stored for 1-2 days in an airtight container. Warm up before serving.
Make smallish balls so that each piece has enough of the buttery and garlicky flavour.
Adjust the amount of garlic , spice and salt to your tastes.
I was so happy with how this bread turned out. I hope the picture shows you just how incredibly soft it was . And the flavours were point on . If you binge on it , you would probably want to stay away from anyone you want to impress – you know, so that you don’t repel them with your garlic breath – but hey, small price to pay.
Affiliate links : Just so you know, I have baked this garlic pull apart bread in my trusty Morphy Richards 52 litre oven using 
Happy baking !
Thank you so much for this recipe and also for the lovely tips on “what I bake with”page. I have been wanting to bake breads for so long but never found a good quality yeast. I finally ordered Gloripan yeast and its perfect. Finally got it right along with the perfect instructions you posted. Thanks again. sourdough bread -thats next on my list . Hope to make that soon.
thanks for taking the time for leaving such a comment Madhavi ! Glad you found the tips and instructions useful… and all the best for the sourdough. Havent tried it , but my friends are hooked onto them!
Hi, can I stuff any filling in this and then bake….want to make some starter for a party
Hi Deepa… yes, you can…but consider doing a double batch. You will get about 16-20 small dough balls with the recipe amounts given..
hi.. for the dough to be proven or to double , can you specify the time ?
Hi Ruckmani… the first doubling takes about 50 mins to an hour. the second (after shaping) takes about 20-30 minutes…
Hi, I have allinston instant yeast. I want to use that for this recipe. Could you let me know how much I have to add? Thanks in advance.
Hi Srilakshmi..use an equal amount of instant yeast as the recipe. I prefer to use active yeast and instant yeast in the same way.. proof it by mixing in warm water with a little sugar until frothy. Exactly like explained in the recipe…
Hi 🙂 Can u suggest some good quality yeast available in india.. Have been trying to bake a good bread for sometime now and not happy with results.. I read that bad quality yeast is one of the main culprits .. 🙁
Also,one a totally unrelated note to this post,any suggestion on good quality icing sugar for buttercreams.. I tried EAGLE and bluebird brand..Both makes my BC grainy.. Thanx in advance 🙂
Hi Raji… Gloripan is a yeast brand that seems to work – you can pick it up from a baking store or some online sites. Otherwise, speciality baking stores have some good yeast (sometimes unnamed brands). About the icing sugar, do give Mawana a go if you find it . And sift the sugar atleast 3 times before using , and add it in parts, beating really well after each addition. Once its not grainy, then add more and beat again… Happy baking !
Thanks !
Hi.. do we use the lower filaments or both upper and lower for this..
I tried it yesterday and I had turned on both filaments.. but though the insides were soft and tasted good, the outer crust was hard like a shell.. should I turn only the bottom filament on
Hi Deeps… You can brush butter over the bread as soon as it’s done to soften the crust. Or bake with bottom rod on, if the top isn’t browned after 20 minutes , then turn the top rod on too.. hope this helps..
Usually I use only the bottom filament…
Could you please tell me the dimension of the tin you used?
Hi Jyotsna… i used a 8 x 4 inch loaf pan 🙂 . You can also use a 6-7 inch square or round pan.
OMG! This bread is to die for. I overbaked the base a bit (dozed off on the dining table waiting) but still they tasted awesome… straight out of the oven. I used Amul garlic butter so the garlicky flavour was enhanced. The bread itself is soft and the garlic flavour had seeped in while baking.
Following the above discussion, the dough was sticky and I added more flour. But I got only about 10 balls from the total dough, perhaps I made them too big. But I will be making them for the next party at my place, definitely. Thank you for another winner recipe!
Thats some great feedback Anjali !! I m glad you liked the bread.. and i did make quite small balls . Smaller balls will taste better as the flavour is more in each portion. And using the garlic butter was so resourceful. Should give it a try next time !
Sure..But please excuse for the bad pics..They don’t do justice..And hatsoff to you and many such others who patiently share tried and tested recipes..I can understand how passionate you are towards cooking and sharing the same..I enjoyed having this virtual short talk…
Hi..Tried ur recipe….The buns came out super soft with a crispy buttery crust..Thank you so much….One query if you don’t mind…The dough was very soft and sticky.but I did not add extra flour..Just kneaded for around 15min.i couldn’t roll them into balls so just took some dough ,dunked in butter and placed in the greased bowl….Do I need to adjust the liquid?
Hi Usha ! that was super quick.. ! Yes , the liquid seems to have been too much. You can add a little more flour if the dough seems sticky. Another way to do it , use only the milk to bloom the yeast. Once you mix the yeast-milk mixture into the flour , add water little by little and stop when the dough seems right. Thanks for trying it though. Hope you liked the taste and texture 🙂
Thanks for the quick reply..I luvvvvvve garlic.hence couldn’t control after seeing ur bread..They turned out awesome even when the dough was sticky.i would have added the flour if I had seen the video.i thought it was supposed to be like that.lazy me;) suggestions noted.is there a way I can share yesterday’s bake?only if u are interested though..thanks again
you mean share the pics right ? I would love that. Why don’t you email them to me at [email protected] and i ll add them to the post.I see you are part of HBG as well. If you want , you can also share there 🙂