How do you like your Sourdough? Open crumb with a chewy crust? Or soft and filled with delicious pesto & cheese? We like Sourdough in any way it comes, but this Pesto Sourdough Pull-Apart Bread has made it into our most frequently cooked sourdough recipe TOP 3! Milk and butter enriched dough rolled with fragrant basil pesto and cheese is an amazing way to enjoy your bread on any occasion! Make your own pesto, if you can, it will be the most amazing pull-apart bread you've ever had!
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Looking for something simpler but just as delicious? Try our Sourdough Garlic Knots or Sourdough Babka With Pesto & Sundried Tomatoes.
Pesto Sourdough Bread Timeline
I typically make this recipe over two days, so it's ready for lunch the day after I start. Here's my timeline:
DAY 1: Starter, Dough, Folds
8:00 am Feed the starter and leave to it for 4 hours to double in size.
12:00 pm Make the dough.
12:30 pm Stretch and fold 4 times every 30 minutes, then leave for 2 hours undisturbed.
4:30 pm Place the dough in the fridge until tomorrow morning.
DAY 2: Shave, Second Proof, Bake
8:00 am Take the dough out of the fridge and leave for 30 minutes to come to room temperature.
8:30 am Shape the rolls and leave to prove for the second time (about 2-3 hours).
11:30 am Bake
12:00 am Leave to cool down for an hour.
1:00 pm Eat.
Fancy Making Your Own Pesto?
We highly recommend it! Your Sourdough Pull-Apart Bread will taste amazing!
Pesto is not only for making Pesto Pasta! It can be used in many different ways. Pesto is actually really easy to make, especially if you have a food processor. But if you don't you can still use pestle and mortar (just make sure to make your pesto with softer buttery nuts like walnuts, pinenuts or pecans). Here are two of our favourite pesto recipes for you to try!
- Basil and Walnut Pesto with Cheddar
- Homemade Hazelnut Pesto
- Pea Shoot Pesto (Quick 10-Minute Recipe)
Method
DAY 1
Combine flour, milk and sourdough starter in a bowl of your stand mixer (we love Kenwood) and mix into a rough dough. Cover and leave for an hour to autolyse.
In your stand mixer, fitted with a dough hook attachment, knead the dough for 5 minutes, add the salt and sugar, then bit by bit start adding the room temperature butter and keep the mixer running until all the butter is incorporated and the dough is soft and elastic; around 7-8 minutes.
Place the dough into a lightly greased bowl, cover and leave for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, stretch and fold the dough. Cover and leave for 30 minutes. Perform 3 more stretch and folds during the bulk fermentation, spaced by 30 minutes.
After the last stretch and fold, cover the dough and leave it to prove for 2-3 hours until it rises by about 50%. Then pop the dough in the fridge to finish proving overnight.
DAY 2
Take the dough out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature for about 30 minutes. Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Using your hands or gently rolling with a rolling pin, flatten it into a rectangular shape (30x24cm), about 3 mm thick. Spread pesto onto the dough, then lay the slices of cheese side by side to cover all the surface (or scatter grated cheese) and roll the dough from the shorter edge.
Cut the roll into 3cm thick pieces and place them snuggly into a generously greased tin (or lined with baking paper). Cover with lightly oiled clingfilm and leave the rolls to rise for about 2-3 hours.
Preheat the oven to 210ºC Fan. Bake the sourdough pull-apart bread for about 25-30 minutes. It will rise more in the oven, the cheese will melt and the tops we'll become golden brown!
Let the pesto sourdough bread cool for at least 1 hour before digging in, otherwise, it will taste a bit gummy!
What to Serve Sourdough Pull-Apart Bread With?
- Perfect with soup. We love it with a simple Garden Pea Soup or our Courgette & Cheddar Soup.
- Perfect as a starter or a side to your summer BBQ, especially with chicken and halloumi dishes.
- Lovely on their own, especially on the day they're baked, when they are fresh out of the oven and still a bit warm. They taste almost like pizza!
- Try the Sourdough Pesto Pull-Apart Bread with your pasta dishes instead of a traditional slice of garlic bread!
Other Sourdough Recipes To Try
If you are a keen sourdough baker, maybe we can tempt you to try some of our other Sourdough dishes:
- Chilli & Cheese Sourdough Tear & Share Bread
- Sourdough Garlic Knots
- Lemon Blueberry Sourdough Bread
- Sourdough Pull Apart Garlic Bread (Cheesy Buttery Brioche)
- Soft & Fluffy Sourdough Burger Buns
- Coffee & Date Sourdough with Spelt Flour
Or if you have lots of discard to use up, head straight to our Sourdough Discard Focaccia.
Christmas Sourdough ebook
Celebrate the holiday season with a unique twist this year with our 24 Christmas Sourdough recipes! Discover the magic of using active sourdough starter, sourdough discard, and leftover baked sourdough bread to create a memorable and flavoursome Christmas feast.
Recipe Card
Pesto Sourdough Pull-Apart Bread
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with a Dough Hook Attachment or you can knead by hand
- Ovenproof dish approx. 21x21cm
Ingredients
- 125 g milk
- 100 g active sourdough starter 100% hydration
- 200 gram strong white flour
- 50 g butter softened
- 10 g caster sugar
- 5 g salt
- 2 tablespoon pesto
- 5 slices Emmental or Mozzarella, or mild Cheddar or 100g grated cheese
Instructions
Day 1:
- Combine flour, milk and sourdough starter in a bowl of your stand mixer and mix into a rough dough. Cover and leave in a warm spot for an hour.
- In your stand mixer, fitted with a dough hook attachment, knead the dough for 5 minutes, add the salt and sugar, then bit by bit start adding the butter and keep the mixer running until all the butter is incorporated and the dough is soft and elastic, around 7-9 minutes.
- Place the dough into a lightly greased bowl, cover and leave for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, stretch and fold the dough. Cover and leave for 30 minutes. Perform 3 more stretch and folds during the bulk fermentation, spaced by 30 minutes.
- After the last stretch and fold, cover the dough and leave to prove for 2-3 hours until it rises by about 50%. Then pop the bowl with the dough in the fridge to finish proving overnight.
Day 2:
- Take the dough out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature for about 30 minutes. Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Using your hands or gently rolling with a rolling pin, flatten it into a rectangular shape (30x24cm), about 3 mm thick. Spread pesto onto the dough, then lay the slices of cheese side by side to cover all the surface and roll the dough from the shorter edge.
- Cut the roll into 3cm thick pieces and place them snuggly into a generously greased tin (or lined with baking paper). Cover with lightly oiled clingfilm and leave the rolls rise for about 2-3 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 210ºC Fan. Bake the pull-apart bread for about 25-30 minutes. Let the bread cool for an hour before digging in.
Nutrition
Natalie says
This truly is the most amazing pull-apart bread I've ever had! Thanks!
Ieva says
Thanks, Natalie! The best compliment ever! 🤭
Louise says
Pesto + Sourdough is utter heaven. Quite an easy bake, and everyone totally loved it.
Ieva says
That's so lovely to hear, Louise! Glad there's another huge pesto and sourdough fan out there!:)
Charles says
This was the year for basil in our garden, pesto galore.
Made a double batch, one shredded mozzarella and the other reggiano parmigiana.
Best ever!!
Ieva Greber says
Amazing to hear! Must be so good with homegrown homemade pesto! 😋
Kate says
This pesto sourdough pull-apart bread is warm, soft, and so fun to share. Perfect straight from the oven.
Terri says
This sourdough pesto pull-apart bread is soft, fragrant, and packed with herby flavor. A fun and delicious shareable that’s hard to resist!
Rosa says
This pesto sourdough pull-apart bread is soft, cheesy, and packed with so much flavor. The basil pesto and enriched dough make it feel like the perfect bread for sharing.
Ieva Greber says
Thank you so much! It really is one of those breads made for tearing, sharing, and “just one more piece” behaviour. So glad you liked it 😊
Lisa says
We LOVE pesto at our house and these delicious pull apart rolls were a big hit with my family!
Ieva Greber says
I’m so pleased to hear that! Pesto and cheese really are a dangerous little duo, aren’t they? So glad the pull apart rolls were a hit with your family 😊
Beverly says
I could eat these every day! I'm not surprised at all that they're in your top 3.