Garlic Butter Bread Pull-Apart (Printable)

Soft golden rolls generously coated in aromatic garlic butter, baked together as a shareable, pull-apart treat.

# What You'll Need:

→ Bread Dough

01 - 3 cups all-purpose flour
02 - 2¼ tsp (1 packet) instant yeast
03 - 1 tsp sugar
04 - 1 tsp salt
05 - 1 cup warm milk (about 110°F)
06 - 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

→ Garlic Butter

07 - 6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
08 - 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
09 - 2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
10 - ¼ tsp salt
11 - ¼ tsp ground black pepper

→ For Topping

12 - 2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

# How to Make It:

01 - In a large bowl, combine flour, instant yeast, sugar, and salt. Pour in warm milk and melted butter. Mix until a rough dough forms.
02 - Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 7–8 minutes until smooth and elastic. (Or use a stand mixer with a dough hook for 5 minutes.)
03 - Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
04 - Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix melted butter, minced garlic, parsley, salt, and pepper.
05 - Once the dough has risen, punch it down and divide into 12 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a ball.
06 - Dip each dough ball in the garlic butter, coating well, and arrange them in a greased 9-inch round cake pan or skillet. Drizzle any remaining garlic butter over the top.
07 - Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for 20–30 minutes until slightly puffy.
08 - Preheat the oven to 350°F.
09 - Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese if using. Bake for 22–25 minutes, or until the rolls are golden brown and cooked through.
10 - Let cool for 5 minutes before serving. Serve warm, pull-apart style.

# Expert Advice:

01 -
  • Watch people's faces light up when they realize they can just pull apart warm, buttery bread with their hands instead of using a fork.
  • The dough comes together quickly, and most of the time is just waiting around while it rises, so you can actually relax.
  • Leftover garlic butter means you can brush it on toast the next morning without guilt.
02 -
  • If your milk is too hot, it kills the yeast, but if it's too cold, the dough rises slowly or not at all, so warm milk matters more than you'd think.
  • Don't skip the second rise, even though it's shorter, because it's what makes them puffy and pull-apart tender instead of dense.
  • Pressing them into the pan tightly means they'll stay together in the final bake, which is the whole point of pull-apart bread.
03 -
  • If your kitchen is cold, turn on the oven to 200°F for just two minutes, then turn it off, and let the dough rise inside, which creates the perfect warm environment without blasting it with heat.
  • The moment you smell garlic and butter toasting in the oven is when you'll know these are going to turn out perfectly, so that's your sign to start the table.
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