Herbed Cheese Pull apart Bread

Ingredients

Warm Milk-1/2 cup

Sugar-1 tsp.

Active dry yeast-2 tsp (I used Instant Yeast)

All purpose flour-23/4-3 cups

Salt-1 tsp

Milk-3/4 cup and couple of tbsp. to brush bread

Butter-25 gms or 2 tbsp soft at room temperature

Garlic-2 cloves crushed or 3/4-1/2 tsp garlic paste

For filling

Melted butter-15 -20gms

Mixed herbs-2 tsp

Processed cheese-1/2 cup

Crushed pepper and chilli flakes-enough to sprinkle

Preparation

In a small bowl dissolve sugar and yeast in ½ cup of warm milk. Keep aside for 5 minutes till yeast mixture bubbles up.

Mix the flour,salt,softened butter and garlic paste.

Then add the yeast mixture and ¾ cup of milk. Knead till dough becomes smooth and elastic. If the dough is sticky add a little more dough but only little or as much as necessary.

Make into a ball. Place into a well oiled bowl turning the dough around to coat it completely with oil

Cover and let to rise for 1-1/2 hrs or till double in volume

Dust your work surface lightly with flour.

Deflate the dough, shape it into a square and roll the dough out into a larger square that is about 12’ by 12”.

Brush the surface of the square with the melted butter. Evenly sprinkle the herbs, pepper/ chilli flakes and then the grated cheese.

Use a rolling pin to very lightly press the topping into the dough to ensure the topping doesn’t fall off when you are stacking the strips.

Using a pizza cutter, slice the dough from top to bottom into 6 long and even strips – they do not have to be perfect.

Lay each strip on top of the next, with the topping facing upwards, until you have a stack of the strips.

You can put the 2 strips cut from the sides in the middle of the stack so it looks neater. Using a pastry scraper or a sharp knife, cut straight down through the stack dividing it into 6 equal pieces (6 square stacks).

Grease and lightly flour a 9” by 4” (or 5”) loaf tin.Layer the square slices, cut sides down into the loaf tin.

Cover the loaf tin dough with a towel and allow the dough to rise for an hour. Lightly brush some milk over the top of the loaf.

Bake the dough at 180C (350F) for about 30 to 40 minutes until it is done and the top is golden brown. This recipe bakes one 9” by 5” loaf.