Starting from a simple rosemary-infused homemade dough, this rosemary garlic pull apart bread is shaped and assembled with butter, garlic, cheese, and herbs. Baked until golden brown and served pull-apart style, this flaky and flavorful bread is completely irresistible. Just wait until you smell it baking! Truly a favorite.
This recipe is brought to you in partnership with Red Star Yeast.
Have you ever tried my everything bagel pull apart bread? It is, without a doubt, one of the best bread recipes to come out of my kitchen. I wanted something equally as snack-y and satisfying for this holiday season, so I swapped in some everyday foolproof ingredients like rosemary, butter, and parmesan cheese.
I don’t think a finished recipe has ever disappeared faster in my house. (And I make chocolate chip cookies on the regular.)
Tell Me About This Rosemary Garlic Pull Apart Bread
- Flavor: Cheesy & garlic, rosemary & herb, salty & buttery—all packed inside the homestyle goodness of from-scratch bread. This recipe has a range of some of the BEST flavors around.
- Texture: In addition to the irresistible flavor, this pull apart bread’s texture is definitely something to write home about. The exterior is golden crisp right out of the oven, sealing in a soft and flaky center. The assembly and shape allows for many little peaks and valleys, so you have a lot more texture than, say, dinner rolls or sandwich bread. I’m happy to report that we’re almost nearing croissants in terms of flakiness. (!!)
- Ease: Many pull apart bread recipes use a loaf of bakery bread from the store and while that’s certainly easy and delicious, this recipe utilizes a 9 ingredient homemade dough. If you’ve ever been nervous to bake bread, this recipe is a great starting point. Shaping is pretty simple—the loaf can look messy going into the oven. If you’re new to baking with yeast, review my Baking with Yeast Guide. Lots of helpful information there!
- Time: There’s no arguing that homemade bread takes time, but the results are always so worth the commitment. Luckily this recipe yields 1 simple loaf and once you get the assembly process down, it moves pretty quickly. Set aside at least 4 hours from start to finish, but keep in mind most of that time is hands off as the dough rises.
Looking for rosemary & herb dinner rolls? You will love these herb skillet rolls.
Video Tutorial: How to Make Rosemary Garlic Pull Apart Bread
Let’s Review the Pull Apart Bread Dough
I don’t want to stand in the way of you and this carb-y perfection, so I’ll try to keep this short. This pull apart bread starts with homemade dough. You need 9 simple ingredients including: yeast, sugar, milk, butter, salt, egg, flour, rosemary and garlic powder. Sugar feeds the yeast, while milk hydrates it and gives the bread a softer texture (as opposed to water). Butter, salt, rosemary, and garlic powder add flavor. Egg contributes to the rising and provides more texture and structure.
- We’re using a superior yeast: Platinum Yeast from Red Star. This is an instant yeast that strengthens the dough and provides extra volume to the final product. It’s my preferred yeast for any and all bread baking—I use it exclusively in my kitchen because it’s always a guarantee. We only need 2 teaspoons of dry yeast which is a little less than 1 standard packet.
How to Assemble Pull Apart Bread
There are a billion ways to make and assemble pull apart bread. I use a rolling pin and biscuit cutter for my everything bagel pull apart bread and while you can definitely use that same method here, I opted for something even easier today. You won’t have leftover dough scraps this way.
- Divide dough into 12 equal pieces.
- Flatten into 4-inch circles. They don’t need to be perfect.
- Spread garlic herb butter on top. Sprinkle with cheese.
- Fold the circles in half and arrange upright in a 9×5-inch loaf pan.
*You don’t need a rolling pin, but you could certainly use one if you want.
Pull Apart Bread Step by Step Photos
When you get started, use these helpful photos as your guide.
Make and knead the dough, referencing my How to Knead Dough tutorial as needed. After the dough rises, punch it down and divide into 12 pieces.
Flatten the dough rounds and spread each with garlic herb butter.
Sprinkle with cheese and fold in half to resemble a taco.
Note: I love cheesy bread, but I appreciate that it doesn’t overpower the rosemary in this recipe. If you’re looking for a heavier cheesy flavor, you will love my homemade cheese bread.
Why fold the circles in half? Folding the dough circles in half gives the bread a solid base where no butter/cheese can seep through. I had so much trouble with a similar recipe when I tried to arrange buttered squares of dough in a loaf pan. The butter leaked everywhere and the bread was a greasy mess. While some butter melts around the sides here, the bread’s base is pretty solid.
Line folded circles in a greased loaf pan.
Allow to rise until puffy, then bake until golden brown.
This bread fits the bill for a snack, appetizer, or alongside dinner. You can slice the loaf or tear off pieces. Whenever or however you serve it, I’m confident every lucky taste tester will beg for seconds. If you love the garlic and herb butter flavors in this recipe, try these pizza pull apart rolls next. And if you’re craving sugar, this homemade monkey bread is equally mouthwatering and perfectly acceptable for breakfast. 😉
PrintRosemary Garlic 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
Make a flavorful pull apart bread using this delicious rosemary-infused yeasted dough. You can use your favorite cheese in the filling. I love and usually use shredded parmesan.
Ingredients
Dough
- 2 teaspoons Platinum Yeast from Red Star*
- 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup (180ml) whole milk
- 3 Tablespoons (43g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 large egg
- 2 and 1/3 cups (291g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more as needed*
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 Tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary (or 2 teaspoons dried)
Filling
- 5 Tablespoons (71g) unsalted butter, extra soft (see note)
- 1 Tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary (or 2 teaspoons dried)
- 1 Tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley (or 2 teaspoons dried)
- 2 garlic cloves, minced or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (95g) shredded parmesan, mozzarella, or white cheddar cheese (or your favorite shredded cheese)
Optional Topping
- 1 Tablespoon (14g) unsalted butter, melted
- flaky/coarse sea salt for sprinkling
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. Heat the milk on the stove or in the microwave until warm to touch, about 110°F (43°C). Pour warm milk on top of yeast/sugar. Whisk gently to combine, 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 rosemary. 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, prepare the filling in the next step and grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan.
- Make the filling: In a medium bowl, mix the soft butter, rosemary, parsley, garlic, and salt together. If the butter is soft enough, you can just mix it all together with a spoon or fork. You can use an electric mixer if that’s easier too. Cover tightly and set aside until ready to use. (Don’t refrigerate unless making well in advance. It’s easiest to spread on the dough when at room temperature. If refrigerated, let it come to room temperature before spreading on dough pieces.)
- Assemble the bread: Punch down the dough to release the air. Place dough on a lightly floured work surface. Divide it into 12 equal pieces, each about 1/4 cup of dough and 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 filling mixture onto each. Sprinkle each with 1 Tablespoon of 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.
- 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. (Don’t be alarmed if there’s melted butter around the sides of the bread as it bakes, it will seep into the bread before it finishes.) Remove from the oven and place the pan on a wire rack. If desired, brush with melted butter for topping and sprinkle with sea salt.
- 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
- Yeast: I always use Platinum Yeast from Red Star, an instant yeast. If using active dry yeast, the rise times could be slightly longer. 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. You can also try swapping out 1 cup of flour for whole wheat flour. Do not replace all of the flour with whole wheat flour—just 1 cup.
- Extra Soft Butter for Filling: Have you ever read my page about room temperature butter? Room temperature butter for baking should still be cool to the touch. You want room temperature butter for the dough. However, for the filling, you want extra soft butter so you can easily spread it onto the flattened dough without tearing the dough. Feel free to microwave it for 10-15 seconds to help it get extra soft.
Keywords: pull apart bread, garlic bread
This is a GREAT recipe and smells amazing thank you for sharing it
★★★★★
Would this recipe work with a gluten free flour like Cup 4 Cup?
Thanks
This bread looks so delicious!
Hi Sharon, we haven’t tested this bread with gluten free flour so we’re unsure of the results. Although some readers report using an all-purpose 1:1 gluten-free flour in many of our recipes with success, you should expect slightly different results anytime you substitute ingredients. Let us know if you try it!
Is it possible to double the recipe to make 2 loaves?
Hi Paul, for best results, we recommend making two separate batches rather than doubling.
Amazing!! Directions for bread were spot on. I really wanted jalapeño cheese so I did that instead of rosemary garlic. This is a keeper and is sooo versatile!! Thank you!!
★★★★★
This is another killer recipe from Sally’s Baking. The only change I made was to leave out the garlic (my wife is not a fan of garlic). I used parmesan cheese, but I guess you can substitute a number of cheeses. I do not have a mixer so I mixed by hand with excellent results. While the recipe says it will last a week, I am sure this will not last through day 2—way, way too good to not get eaten.
★★★★★
Can I substitute the savory filling ingredients with sweet, such as sugar, cinnamon and raisins?
Hi Linda, absolutely! You could spread softened butter on the rounds and sprinkle with a cinnamon sugar blend and raisins. Maybe even some orange zest too. This monkey bread is also a fun idea.
Just made this for dinner with turkey lean meatballs in tomato sauce. Its perfect witb any pasta. The flavour were incredibly tasty, crispy and yet so soft in the inside. So delicious
★★★★★
Can this be frozen?
You bet! See recipe notes for freezing instructions.
I tried this recipe twice. In the first instance, milk wasn’t hot enough and my bread turned out poorly fermented. It was dense and bad.
In the second try, i used bread flour instead and caught the milk temperature. I also added parmesean cheese, and ensured butter was soft but not melted. Bread turned out light and fluffy, less oily, and perfect! I also added black pepper for the filling.
★★★★
Mine turned out so salty! Also, my filling seemed to slide into one small area of each “pouch” so each slice has a concentrated spot of butter-filling. I love how soft it is and the pull-apart is fun, but I want to try again. I used parmesan cheese. Any suggestions?
Hi Christina! Thank you so much for trying this recipe. I’m glad to help for your next loaf. I recommend reducing the salt in the filling down to a pinch or 1/8 teaspoon. And try adding 1 Tablespoon of flour to the filling to help it bind together so it doesn’t all melt down. Let me know if these suggestions help.
I did try and follow this recipe exact with the exception of switching 1 Cup wheat flour. I found the bread was kind of dry, which I wasn’t expecting with so much filling and butter. It also didn’t get that nice golden brown on top or pull apart that great. Is that due to the flour? My pan? Gas oven? Elevation or climate?
Would like to see a more detailed video of how the bread is packed in the last stage.
I’m no expert baker, but at least my husband and son were impressed by this one! Though for all the work and time I was certainly disappointed.
★★★★
Hi Carla, how did you measure your flour? Be sure to spoon and level or use weight measurements to ensure there isn’t too much flour making in into your dough, which can dry it out. The addition of whole wheat flour will make it just slightly more dense than using all all-purpose or bread flour. Make sure your pan is well greased, and use conventional oven settings if possible. We’re unsure of your climate but yes — elevation and humidity can play a big role in how yeasted bakes come out! Some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html Were you able to watch the video tutorial in the recipe card? At around the 1:20 mark, you can see how the bread is placed into the pan. Hope this is helpful for next time and thank you for giving this recipe a try!
That’s all really helpful! Thank you! You’re quite the expert.
I do live in a VERY humid environment (90% humidity, and high elevation.)
Hi! I really want to make this, but I, unfortunately, can’t eat eggs. Is there a dough you recommend using for this, without the eggs? 🙂 THANKS!
Hi Christine, we would love to help but aren’t experts at egg-free baking. Let us know if you try anything!
Silken tofu, yogurt or buttermilk are some egg substitutes.
I’m going to try this recipe over the weekend. I love all of your recipes I’ve tried so far…do you think I can swap the all purpose flour to gluten free 1:1 flour with success?
Hi Joyanne, we haven’t tested this recipe with GF flour. Let us know if you do!
This bread is just buttery and soft pillowy goodness! Made it to pair with pasta for dinner and it was a big hit. Thank you Sally for a great recipe!
★★★★★
We live at 9,000 ft elevation, and I made this recipe last night making appropriate adjustments for high altitude. The bread was so wonderful…savory, tender inside with the crusty outside! You could definitely use a variety of flavor profiles too.
★★★★★
Karen, I’m also at high altitude. What adjustments did you make to this recipe? Thanks for your help.
Another success from Sally! Its easy to make, looks impressive and can be customized to whatever herbs (rosemary, thyme, sage, etc) and cheese I have available.
I don’t add garlic powder or rosemary to the bread dough itself, but make an extra garlic-y filling with 5 cloves garlic plus the herbs. I generally add more cheese to any recipe, but in this case three to four ounces is a good amount to complement everything else.
It bakes well in a 9×5 or 10.5×5.5 inch pan.
★★★★★
This was amazing recipe. I tried it some time back and my husband (who isn’t a fan of bread like me) polished off most of it in an evening. Thank you
★★★★★
Hi! I don’t have time to make the dough, would I be able to swap it for a premade frozen dough? Thoughts?
I don’t see why not – let us know if you give it a try!
Tried this Bread recipe last weekend and My Wife and I ate the entire loaf in one day. 🙂
Will this recipe work if I shape the dough into a wreath shape and bake on a sheet pan?
Hi Colleen, we recommend a loaf pan for this bread – you do not want to bake this on a baking sheet without proper support and, well, confinement for your bread! You could use this cinnamon roll wreath recipe instead. Feel free to reduce the sugar in the dough. A couple Tablespoons would be sufficient. We love using pesto as the filling or even softened butter with shredded cheese and/or herbs. Let us know what you try!
Would this work without cheese?
Hi Karen, You can leave out the cheese completely. No other changes necessary.
Sally,
This came out great.
However the dough was nothing short of infernal. I followed the recipe to a T and double-checked my measurements. Despite that, when I went to knead the dough I had a wet mess that stuck to my hands. I probably ended up adding 6 tablespoons of flour at least to get it into something that I could work with and it was still very wet and sticky. Not sure what was going on there – perhaps I didn’t mix it enough before dumping it out of the bowl but I would never expect that to be an issue once everything is incorporated.
★★★★
This looks amazing! Would it be possible to incorporate tangzhong or is it not suitable for this type of loaf?
Hi Meg, you know I’ve never tried that with this dough but you can certainly test it if you’d like.
Sally never let’s me down. I have never tried a recipe that I didnt like.
I admit that I sometimes tweak the recipe to my families taste. But the basics always start with a Sally’s baking addiction recipe.
It never fails.
★★★★★
So amazing ! The saying around our kitchen is “ Its Sally’s recipes and she have never steered us wrong “ We have tried other websites until we found yours and it is our cooking bible. Thank you for your recipes and great directions. They always make us seem so impressive to everyone we bake for.
★★★★★
Thank you so much for making and trusting our recipes, Amelia!
This bread looks so stunning! I can imagine it would make the perfect addition to a lovely dinner with family and friends!
★★★★★
I am a fan of pretty much every recipe of this site but this left some to be desired. The bread was on the drier side and it was hard to hard on the outside.
★★★
The bread was delicious but i did find that i had clumps of the rosemary filling, which made some parts difficult to eat. Any idea as to why my rosemary/buttter filling clumped up like that?
★★★★
Hi Anja, were you using extra soft butter for the filling? That should help the filling to be spreadable so that it doesn’t clump up once folded in the bread.
I made this bread for a birthday lunch for my brother. I had a lot to do for the meal so I made the bread dough the day before and put it in the refrigerator just before the second rise. It rose some in the refrigerator, but taking it out of the refrigerator at 7 am was probably too early. I think it over- proofed. It had about four hours at room temp before I baked it and it was full of bubbles. It tasted good and looked great but I think it would have benefitted from a little bit more salt and had a sponge-like texture. Next time, I’ll make it exactly the way the recipe states.
★★★★★
I made this bread for the first time tonight. I added extra garlic cloves because my boyfriend and I love garlic. This bread is amazing! All of the flavors come through in perfect harmony!! Also love the slight crispy crust on top. This homemade bread will be a regular for us!
★★★★★