I keep seeing recipes for pull-apart breads everywhere…. pull-apart cheese bread, pull-apart bacon ranch bread, pull-apart cinnamon bread….. Well, I had some leftover Costco pesto sauce and I wanted to use it up before it hit the expiration date so I thought, “why not pull-apart pesto bread?” It sounded like it would be good, don’t you think? So I made a quick stop at the store to buy a french bread boule and some provolone cheese. Here’s what I came up with.
PULL-APART PESTO CHEESE BREAD
- 1 round french boule (bread bowl)
- 1 lb. sliced white cheese, such as provolone, swiss, monterey jack, etc.
- ½ cup butter
- ⅓ cup basil pesto
- Preheat oven to 400ºF.
- Lay a sheet of aluminum foil on top of a cookie sheet and place the bread on it.
- Slice the bread lengthwise being careful not to cut all the way to the bottom of the loaf.
- Next slice the bread crosswise, again taking care not to cut all the way to the bottom, so you have little 3/4-inch squares.
- Insert slices of cheese into the cuts between each bread cube, cutting cheese as necessary to fit.
- Melt butter in a small bowl in microwave.
- Add pesto to melted butter, stirring to combine well.
- Spoon all over bread making sure pesto butter goes into the cuts.
- Wrap foil closed over bread.
- Bake for 15 minutes.
- Open up foil and bake an additional 15 minutes or until cheese is melted and top is golden brown.
- Transfer bread to a platter and serve immediately. To eat, everyone just pulls a little cube of bread out.
NOTE: This bread is best served warm out of the oven.
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