By Libbie Summers
Photography Chia Chong
One easy dough…many delicious recipes.
Walnut Apricot and Blue Cheese Pull-Apart Bread
makes 1 loaf
What you need:
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup butter, cubed plus 2 tablespoons melted
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup toasted chopped walnuts
1/4 cup chopped dried apricots or pears
3 ounces crumbled blue cheese
What to do:
1. Preheat oven to 425º F. Spray a 9×5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
2. In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pepper until combined. Add the cubed butter and pulse until the mixture forms pea-size pieces. Add the buttermilk and pulse just until a soft dough forms. Turn the dough onto a well-floured work surface and knead it gently three times.
3. Roll the dough out into a long thin rectangle (24×8-inches).
4. Brush the top of the dough with 1 tablespoon of the melted butter.
5. Spread walnuts, apricots and blue cheese over the dough and press into the dough (slightly) with your hands.
6. Use a sharp knife to cut the dough in half lengthwise and then cut the dough widthwise into nine equal-size strips. You will have eighteen equal pieces of dough.
7. Stack all but one piece of the dough on top of each other with the toppings facing up. Place the final piece on the top with the toppings facing down. The dough is sticky enough that the stack will hold together when pressed a little so don’t worry. This is going to be a bit messy and that’s cool.
8. Carefully lay the stack on its side in the prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle any of the contents that may have fallen out onto the top of the dough. Separate the slices a little with your fingertips and brush the top with the remaining 1 tablespoon melted butter.
9. Bake the loaf for 30 minutes, until it has risen and is golden brown. Let cool slightly before removing from the pan and serving.
Try these other topping combinations:
•Seed Pull-Apart Bread (1 tablespoon poppy seeds, 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds, 1/3 cup sunflower seeds and 1/3 cup pepitas)
•Greek (1 cup chopped Kalamata olives, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill, 1 cup crumbled feta cheese)
5 comments
Hi Libbie- quick question for you: in the video you used just buttermilk and the recipe here calls for butter and buttermilk. Just wanted to verify before I attempt this (looks amazeballs, btw!!). Thank you and merry Christmas!!
Totally forgot to add the butter in the video. Here’s the deal…It was great without it. Who knew…which is why I didn’t amend the video. BUT saying that, I would DEFINITELY use the butter. Happy Holidays!
Hi, I would love to make this- it looks beautiful! Do you have any suggestions for a bluecheese sub? and any other fruit combos?
Love this with pears and nuts. Really, any cheese will work fine. A gouda would be fab…smoked may be too overpowering, but who knows. It’s really anything goes! Just use dried fruits!!!
Libie, I’m a Brazilian fan of yours. I tried to make his Walnut Apricot and Blue Cheese Pull-Apart Bread, but the result was a disaster. The dough became a mucus, too soft and even with the floured stone it was difficult to open with the roller, I was unable to take it off and stack it to put it in the pan. In the oven the result was a crude and hard pasta. I suspect that American flour is not the same as Brazilian flour and, as we do not have buttermilk in Brazil, we use milk that we sour with the juice of half a lemon. Please help me. Your bread looks delicious and I would love to reproduce it. Thanks. Celso Gorga.