Pesto Bread is a fluffy, cheesy, pull apart bread that you won't be able to get enough of! Simple to make using everyday ingredients this yeast bread is irresistibly delicious. We make the dough, let it rise, create pillows of cheese and pesto then oven bake to perfection. You will love this homemade bread recipe.
Recipes like the Slow Cooker Cheese And Bacon Bread and Vegemite Bread give us no yeast bread recipes that are easy to make.
The Chicken Pesto Linguine, Pesto Rigatoni, Beef Pesto Pasta and the Meatball Pesto Pasta offer tasty combinations of pesto, protein and pasta.
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🤍 PESTO BREAD
I have summarised everything that you will come to know and love (LOVE ❤) about the pesto bread recipe in the points below:
- Homemade: this pesto bread is homemade, so you know every ingredient in the mix, how it comes together and can enjoy the bread making at home process.
- Easy: we follow basic steps and give the dough time to rise as the yeast works.
- Simple ingredients: we use some everyday ingredients to make the bread along with a tub of store-bought pesto to keep things quick and convenient.
🥗 Ingredients
The photo below is to show you everything you need to make the pesto pull apart bread recipe. Please refer to the printable recipe card for specific ingredient measurements as well as detailed instructions.
As you can see the recipe calls for:
- Yeast: we use instant yeast (active dry yeast) for this recipe. It can be used straight out of the packet and doesn't need to sit in water for it to start working.
- Salt.
- Sugar.
- Cheese.
- Butter: unsalted butter (soft, spreadable) is recommended.
- Cheese: mozzarella is my preference for this bread. It adds 'the cheesy' but doesn't overwhelm with flavor. I have made the recipe both with fresh mozzarella that I have grated myself and also store bought shredded mozzarella (grated mozzarella). I didn't find a huge difference between the 2 to be honest, so you can choose your 'easy'.
- Pesto: store bought, 'basil pesto dip' chilled, from the fridge section in the supermarket.
- Milk: skim milk or full cream milk. I have tried both and they each worked well. I have also tried this with long life milk when I didn't have fresh and it also worked well. (Handy if you are not a go to the store everyday type person.
- Flour: plain flour.
😉 Variations
Here are my sub ins and outs that you might be thinking about as you read the post and I will tell you if I think they will work or why they won't:
- Pesto: you can make this bread with the 'red pesto' dip version. I talk about this later in the post re cooking method, but you will need to tent the bread to keep the 'pretty red' colour and not move towards 'too brown' color.
👩🍳 How to Make Pesto bread
To make the pesto bread we start by bringing together the dough ingredients. I like to use a food processor for this step.
🍳 Instructions
- Add bread ingredients (Photo 1)
- Combine (Photo 2)
- Transfer to greased bowl (Photo 3)
- Cover with plastic wrap and prove for 1 hour (Photo 4)
Once you have added the bread ingredients to a food processor blitz for around 40 seconds to combine. Next transfer the dough to a greased bowl. Cover with cling wrap and put a clean kitchen towel over the top then let sit for 1 hour (first rise).
- Prepare loaf pan (Photo 5)
- Knead the bread (Photo 6)
- Chop into pieces (Photo 7)
- Dunk into pesto then cheese (Photo 8)
Line your bread tin with 2 sheets of overlapping baking paper. Then remove the risen dough from the bowl, place it on a lightly floured surface and give it a quick (less than a minute) knead on the bench.
Once done take a pair of kitchen scissors and chop the dough into small pieces like shown in the photos above.
From there prep a dunking station. Add the pesto to a bowl and the mozzarella cheese to another. Place the prepared tin at the end of this line.
Next working piece by piece dunk the individual dough into the pesto, then the cheese, then into the tin. Repeat this process for all dough pieces.
- Dip in pesto then cheese (Photo 9)
- Place into prepared tin (Photo 10
- Cover with cling wrap, let rise 25 mins (Photo 11)
- Water goes into a tray at the base of the oven (Photo 12)
After you have dipped each bread piece into the pesto then the cheese you want to place a layer of cling wrap over the bread then cover with a tea towel. Let it rise (2nd dough rise) for between 25 - 30 minutes.
Once this time is up we remove the tea towel and cling wrap. The bread goes into the oven on the middle shelf. We then fill a tray on a lower oven rack with water (about a cup). This helps to steam the bread as it cooks.
🍽 Serving Suggestions
The bread needs to cook for between 30-35 minutes. You can test it to see if it is ready by inserting a skewer into the centre of the bread which should come out with only a few moist bread crumbs.
The other method is to use a digital thermometer. The bread will be ready when the internal temperature reaches between 88°C and 99°C (190°F to 210°F).
To serve your cheesy bread, let it cool for 5-10 minutes before removing from the tin, placing on a cooling rack and discarding the layers of parchment paper.
Now dig in! Tear and share, pull it apart and enjoy the crusty bread. Spread it with butter if you please or cream cheese and enjoy.
Or serve the bread as a side dish for soups and meaty mains like the Chicken And Corn Soup, Savoury Mince, Lamb Ribs, Greek Ribs or the Pork Roast.
👍 How to Guide
How to Store
I think the bread is best cooked and consumed on the same day. If you don't eat it all across a meal you can put it in a sealed, airtight container.
How to Reheat
Place the bread into the air fryer for a couple of minutes (3-4 mins) to reheat before consuming leftovers.
💡 Tasty Tips
Here are my top tips and tricks that I want to share with you so that you master the recipe from the get go:
- Mixing bowl: I do use a little olive oil and basting brush to grease the mixing bowl. This helps to ensure that the dough comes out without getting stuck or leaving little bits behind.
- Dough: if you don't have a food processor you can simply mix the bread dough in a bowl with a rubber spatula. I tried this method along the way. I switched to using my food processor as I think the butter gets mixed more consistently with the food processor, but either method does work.
- Bread tin: as much as the bread tin I use is non stick I still like to line it with 2 overlapping sheets of baking paper. This helps to pull the bread up and out of the tin once it has cooked and cooled.
- Tenting the bread: you can either start to cook the bread and then tent (cover with a tent made by aluminum foil when you notice the top browning OR you can tent the bread for the whole cook time. Due to cheese we need to use both a layer of parchment paper (stops the cheese sticking) and also aluminum foil for the tent.
- Do you love pesto and want to use it in more recipes? Then try the Penne Pesto, Pesto Rigatoni or Pesto Pappardelle recipes.
🤓 pesto bread FAQ's
No, you can't. Proofing the bread allows the dough to rest and the yeast to rise.
No, this bread is not suitable to freeze. It is best cooked and consumed the same day.
Yes you can. In which case I recommend using the equivalent amount as stated in the recipe card.
For best results, yes I think you do. I tried both with and without during the testing process for this recipe. I found that I got better results (more fluffy shiny bread) with the water.
No, the recipe needs plain flour.
No. We use instant active yeast for the bread, not baking powder.
No, the bread will stick to the inner layer of foil. You need to use both layers.
Start by following the cook time ie 30-35 minutes. Then test at this stage with a skewer or digital thermometer. You can also gently pull back one of the pieces to ensure that the bread loaf is cooked through and that there is no white raw dough bits. If it is not fully cooked at this point, simply cook for a little longer until it is.
😍 More Easy Recipes to enjoy
If you love spending time in your kitchen then I want to offer you some more ideas to try. These recipes have a variety of cook times, methods and ingredients.
- More bread: Spinach And Bacon Cob Loaf, French Onion Cob Loaf, Camembert Cob Loaf.
- More cheese: Baked Brie With Red Pepper Jelly, Cream Cheese Pepper Jelly, Honey Pecan Cream Cheese, Honey Walnut Cream Cheese.
- More pesto: Meatball Pesto Pasta, Beef Pesto Pasta, Chicken Pesto Linguine.
Adrianne
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📖 Recipe
Pesto Bread
Ingredients
- 3 ⅓ cups/420 grams plain flour no need to sift, Note 1
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons instant active dried yeast Note 2
- 1 ¼ cups milk Note 3
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons butter softened, Note 4
- 150 grams basil pesto Note 5
- 2 cup/400 grams mozzarella cheese grated, Note 6
Instructions
- Baking tin: Grease a 21 x 11 x 7 cm loaf pan (8.3 x 4.5 x 2.75") spray oil and then line it with 2 overlapping sheets baking paper (parchment paper with a 1 inch overhang.
- Bread mixture: add the flour, sugar, yeast, salt, milk and butter to a greased food processor bowl. Blitz for 40 seconds to combine. Remove from food processor and transfer to a large greased mixing bowl. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and a tea towel and let sit (rise) for 1 hour.
- Segment: once the dough has risen, remove the cling wrap (discard). Lightly flour a work surface and then transfer the dough on top. Roll and shape with your hands for less than a minute and roughly shape into a wide fat log shape. Take kitchen scissors and chop the bread into small pieces about the size of 1 large date..
- Pesto and cheese: place the pesto into one bowl and the shredded mozzarella cheese into another. Working 1 piece at a time dip the bread into the pesto followed by the cheese and once done place the seasoned piece of bread into the prepared loaf pan. Repeat until all of the bread has been transferred into the pan. Cover with cling wrap and a tea towel and let sit for 25 minutes.
- Oven bake: remove the tea towel and cling wrap after the 2nd rise time. Place the bread into the oven Note 7 (middle shelf, tented) and pour about 1 cup of water into a wire rack with base underneath. Bake for 30-35 minutes.
- Cooking method: once the bread is cooked, you can test it with a skewer inserted into the middle or use a digital thermometer to ensure it is cooked through. Then use oven mitts to remove the loaf pan from the oven and set it onto a heatproof surface. Discard the tent and let the bread cool in the tin for 5-10 mins. Run a butter knife around the edge after this initial cooling time and then remove the bread and pace it onto a cooling rack.
- To serve: tear and share, pull apart, spread with butter, cream cheese, eat as is or dip into soups and stews.
Video
Notes
- Note 1 - Flour: this is plain flour, not self-raising flour or bread flour.
- Note 2 - Yeast: this is instant active dry yeast. It can simply be added to the ingredients and combined. It does not need to be activated with liquid first.
- Note 3 - Milk: I have tried this recipe using both full cream and skim milk. Both worked well with not a lot of noticeable difference. So you can use your preferred milk.
- Note 4 - Butter: we need to use softened butter (unsalted). This is butter from a tub of spreadable butter not a hard block of butter. This mixes in easily with the other ingredients. I use my tablespoon and scoop it into the butter, then use a butter knife to level the spoon. Then I slice this in half so that when I add it to the other ingredients it is evenly distributed.
- Note 5 - Basil pesto: to keep things easy I use a store bought tub of 'basil pesto dip'. This is in the fridge section of the supermarket where the other dips are, not the pasta aisle where the jars of pasta sauce are. The size is 150 grams which is under 1 cup of pesto.
- Note 6 - Cooked bread: it is important to check the bread before turning the oven off to make sure it is cooked through. Due to the basil and cheesy top it can look cooked whilst some inner pieces of dough are still raw. So test with the skewer (should bring out only a few soft crumbs or thermometer. You can also pull a piece from the middle back a little as it will be easy to see if this is yellow/cooked through or white and needs a bit longer to fully cook.
- Note 7 - Tenting the bread: you can either start to cook the bread and then tent (cover with a tent made by aluminum foil when you notice the top browning OR you can tent the bread for the whole cook time. Due to cheese we need to use both a layer of parchment paper (stops the cheese sticking) and also aluminum foil for the tent).
- Note 8 - Measurements: I do use a kitchen scale when measuring ingredients for this bread recipe to ensure accuracy. Also I am in Australia. Our tablespoon measures 20 ml which is more than the 15 ml in some countries. The recipe has been developed to work with the 20 (ml or grams) metric measurement).
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