Cheesy Bread
If you make this once, you will make it a thousand times. Every time we are having a family dinner or get together, I am asked to make this. No matter if I am the one who is supposed to be cooking or not. The key to this recipe is FRESHNESS. You want your ingredients to be so fresh and so clean that Outkast would write a follow up song about them. The other major thing to this recipe is feel. You want the bread to be buttered thoroughly, get a proper golden crust on it, but not be soggy in the middle when the fresh mozzarella gets added. This leaves the center chewy and soggy under the beautifully melted cheese and, while still delicious, is not what you are going for. This recipe makes two long loaves of the cheesiest bread you have ever had, but scales up very well if you have a party with more than 6-10 people at it. It is still never enough.
Ingredients:
1 Italian Bread Loaf
2 sticks of softened butter
1 lb of fresh mozzarella
A few cloves of fresh crushed garlic (3-4)
The juice of 1/2 lemon
Fresh Italian herbs and seasonings
Salt and Pepper to taste
Fresh chopped parsley (optional)
Recipe:
1) Preheat oven to 350°F.
2) Mix softened butter, garlic, lemon juice, Italian herbs and seasonings, salt, and pepper into a bowl until thoroughly combined.
3) Spoon out and apply compound butter enthusiastically to each side of a freshly halved (through the middle long-ways/hot dog style) Italian bread loaf.
4) Place sheet pan on bottom rack and place buttered bread directly on to the middle rack, precisely over the sheet pan (so it can catch and delicious butter drippings. And not make a mess in your nauseatingly clean oven). Bake for 20 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown.
5) Pull the bread out and turn the oven to Broil.
6) Pile the freshly grated mozzarella high on both sides and return to the middle rack of the oven. Keep an eye on this as the cheese only needs a few minutes to melt and a few moments to go from bubbly to burnt.