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
I wasn’t having the best day and chose to release my anxiety by kneading dough for the pull-apart pesto bread. Not only did it do the trick, but the bread was delicious and family loved it!!
My fiancé is demanding I make this again as soon as possible and he’s also wanting me to try it with marinara sauce, so that should be a testament to how good it is. He stated it’s the best thing I’ve made this year. He might be right. I was a big fan and do plan on making this recipe one I circle back to.
I made this pesto pull-apart bread for our monthly challenge. But, I owe Sally a picture because come lunchtime, the bread really lived up to its “pull-apart” name!
P.S. My partner mentioned that in the UK, this kind of bread is affectionately known as “tear & share.” How fitting!
Wonderful! Followed the recipe to the letter and it turned out great the first time! I did add an egg wash to the top before baking!
It was a different kind of recipe. My family really enjoyed it, but I thought it needed a little more salt added.
The recipe is well written and has easy to follow steps. I had some trouble getting the windowpane test to work but I am not as familiar with making breads. I used store bought (Costco) basil pesto. The end result was very delicious and the “pull apart” feature did work! I would make it again and maybe try different fillings.
Lovely soft bread with good pesto flavor.
Easy and delish!
As someone who has never made pull-apart bread before, the description of the technique was really well written and easy to follow. So far, the bread is going great with a baked pasta dish!
Wow, this was absolutely amazing! It was savory, soft, and so buttery…the perfect side to a roast or soup.
This is a great recipe, easy to make and I’ve always loved Sally’s pesto. Simply delicious!
It was fun to make
This bread was delicious!! I loved the simplicity of portioning each section and then just rolling to a rough circle, fill and fold. I have made other pull apart bread recipes before that I had to roll out the dough and then cut individual circles. Sally’s recipe was so much easier and I will follow her simple steps for all pull apart breads that I make!
My family devoured it in one sitting!!
This recipe was… okay. Now I used store bought pesto (32w pregnant so I don’t have the energy for all that) but it was just not my favorite. It wasn’t terrible but I think I’d still rather some plain bread. It was a little bitter and you can’t really tell there’s cheese. I guess it just subtly works in the background. The bread is a pretty good texture but I think overall it was not worth it for me
This bread is so delicious and fun to make! I start a new job tomorrow so I figured I could make this and take it for lunches this week. Turned out better than I could have hoped for!
This recipe worked well. I substituted bread flour for the all-purpose flour to have more chew in each bite, and it was a change that I think worked well. (I do the same for Sally’s stromboli recipe.) I would make this again!
Awesome dough!
My house smelled so good while the bread was baking. I didn’t have pesto so I used some of my pizza sauce instead. Then while it was still warm I folded some pepperoni in it. So good!
So easy and so delicious!
Love this bread! As it was baking my daughter said it was the best thing she had ever smelled. It was amazing warm out of the oven. Can’t wait to drive it at the next potluck gathering.
Great recipe, tasted even better with the homemade pesto!
Great flavors!!
My boys loved this bread!
This near is DELICIOUS! I’ve never done a pull apart bread – very fun. This recipe is a keeper!
I’ve been growing basil (and making pesto) for 45 years. I never thought of doing this. My Italian husband and the rest of my family all loved it. It seems wacky when you fold the dough like a taco with the pesto as the filling, but it really works. Every bite had pesto
Tasty! I made this to go with our spaghetti dinner. I’m not usually one for pesto but I could not get enough of this bread. I used whole wheat flour and active dry yeast. I probably didn’t allow it to rise as long as I should have which gave me a denser loaf. However, it tasted quite good. I’ve also made your pizza pull apart bread in the past.
Added star rating. Four for flavor and five for fun!
Great recipe. Easy and delicious.
I loved making this recipe! This was the first time I attempted baking a pull apart bread and also my first time making pesto from scratch, so it was a challenge. But the instructions were easy to follow and everything tuned out wonderfully!
My family loved it so much that the whole bread was gone in less than an hour after I took it out of the oven
I’ll definitely be making this recipe again soon!!
This took a bit of effort (but that why we love baking!) with the bread AND the pesto but fortunately I had some pesto on hand I portioned and froze in ice cube trays. I love the cheesy combination with the pesto and butter. No additional condiments needed! Fun and delicious recipe!