Cheese pull-apart bread recipe

This lovely and delicious pull apart bread is simply the most wonderful, quick and easy lunch I have ever made.

Served with a fresh green salad, and some fruit for after the meal, it's completely delicious and is simplicity itself to prepare.

It's also a great way to use up any oddments of cheese you may have and all the ingredients you'll use are those that you'll probably have already in your pantry and fridge.

The basis of this dish is a good crusty loaf. I use an olive loaf from our local bakery but any good loaf will be fine. We often have this for lunch but it would also be a splendid accompaniment - perfect with a pasta dish as you can use the bread to mop up the pasta sauce.

It makes a great substitute for the more usual garlic bread and everyone loves it. One loaf will make enough for four people, depending on what you're serving with it - although I admit that the two of us have been known to polish off an entire loaf in one sitting!

• One loaf. I like to use a round - or nearly round - loaf but the choice is up to you. Sometimes I choose flavored loaves - the one shown here was an olive loaf - to add variety and extra flavor.
• 4oz cheese. This is the minimum! Cheddar is great but I also use oddments that I have in the fridge. It's fun to blend different varieties as each piece of the bread will offer different flavors.
• Large knob of butter.
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped. This depends on how much you love garlic of course! Adjust this to suit your taste.
• Fresh herbs I usually use basil but parsley is also excellent with this.
• Freshly ground black pepper.

• Preheat the oven to 350°
• Place the loaf of a cutting board and cut slices - but don't cut right through the bottom of the loaf; leave just a small area at the bottom so that the loaf still stays as one piece. Make each slice about an inch thick.
• Turn the bread by 90° and repeat. This will give you a grid pattern on top of the loaf.
• Melt the butter and add the olive oil, the garlic and the freshly-ground black pepper. Place the loaf onto a baking sheet, which is sprayed with olive oil, and pour the oil and butter mixture over, being sure that it drizzles down the cuts in the bread.
• Slice the cheeses thinly - slices of about 1" by 2" are fine, depending on the size of your loaf. Add a slice into every cut in the bread. Add a loose lid made from foil and put the loaf in the oven for about fifteen minutes. Reserve some of the cheese selection for grating and adding to the top of the loaf.
• Take the loaf out of the oven, at the same time ramping up the temperature to about 425°. Sprinkle the loaf with the remaining grated cheese and return it to the oven until all the cheeses are melted and gooey - that will take a further ten to fifteen minutes. Using a spatula, slide the loaf onto a serving plate or board, garnish with fresh herbs and serve!

I like to serve this with a small bowl of olive oil on the side to dip. If I have guests who I know are not garlic lovers, I omit the garlic when I'm making the dish but add an extra bowl of olive oil to dip - with lots of garlic added!

I think I could follow a vegan diet - if it wasn't for cheese! Because we don't eat meat or fish I do believe that dairy foods is an important part of our diet, nutritionally ... oh, who am I trying to kid? We eat it because we love it! I particularly love it when it's grilled or otherwise melted. See the books below for some great ideas.

We don't have many appliances in our kitchen because it's so small that we have pared down to essentials. But because we love cheese so much we do have a few specialist tools to make the job easier. I particularly like using the cheese slicer because it regulates the size of the slices - that's so much easier too than hacking away with a knife. It's always good to have the best tools for the job.

These photographs were taken by us at home ... despite the fact that we were longing to tuck in!