Messy Pesto Garlic Bread is the bend on garlic bread you never realized you required. With a simple hand crafted pesto, this is a definitive finger food.
There’s something very mystical about the blend of bread and pesto. I could eat an entire portion just dunked into new basil pesto. So I thought, why not consolidate the two. This, in addition to my affection for garlic bread, and here we are.
Dissimilar to my simmered garlic bread, I really don’t utilize a roll here. I pick an ordinary portion, cut it into equal parts and spread on the pesto that way. This is primarily for accommodation reasons, yet in addition since it permits the cheddar to go overall quite brilliant/gooey. I additionally heat the bread twice. The first round is to guarantee the garlic cooks appropriately and doesn’t wind up excessively sharp. The second round is a short spell with the cheddar, to make sure it goes overall quite gooey.
That’s right! You can make it up until in the wake of spreading the pesto, at that point wrap and store in the refrigerator. Take out and prepare as taught. Messy pesto garlic bread is best made new, however you could prepare the entire thing, wrap and store in the cooler until prepared to serve (simply keep wrapped and warm in the broiler until cooked through once more).
Ingredients:
Homemade Garlicy Pesto
- 2 large handfuls Fresh Basil (2 packed cups, approx 60g/2oz)
- 4 tbsp Pine Nuts, optionally toasted
- 1/2 cup / 40g Freshly Grated Parmesan
- 1/2 cup / 125ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil, or as needed
- 3 cloves of Garlic (see notes)
- 1/2 tsp Salt, or to taste
- 1/4 tsp Black Pepper, or to taste
Cheesy Bread
- 1x 14oz/400g loaf of Bread (see notes)
- 2 – 2 1/2 cups / 200-250g Mozzarella, shredded
- Fresh Parsley, finely diced to serve
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 356F/180C.
- Pop all of your pesto ingredients in a food processor apart from the oil and pulse. Gradually pour in oil until evenly combined and desired texture.
- Slice your loaf of bread in half and spread the pesto over, ensuring you spread right to the edges. Individually wrap the bread in foil like a tent, making sure the foil isn’t touching the pesto. Bake in the oven for 10mins.
- Take bread out, unwrap foil and sprinkle with mozzarella. Place back in the oven until the cheese goes golden and gooey (another 10mins or so).
Notes:
- Bread – Use a flatfish loaf, no longer than around 12” and 14oz/400g in weight. Try and use a soft loaf or it’ll go too crunchy in the oven. French or Italian bread works great.
- Garlic – For pesto GARLIC bread use the 3 cloves of garlic. For just a regular pesto I only use 1 clove.
- Pesto – Do check out my post on how to make basil pesto for extra tips and tricks on getting perfect pesto. You could also use chive and parsley pesto and sun dried tomato pesto for this recipe!
- Make ahead – Fresh is best, but you could bake the whole thing, allow to cool, then wrap and store in the fridge. Pop back in at the same temp until heated through. You could also spread the pesto and store after that. Then just remove, bake, add cheese and bake.
- Calories – Shared between 6.
Nutrition:
Nutrition Facts
Cheesy Pesto Garlic Bread
Amount Per Serving
Calories 470Calories from Fat 239
% Daily Value*
Fat 26.56g41%
Saturated Fat 4.617g23%
Trans Fat 0.082g
Polyunsaturated Fat 4.89g
Monounsaturated Fat 15.327g
Cholesterol 14mg5%
Sodium 1033mg43%
Potassium 193mg6%
Carbohydrates 37.32g12%
Fiber 2.9g12%
Sugar 1.36g2%
Protein 21.3g43%
Vitamin A 1450IU29%
Vitamin C 2.5mg3%
Calcium 500mg50%
Iron 2.9mg16%
