Cheese & Garlic Crack Bread

By á-1590

This is garlic bread--on crack! Great to share with a crowd or as a center piece for dinner accompanied by a simple salad and your favorite spaghetti marinara recipe. This recipe is also a great snack for any occasion or an appetizer that goes well on any spread or buffet.

Ingredients

• GARLIC BUTTER:
• 1 crusty loaf, preferably sourdough or Vienna
• 3/4 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese or other melt-able cheese
• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, finely chopped

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Melt butter and then mix in other Garlic Butter ingredients.

Cut the bread on a diagonal into 1-inch diamonds, but do not cut all the way through the bread (just like you would cut a french stick for garlic bread).

Use your fingers or a knife to pry open each crack and drizzle in a teaspoon of butter and stuff in a pinch of cheese. This might sound like a bit of an effort, but I promise you it is worth it. You don't need to be super neat, it's nice to have some of the butter drizzled over the crust.

Wrap with foil and bake for 15 minutes until the cheese has mostly melted, then unwrap and bake for 5 minutes more to make the bread nice and crusty.

Serve immediately.

MAKE-AHEAD:
To make-ahead, after wrapping with foil, wrap with cling wrap as well. Store in fridge overnight or freeze to store for longer. To cook, thaw, then follow recipe instructions to bake.

NOTES:
The denser the bread, the better the pieces will hold together when pulled off.