Erin’s Roasted Garlic Herb Pull-Apart Bread

What’s better than a fresh baked loaf of bread? Making that loaf pull-apart in buttery sheets scented with herbs and laden with butter. This pull apart garlic bread is a contender for any dinner table, but would be especialy impressive instead of store bought rolls this Thanksgiving! Let’s bake!

At the Wilson family Thanksgiving table, it’s hard to pick a carb.  Dad’s biscuits usually reign supreme, but I try to give them a run for their money with my Sweet Potato Biscuits.  There’s also Cordellia Ann’s Potato Rolls which taste like potatoes went to heaven and got their wings – and coated those wings with butter. It was complicated enough and then my favorite baker, Erin McDowell, went and wrote another delicious cookbook, Savory Baking, and now we’re called to eke a bit more room out of the serving table for this loaf of tender, buttery pull-apart bread.

It’s time to start thinking about Thanksgiving. Plan the carbs. Plan the grocery list. Get the pies sorted.  Let’s get after it, friends!

You’ll find step-by-step directions below if any part of the bread adventure trips you up, or feel free to jump straight to the recipe to get baking!

Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make this pull-apart garlic bread:

* This recipe is from Erin McDowell’s latest book Savory Baking. If you, or someone you love LOVES to bake or is curious about yeasted breads – this book is ESSENTIAL. Erin writes incredibly insightful, thorough, fun and absolutely delicious recipes. This book is a treasure and a joy to flip though and bake from!

•  instant yeast, though active dry yeast also works in this recipe

•  whole milk

•  bread flour is best for this recipe because it has a higher protein content than all-purpose flour but all-purpose flour will also work in a pinch!

•  dry milk, optional – it just helps the texture of the bread but this loaf will be equally delicious without it.

•  granulated sugar

•  kosher salt or sea salt

•  one large egg

•  unsalted butter

•  sour cream or plain yogurt

•  olive oil for greasing the bowl

•  a few heads of garlic

• dried herbs like oregano, thyme, and rosemary

•  garlic powder

•  heavy cream

•  fresh cracked black pepper

This bread is best made in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.  Add warm water to the bottom of the mixer bowl and sprinkle in yeast.  Allow the mixture five minutes to foam and froth, signaling your yeast is alive and ready to work.

Add the egg and sugar to start though, all of the dough ingredients are going to make their way into the bowl, so the order of incorporation is flexible.

Add the butter and sour cream.

Add the bread flour, milk powder (if using), and salt.  I like to incorporate all of the ingredients with a sturdy spatula first, bringing the mixture into a shaggy dough. This will give the dough hook something to hold onto as it kneads around the bowl for 3 minutes.

A relatively smooth and tacky (though not stick-to-your-hands sticky) will emerge from the mixing bowl.  Grease a large bowl with a splash of olive oil and allow the dough to rest and rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

I have a warm spot at the back of my oven I like to use as my proofing spot.  Choose a cozy warm place in your kitchen.

While the bread rises, let’s roast some garlic.  Honestly, one of my favorite kitchen comforts.

Slice the top off of two heads of garlic. Nestle in foil and drizzle liberally with olive oil before sprinkling with sea salt.  Wrap the foil around the garlic heads and set off to roast until soft and caramelized.

Once the heads are garlic are cool enough to handle, smoosh the garlic into butter.  Lordy, it’s getting good.

Squeeze the roasted garlic into a small saucepan of melted butter.  Add loads of dried oregano, thyme and rosemary though, if that’s not what you have in your pantry right now, feel free to add whatever herbs your heart desires like herbes de provence, chives, basil.  It’s all big flavor, made even more delicious in that melted butter.

Stir the butter mixture and set it aside while we get back to the dough.

After its first rise, the dough will feel aerated and puffy.  Topple it out onto a floured counter and roll into a rectangle roughly 20×12-inches that’s about 1/2-inch thick.

You’ll catch me in the kitchen with a kitchen-specific tape measurer or measuring tape – it really does make a difference!

Cut the dough into squares by cutting roughly 6 or 7 strips on the long end of the dough and 3 or 4 strips on the short side of the dough.  See above.

Brush with the garlic herb butter we set to the side – generously but expect to have a bit of the mixture left over.

And if your mind goes directly to cheesy garlic bread, sprinkle these pieces with grated parmesan cheese. It’s not a bad idea!

Stack the buttery squares of dough 4 or 5 high.  You should have several little towers of dough.  Is this a bit messy? Yes – totally worth it.

In a parchment lined and lightly greased 9×5-inch loaf pan, stack the towers of dough on their sides in a row.

Drizzle top of the bread dough with the remaining herb butter.  GUH!

Cover the dough loosely with a kitchen towel and allow it to rise, yet again, until the sheets are noticeably puffed, and begin to fill out the bread pan a bit better.  Bake in the upper third of the oven, moving down to the center of the oven towards the end of baking if the top is getting too brown.

Bake to a deep golden brown.  Allow to rest until the pull apart garlic bread is cool enough to peel away and serve!

On the Thanksgiving table, this is best served straight from the pan with the hopes that it crosses paths with the gravy on the plate.  Outside of Thanksgiving, this would be delicious served with a small bowl of warm marinara sauce.

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