Recipe Background
How buttery are the bites of this Oven-Fresh Pull-Apart Bread? Well, they're in fact self-buttering! Each tender and golden piece that you will pull apart from the loaf is filled with an herb-butter, which gets absorbed by the bread while it bakes. The bread is just so rich, aromatic, and delicious. Oven-Fresh Pull-Apart Bread is the kind of tear-and-share bread you can bring out at the fanciest dinner parties and receive a happy applause for!
How buttery are the bites of this Oven-Fresh Pull-Apart Bread? Well, they're in fact self-buttering! Each tender and golden piece that you will pull apart from the loaf is filled with an herb-butter, which gets absorbed by the bread while it bakes. The bread is just so rich, aromatic, and delicious. Oven-Fresh Pull-Apart Bread is the kind of tear-and-share bread you can bring out at the fanciest dinner parties and receive a happy applause for!
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 1 (0.25-ounce) envelope active dry yeast
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 1/8 teaspoon plus 3 tablespoons sugar divided
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted, plus more, to taste, for greasing the bowl
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 3 large eggs beaten
- 4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus more, to taste, for dusting a work surface
For the herb-butter:
- 1 stick unsalted butter room temperature, plus more, to taste, for greasing the pans
- 1 clove garlic finely minced
- 1 tablespoon chives minced
- 1 tablespoon flat-leaf parsley finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Directions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment, add the yeast, the warm water, and 1/8 teaspoon of the sugar and stir to combine.
- Allow the yeast mixture to stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.
- Set the stand mixer on low speed and begin mixing the yeast mixture.
- Add 4 tablespoons of the melted butter, the milk, 1 tablespoon of the salt, the remaining sugar, and the eggs to the yeast mixture and mix to combine.
- Slowly add 4 1/2 cups of the flour to the yeast mixture, while it runs on low speed, and mix until it just comes together into a dough.
- Increase the speed to medium-high and beat the dough until it is soft and elastic, about 5 minutes.
- Using the extra melted butter, lightly coat a large bowl.
- Transfer the dough to the prepared bowl and cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
- Place the bowl in a warm, draft-free area and allow the dough to rise until it doubles in size, about 2 hours.
- In a small bowl, add 1 stick of the remaining room temperature butter, the garlic, the chives, the parsley, and the remaining salt and stir to combine. Set the herb-butter aside.
- Using the extra room temperature butter, lightly grease two (5x9-inch) loaf pans.
- Using the extra flour, lightly dust a work surface.
- Turn the dough out onto the prepared work surface.
- Roll the dough into a 12x6-inch rectangle.
- Spread the herb-butter evenly over one side of the dough.
- With a pizza cutter, cut the dough lengthwise into 3 equal strips.
- Cut the dough crosswise into 4 equal sections, forming 12 squares.
- Fold each of the dough squares in half.
- Add 6 of the folded dough squares, fold-sides down, to each of the prepared loaf pans.
- Cover the pans with plastic wrap and let the dough rise until the dough does not spring back when pressed with a finger, about 25-30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Bake the loaves until golden, 25-30 minutes.
- Allow the loaves to cool for 10 minutes.
- Turn the loaves out of the pans and serve.
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