Description

Pull Apart Caprese Bread – Pull apart bread yeast topped with delicious fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil. Made with homemade dough this party bread makes a great appetizer or starter.

Ingredients

Units Scale

For Bread Dough:

1/2 cup 4 oz warm water (about 110 degrees)
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup 4 oz warm milk (I used 2%) (about 110 degrees)
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 3/4 - 3 1/4 cups bread flour

For Topping:

3 tablespoons olive oil
handful fresh basil (finely chopped)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
6 oz mozzarella cheese (cubed)
2 Roma tomatoes (chopped, divided)
1 teaspoons kosher salt

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Instructions

Into a small bowl measure the water. Sprinkle with sugar and yeast. Stir. Let sit until yeast is activated, about 10 minutes.
Using a stand mixer, fitted the dough hook, combine water/yeast mixture ,butter,</g> milk, salt and 1 1/2 cups flour. Begin to knead for about 1-2 minutes. Stir in additional flour gradually. Add enough flour until dough is smooth. It will be slightly sticky Knead for 7-10 minutes. the dough should stick to the bottom of the bowl but clears sides.
In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, basil and minced garlic. Cut dough into 1-in. pieces; dip into oil mixture. Layer into a greased 9-in. x 5-in. loaf pan. Cover and let rise until almost doubled, about 45 minutes – 1 hour.
Meanwhile, 15 minutes before the dough has completely risen, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stuff cubed cheese and half of the tomatoes into the crevices of dough.
Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. To check baked dough with a thermometer, it should read 200 degrees. Sprinkle with kosher salt, additional chopped tomatoes, and fresh basil.

Notes

In the video, I show only adding tomatoes after the dough is baked. In the recipe, I note that I add both before and after. This is my preference after trying both ways. Both work well. Do what you prefer.
Adding fresh basil to the dough before baking does cause the top pieces to brown a lot. Feel free to not add it until it comes out of the oven.

Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Category: Bread