Buttery-soft and flaky, this pesto pull-apart bread is brimming with fresh flavor. Stuff homemade herbed dough with mozzarella cheese and homemade pesto, then arrange it all in a loaf pan. When it’s warm out of the oven, add a dose of garlic butter and watch as the bread disappears piece by torn-apart piece.
One reader, Nicky, commented: “Oooh this was such a good recipe! I am always scared of baking with yeast, but these instructions were so easy to follow, along with all of Sally’s helpful guides on How to Knead Dough, Baking with Yeast, etc. This was so delicious. ★★★★★“
When it comes to flavored and shaped yeast bread, pull-apart bread is my favorite variety. It usually consists of pieces of dough stuffed or smothered with cheese, butter, herbs, or something sweet like cinnamon and sugar. When it bakes, the filled dough forms one big loaf that you can tear apart for serving, revealing the flavors tucked inside. This rosemary garlic pull apart bread is a popular variety and starts with a simple homemade dough that I also use for this everything bagel pull-apart bread.
This is Pesto Pull-Apart Bread
Today I’m sharing a basil pesto variation with mozzarella cheese and garlic butter. The pesto and cheese infuse into the dough and the garlic butter seeps down into every crevice, altogether making a snackable bread you truly will not be able to leave alone. (Or be left alone with… good luck.)
There are many pull-apart recipes that call for a loaf of store-bought bread that you cut up and stuff with fillings, and who could ever resist something like that? But I really like making this type of bread from scratch, and especially with today’s particular dough.
You need just 9 ingredients including: yeast, sugar, milk, butter, salt, egg, flour, garlic powder, and dried basil. Sugar feeds the yeast, while milk hydrates it and gives the bread a softer texture (as opposed to water). Butter, salt, garlic powder, and basil add flavor. Egg contributes to the rising and provides more texture and structure.
And together they make one fabulously flaky bread, ready for oodles of garlicky pesto.
You Can Use My Homemade Pesto Recipe
Have you ever made homemade pesto before? It’s extremely easy and tastes infinitely better than any shelf-stable options at the store. Fresh basil and pine nuts are the main ingredients and you need a food processor or blender to make it. It’s:
- Fresh and flavorful
- Ready in minutes
- Made with just a few ingredients
- Easy to customize with what you have on hand
My homemade recipe is the exact version I use when I make pesto pizza and this creamy pesto shrimp dish.
Note about the pine nuts: Pine nuts can be pricey and sometimes difficult to find, so if you’re having trouble picking up a bag, use walnuts, almonds, or pistachios instead. For a nut-free version, readers have tried sunflower seeds, pepitas, and cooked/cooled edamame.
How to Assemble Pesto Pull-Apart Bread:
Let’s bring everything together to make our pesto pull-apart bread. Don’t get nervous to assemble this; it’s really hard to mess it up!
- Divide dough into 12 equal pieces.
- Flatten into 4-inch circles. They don’t need to be perfect.
- Spread pesto on top, usually 1 to 2 teaspoons will fit nicely. Sprinkle with a heaping Tablespoon of cheese.
- Fold the circles in half so they look like little pesto tacos and arrange them upright in a 9×5-inch loaf pan.
Pesto Bread Step by Step Photos
Make and knead the dough, referencing my How to Knead Dough tutorial if needed. This dough requires 2 rises. For the 1st rise, let the dough rise until doubled in size.
Punch down the risen dough and divide into 12 pieces. They don’t have to be exact, but if you’d like to be precise, each piece of dough is about 1/4 cup or 50g.
Flatten the dough rounds and spread each with pesto.
Sprinkle with cheese and fold in half to resemble a taco.
- Why fold the circles in half? Folding the dough circles in half gives the bread a solid base where no pesto/cheese can seep through. While some cheese melts around the sides here, the bread’s base is pretty solid, so you can easily remove it from the loaf pan and serve.
Line folded circles in a greased loaf pan.
Allow to rise for just 45 minutes or until slightly puffy. Do not extend this 2nd rise, as the shaped bread will puff up too much and the fillings could spill over the sides of the pan.
Before & after the 2nd rise:
Bake until golden brown, then brush with melted butter mixed with garlic powder:
Before serving, sprinkle with parmesan cheese, and you can even drop a couple small spoonfuls of pesto on top, too. You can dig into the bread while it’s still warm, slicing or tearing off pieces. I love it with spaghetti or baked ziti, minestrone soup, or this baked lemon garlic salmon.
However you serve the bread, I’m confident you’ll immediately want to print and laminate this recipe after your 1st taste. Pesto perfection.
P.S. If you’re craving sugar, this homemade monkey bread is another pull-apart style of bread… and equally mouthwatering.
Print
Pesto Pull Apart-Bread
- Prep Time: 3 hours
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours
- Yield: 1 loaf
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Homemade pesto, mozzarella cheese, and garlic butter infuse into this soft and flaky bread, making for a snack you truly cannot resist. Do not overthink the shaping; as long as it all goes into the loaf pan, it’ll taste delicious.
Ingredients
Dough
- 2 teaspoons instant or active dry yeast
- 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup (180g/ml) whole milk, warmed to about 110°F (43°C)
- 3 Tablespoons (43g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 2 and 1/3 cups (291g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more as needed*
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
Filling
- 1/2 cup (125g) basil pesto (I recommend my homemade pesto)
- 1 cup (125g / 4 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
Topping
- 2 Tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 Tablespoons (15g) freshly grated or shredded parmesan cheese
- optional for garnish: extra pesto
Instructions
- Make the dough: Place the yeast and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or paddle attachment. Or, if you do not own a stand mixer, a regular large mixing bowl. Whisk in the warm milk, then loosely cover with a clean kitchen towel and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes. The mixture will be frothy after 5-10 minutes.
- If you do not have a mixer, you can mix the dough together with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula in this step. Add the butter, egg, flour, salt, garlic powder, and dried basil. Beat on low speed for 3 minutes. Dough will be soft.
- Knead the dough: Keep the dough in the mixer (and switch to the dough hook if using the paddle) and beat for an additional 5 full minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 5 full minutes. (If you’re new to bread-baking, my How to Knead Dough video tutorial can help here.) If the dough becomes too sticky during the kneading process, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or on the work surface/in the bowl to make a soft, slightly tacky dough. Do not add more flour than you need because you do not want a dry dough. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your finger—if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. You can also do a “windowpane test” to see if your dough has been kneaded long enough: tear off a small (roughly golfball-size) piece of dough and gently stretch it out until it’s thin enough for light to pass through it. Hold it up to a window or light. Does light pass through the stretched dough without the dough tearing first? If so, your dough has been kneaded long enough and is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading until it passes the windowpane test.
- 1st Rise: Shape the kneaded dough into a ball. Place the dough in a greased bowl (I use nonstick spray to grease) and cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Place in a slightly warm environment to rise until doubled in size, around 60-90 minutes. (If desired, use my warm oven trick for rising. See my answer to Where Should Dough Rise? in my Baking with Yeast Guide.)
- As the dough rises, grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan and prepare the pesto.
- Assemble & fill the bread: Punch down the dough to release the air. Place dough on a lightly floured work surface. Divide it into 12 equal pieces, about 1/4 cup of dough or 50g each (a little larger than a golf ball). Using lightly floured hands, flatten each into a circle that’s about 4 inches in diameter. The circle doesn’t have to be perfectly round. I do not use a rolling pan to flatten, but you certainly can if you want. Spread 1-2 teaspoons of pesto onto each. Sprinkle each with 1 heaping Tablespoon of mozzarella cheese. Fold circles in half and line in prepared baking pan, round side up. See photos above for a visual.
- 2nd Rise: Cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and allow to rise once again in a slightly warm environment until puffy, about 45 minutes. Do not extend this 2nd rise, as the bread could puff up too much and spill over the sides while baking.
- Adjust the oven rack to the lower third position then preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).
- Bake until golden brown, about 50 minutes. If you find the top of the loaf is browning too quickly, tent with aluminum foil. Remove from the oven and place the pan on a cooling rack.
- Make the topping: Mix the melted butter and garlic powder together. Brush on the warm bread and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. If desired, drop a couple spoonfuls of fresh pesto on top (or serve with extra pesto.) Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove from the pan and serve warm.
- Cover and store leftovers at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Since the bread is extra crispy on the exterior, it will become a little hard after day 1. Reheat in a 300°F (149°C) oven for 10-15 minutes until interior is soft again or warm in the microwave.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Freeze baked and cooled bread for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature or overnight in the refrigerator and warm in the oven to your liking. The dough can be prepared through step 4, then after it has risen, punch it down to release the air, cover it tightly, then place in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Continue with step 5. To freeze the dough, prepare it through step 4. After it has risen, punch it down to release the air. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in a freezer-friendly container for up to 3 months. When ready to use, thaw the dough overnight in the refrigerator. Then let the dough sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes before continuing with step 5. (You may need to punch it down again if it has some air bubbles.)
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Stand Mixer or Large Glass Mixing Bowl with Wooden Spoon / Silicone Spatula | 9×5-inch Loaf Pan | Cooling Rack | Pastry Brush
- Yeast: You can use instant or active dry yeast. The rise times may be slightly longer using active dry yeast. Reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
- Flour: Feel free to use the same amount of bread flour instead of all-purpose flour.
- Can I substitute the pesto? Instead of pesto, you can use your favorite tomato sauce, or try this rosemary garlic pull apart bread.
Reader Comments and Reviews
My family absolutely loved this bread. There were no leftovers and they wanted more! It was easy to make and delicious!
Loved this recipe as well as everybody in my family! Next time I would try making it as a sort of garlic bread because I think it’ll be delicious!
Very yummy! Can’t wait to try this with fresh pesto next time
This bread made my house smell AMAZING! Will definitely be making again.
This was amazing. I made this for my family and even my super-picky brother loved it!
This recipe was delicious and easy to make! We served it with pasta and my two guys devoured it.
I had concerns during the mixing because the dough was much stickier than I expected, but a little extra hand kneading and it was perfect. Such a gorgeous pesto smell and flavor.
This bread smelled amazing while baking! I’ve made the everything bagel pull apart bread before, and the directions for preparing the dough circles for this recipe are a great improvement! What a delicious recipe.
Lovely recipe that was easy to follow and made a very tasty bread thank you!
I am committed to baking more bread recipes this year and this is Fantastic! My boyfriend really loves anything with pesto and mozzarella and garlic! Delicious!
Amazing easy fun bread to bake
Straight forward instructions as always
I made mine lactose free
I made this into individual rolls by putting 3 rounds into each cavity of a muffin tin. They baked up a bit quicker and were golden brown and delicious!
Delicious ! Easy to make too.
My daughter used unsweetened shredded coconut and they still turned quite sweet.
This is a wonderful addition to any meal. Made it with tomato sauce instead of the pesto and could have added more cheese.
This was super fun to make. Sadly I didn’t have enough basil for the pesto so I used some kale also. I wanna try it with pizza sauce sometime. Best fresh.
This recipe was so easy to make & the whole family loved it!
This recipe is tried and true. The dough comes together perfectly. Such a wonderful pairing of pesto, bread and cheese.
I love this
Better than expected, not a big pesto fan but this is fantastic
Yum! This pesto pull-apart bread was so easy, looked impressive, and was terribly delicious! Winner!
Yum! I used a tomato based pizza sauce rather than pesto because it is not basil growing season here in Canada. I will try it with pesto in the summer as I am sure it will be very good also.
This bread was so easy to make!
Very tasty & different spin on an herbed cheesy bread.
So flavorful…so tender…simply a hit with the whole fam!
I loved this recipe so much! It was so delicious!
My bread turned out very tender and delicious! I made an extra loaf for my neighbor who gave me some of her fresh basil from her garden.
This bread came out fantastic! I used the linked basil pesto recipe. Not over powerful on the flavor and great rise on the bread. Not too difficult either! My only difference is I had 11 little basil pesto tacos instead of 12.
Easy to make in a morning or afternoon, and versatile enough that other fillings could be easily substituted. Would definitely make again!
This was delicious! Used Sally’s recipe for fresh pesto and it came out perfect. Will make again!
This recipe has some steps but the end result was so delicious! Sally’s instructions are clear and easy to follow and this will definitely be a repeat recipe.