Pull-Apart Mozzarella Pizza Bread
Mozzarella pizza bread combines the comfort of pizza with the joy of freshly baked bread. This cheesy pull-apart mozzarella delight is about to become your new obsession. This pull-apart mozzarella pizza bread has all of the Italian flavors of Pizza in one cheesy bread loaf. Serve it as a meal with added pepperoni or as a perfect side dish for an Italian meal. This tear and share Italian bread recipe is also great to serve when hosting parties or for potlucks during the holiday season. The melted cheese tucked into layers of soft bread gives it the best gooey cheese texture that will have your guests begging for more. This easy recipe will soon become a family favorite!
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp active dry yeast
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup warm water
- 1/8 cup olive oil
- 3/4 cup marinara
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 8 oz Mozzarella (sliced)
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer add warm water, sugar and the active dry yeast. Let the yeast bloom for 5-10 minutes in the warm water to ensure it is active and bubbly.
- Add olive oil to the water, sugar and yeast.
- To the yeast mixture add all purpose flour and salt. Using a dough hook attachment or paddle attachment knead the dough for 5 minutes.
- Remove the dough to a large bowl and allow to rise for 15 minutes in a warm place. Optional: cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel to trap heat and make the dough rise faster.
- Split the dough in half on a lightly floured surface. Using a knife or bench scraper slice each half in to six pieces of dough.
- Roll each of the twelve dough pieces into either squares of dough or shape into circles. The shape you choose will determine the shape of your final pull apart bread form. For a more square uniform loaf, opt using squares of dough. I used circles to create mine.
- In a small bowl mix in 1 teaspoon of minced garlic, 1 teaspoon of Italian herbs and marinara sauce. Slather each circle or square of dough with one tablespoon of the marinara sauce mixture and top with a slice of mozzarella cheese. Add pepperoni on top of the mozzarella if desired.
- Fold the dough in half to encase the marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese. Place the folded dough piece in the loaf pan.
- Continue this process until your loaf pan is full. Let the bread rise another 15 minutes at room temperature.
- Place loaf pan in a COLD oven and set the oven to 400 degrees. DO NOT preheat the oven. Set a timer for 40 minutes.
- Optional: melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Reserve for topping the warm bread when it is done baking.
- When the bread is done and golden brown on top, remove from the oven and brush the warm bread with the melted butter and sprinkle extra parmesan and herbs across the top of the loaf.