Sun-dried Tomato Garlic Cheese Bread
Prep Time: 30 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 50 minutes | Serves: 6 – 8
Oh, good gracious. There are some recipes where words cannot express the “wow-ness” and ridiculous flavor, and this recipe is in my top 10. Taste-testing puts me speechless here.
Imagine a garlic bread intensified with sun-dried tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, herbs, and so much more. Again, Oh, gracious. So delicious.
I have given you a Sun-dried Tomato Pesto recipe if you can’t find a good-quality, store-bought one. And this one is really delicious! It makes more than needed for the bread recipe, but use it where you would for pasta, etc.
My dilemma was most store-bought jars contain seed oils, such as safflower oil. You have to be a label-reader. Some labels state, “made with extra-virgin olive oil,” but you have to read the ingredient list. You may see other oils listed in addition to olive oil or extra-virgin olive oil. This recipe uses the oil from a jar of sun-dried tomatoes plus extra-virgin olive oil.
Don’t skip toasting the walnuts because toasting adds flavor. Any recipe that calls for toasted nuts, know that it’s that important to note in order to produce the best results.
I used a French loaf. A baguette will work well, too. You’ll just be making more slits. I would not use a soft Italian loaf; you need something with some heft and chew to hold up to the filling and keep its shape during baking.
Two ingredients, Aleppo Pepper and Black Garlic Sea Salt, are products from The Spice and Tea Exchange in Blowing Rock, NC. I have been collaborating with the company for a few months, creating recipes for the social media, while swooning over the spices and spice blends. The quality is second-to-none.
This recipe was adapted from New York Times Cooking “Garlic Bread” and Azar’s Mediterranean Specialties.
Enjoy!
Sun-dried Tomato Garlic Cheese Bread
Equipment
- Baking sheet
- Large piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil
- Serrated/Bread knife
- Food processor with blade attachment
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup prepared sun-dried tomato pesto, see recipe below, or store-bought
- 2 tablespoons Italian parsley leaves, chopped, packed
- 3 garlic cloves, grated on a zester/Microplane or pushed through a garlic press
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Aleppo Pepper Flakes, The Spice and Tea Exchange
- 1 teaspoon Black Garlic Sea Salt, The Spice and Tea Exchange
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly-cracked black pepper
- 1 cup Mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1 pound French loaf bread, or baguette
Sun-dried Tomato Pesto:
- 7 ounces sun-dried tomatoes, oil-packed, drained and reserved
- 1/2 cup unsalted walnuts, toasted
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh Mediterranean oregano leaves, packed, or 1/2 teaspoon dried Mediterranean oregano
- Sea salt or kosher salt, to taste (you may not need any)
- Freshly-cracked black pepper, to taste
- Extra-virgin olive oil, as needed, see Notes
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Place the blade attachment onto the food processor. Add the sun-dried tomatoes, walnuts, cheese, garlic, oregano, parsley and ¼ cup of the sun-dried tomato oil to the food processor. Pulse until the mixture is smooth, adding additional oil until the mixture is flowing smoothly, but not oily. You don’t want oil standing as a traditional pesto would have.
- Soften the butter in a medium bowl in the microwave. It’s fine if the butter is partly melted.
- Scrape the Pesto into the bowl with the butter. Add the parsley, garlic, Aleppo Pepper, Black Garlic Sea Salt, black pepper, and the cheese. Combine well. Taste and adjust any seasoning as needed. Set aside.
- Cut 1” slices into the loaf/baguette, but not cutting through the bottom; you want the whole loaf still attached on the bottom so that the slices will hold the filling in.
- Place the loaf onto a large piece of heavy duty aluminum foil.
- Evenly divide the sun-dried tomato filling in between the slices. A soup spoon does well for this.
- Wrap the foil around the loaf, sealing all the edges. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven. Unwrap the top part of the foil to expose the top of the loaf.
- Bake for another 5 to 8 minutes, or until nicely browned and the cheese is melted.
- Remove from the oven. You may slice/cut the slices apart or allow guests to pull the bread apart.
- The bread is best when baked and served immediately, while still warm. The Sun-dried Tomato Pesto may be made and refrigerated up to 2 days in advance. Allow the butter to soften at room temperature or for about 5 seconds in a microwave.
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