Next Post
30 Minute Butter Chicken Meatballs.
This post may contain affiliate links, please see our privacy policy for details.
Cheesy, herby, spinach and artichoke pull apart pretzel bread. Two words…The Best! Soft, buttery, and salty pretzel dough, layered with cheesy spinach and artichoke dip, baked in the oven, and served warm. Serve this at your next party, perfect for game day, or just as an easy appetizer. Either way, everyone will thank you.
Hello and happy Tuesday (that feels like a Monday). I hope you all had a fun, but relaxing long weekend, and are left feeling re-energized and ready to face the remainder of the week. The days following Labor Day are always so exciting to me. I love that there’s a new crispness in the air, excitement for fall foods, Sunday night football, talk of Halloween, and yes even the impending holiday season. I know some of this may seem a little premature, but just admit it, you are totally thinking the same!
It’s always sad to say goodbye to carefree summer days, but there’s something I love so much about this time of year. My food cravings slightly shift, and I begin to think more along the lines of slow cooker dinners, apple desserts, and game day recipes. With football season officially starting back up this week, I thought it would be fun to share a new recipe that’s perfect for entertaining and happily munching your way through the game with family and friends.
Enter this addictingly good herbed spinach and artichoke pull apart pretzel bread. Really all I have to say is this, if you try one new thing this month, it needs to be this cheesy pull apart bread, it is the BEST.
{dough cut into squares before being stacked}
{dough squares stacked into 4 stacks}
I made this bread on a whim last week, unsure of how it was going to turn out. But about five minutes into making the spinach and artichoke filling, I knew this bread was going to be good.
Let me break it down for you. Softy, buttery, and salty homemade pretzel dough, layered with a three cheese spinach and artichoke filling, baked, and serve warm.
It’s like spinach and artichoke dip with soft pretzels, but better because they’re baked together to create one incredibly delicious bread. I mean, it’s honestly too good.
Here are the details.
Start with the homemade pretzel dough. This is simple. You just need your basic bread dough ingredients plus a coarse salt. I love using this pretzel salt (order it guys, it’s good), but sea salt works in a pinch too. The key to soft pretzel dough is a little bit of butter in the dough. It makes the dough really easy to work with, keeps it flavorful, and well, extra soft!
For the filling, I did a simple version of spinach and artichoke dip with mascarpone cheese, fontina cheese, and parmesan. I seasoned it with fresh thyme, garlic, and a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes. I love the addition of the thyme here. Not going to lie, I can find spinach and artichoke dip to be more on the boring side, but the simple addition of a fresh herbs, like thyme, takes it to something special.
When the dough is ready, you’ll roll out into a rectangle, spread with the spinach and artichoke filling, and then cut the dough into squares. Stack the squares (see my photos for visuals so you are not totally confused when making this, promise it’s really easy, just hard to explain) and then layer them in a bread pan.
Let the bread rise one more time, then bake, and EAT.
You have to eat this warm, right out of the oven it’s the only way to serve it. If you’d like to prepare the bread ahead of time, you can assemble it in full, cover and place the bread in the fridge until you are ready to bake. Then just pull the bread dough out of the fridge while the oven preheats and bake as directed.
My recommendation? Test out this bread tonight, enjoy it for dinner, maybe alongside this soup, and start to welcome the beginning of cozy food season. Sounds perfect!
Also, you should know that as I type this it could not feel more like fall here. It’s a little after 9pm and I can feel the chill in the air outside (because my I have old barn doors and there is a serious draft). I’m typing this post up huddled by my oven and just like that I am back in my coziest spot, and it feels like fall again. All I need now is my favorite candle.
I realize most of you are still experiencing hot temperatures, but around here the weather is shifting. It’s cozy food weather and I am so into it.
Next cookbook I write should be, Half Baked Harvest the coziest recipes…
What do you think?!
If you make this spinach and artichoke pull apart bread, please be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! I love hearing from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every one of you. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to also tag me on Instagram so I can see! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Herbed Spinach and Artichoke Pull Apart Pretzel Bread
Servings: 8
Calories Per Serving: 905 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
Pretzel Dough
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 3 1/2-4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 tablespoons butter, melted
- coarse pretzel salt or sea salt, for sprinkling
Spinach and Artichoke Filling
- 4 ounces mascarpone cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded fontina cheese
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 clove garlic, minced or grated
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
- 1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry of excess water
- 1 jar (6-8 ounces) marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
Instructions
- 1. to make the dough. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the water, yeast, honey, 3 1/2 cups flour, salt, and butter. Using the dough hook, mix until the flour is completely incorporated, about 4-5 minutes. if the dough feels too sticky, add the remaining 1/2 cup of flour.2. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour or until doubled in size.3. Meanwhile, make the filling. In a medium bowl, combine the mascarpone, fontina, parmesan, garlic, thyme, and a pinch of crushed red pepper and salt. Stir in the spinach and artichokes. 4. Line a 9x5 inch loaf pan with parchment paper. 5. When the dough has doubled in size, punch it down and turn out onto a floured surface. Roll the dough into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Evenly spread the dough with the filling. Cut the rectangle into about 16 equal squares. Stack the squares into 4x4 stacks (see above photo) and then arrange the squares vertically in the prepared loaf pan. Cover the pan with a clean towel and let rise for 20-30 minutes, until puffy. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 6. Brush the top of the bread with water and sprinkle with coarse salt. Transfer the bread to the oven and bake for 35-45 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the bread is cooked through. Remove from the oven and let sit 5 minutes. Carefully lift the dough out of the pan and transfer to a serving plate. Serve warm. Enjoy.
My store doesn’t carry marinated artichokes, only fresh ones? Should I use them or do you have another suggestion?
p.s. Love the recipe 🙂
Hi Peki! I would maybe just leave the artichokes out. The pretzels will still be great! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you! xTieghan
If I wanted to make this ahead of time, would you recommend baking it, storing in the fridge and then heating it up to serve? Or can I do the full prep the day before and bake when ready?
HI! You can do full prep the day before, then bake off when ready to serve. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you and I hope you had Merry Christmas! Sorry my response is a bit late! xTieghan
I made this in July to rave reviews and will make it again in two days. I just checked the total time you posted and you may want to change the total time to reflect the 1 hour rise time for the dough. Your total time says 1 hour and 5 minutes. Thanks.
Hi Melissa! Sorry that is misleading! I am so glad you have loved this recipe and I hope it turns out amazing for you again! xTieghan
While I haven’t tried this recipe yet, it looks and sounds good! You need to change the total time as your 1 hour and 5 minutes doe not allow for the two proofing (rising) times,but only takes into account the mixing and assembly time (20 minutes shown) and the baking time (45 minutes, which is the maximum of the 35-45 minute range stated in the recipe). There is about an additional hour and a half or so of rising time.
I made this tonight and it came out perfectly and was very popular! I am not normally a baker but HBH recipes are always foolproof 🙂
I also left the warm water, honey, and yeast alone for a few minutes before mixing in the flour, etc., to let the yeast wake up and bloom as I have been let down by instant yeast before. It rose like a charm!
Thank you so much Charlotte!! xTieghan
The very large spinach artichoke bread is fantastic! It is fun to make and even more fun to eat! Everyone loved it when I served it at a lunch for 7. The leftovers are wonderful warmed up briefly in the microwave. Thanks for another delicious recipe. I’ll be serving it again soon.
So amazing to hear Melissa! Thank you so much! xTieghan
I made this for a New Years party and it was a huge hit! I will definitely be making again! Also I made a little extra filling for the bread but honestly I don’t think it was necessary- the bread itself has such a nice flavor.
Thank you so much! I am so glad you loved this bread!
This recipe looks amazing as usual! I wanted to make this a couple days ahead of time, should I leave it in the fridge or leave it in the freezer and move it to the fridge the night before? I’ve made your flaky pull-apart dinner rolls and the freezer method worked great.
Thanks!!
HI! I think you can just leave the bread in the fridge, anything up to 3-4 days in the fridge should be just fine! That said, you can certainly use the freezer method too! Whatever is easier for you. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe. Thanks so much!! xTieghan ?
Okay, this looks amazing!! I’ve never made homemade pretzel dough, but I might have to give it a shot just for this recipe!
You got this! Its easier than you’d think! Let me know how it goes Lauren.
Love this concept. I found it to be too heavy on the bread ratio. I recommend doubling the dip ingredients to get a more even dip to bread ratio.
Thank you Jill!
I found I had to bake this for closer to an hour to get the dough cooked through to the middle. Delicious though!
Thank you so much Stacey!
Adding pretzel salt does not a pretzel make. Without altering the ph to fuel the Maillard reaction, it’s just bread.
Hi! Thank you for your comment, and I respect your opinion. I hope you try this out and enjoy it!
Tieghan – I made this on Friday night and it was absolutely delicious! Everyone loved it. However, it was too much dough for my 9×5 pan (some of the dough fell out of the pan in the oven). I felt like I probably could have filled two pans with my 4×4 stacks of dough. The loaf in your picture looks longer than mine was. By chance are you using a longer pan and if so, what size?
HI! Mine is a 9×5 inch pan. Where do you live? sometimes the climate can affect the dough and can allow the dough to rise more while baking. If you think you can fit the dough into 2 pans, give that a try. I am sure it will be great! Please let me know if you have any other questions. so glad you love this recipe. Thanks so much! xTieghan
Just made this…..so easy and DELICIOUS! I will definitely be making this again. Thank you for an awesome recipe.
Thank you so much Joanna!
Questions! I don’t have a stand mixer. Is hand-mixing okay for this? And I just have regular yeast, not instant. Does that still work? Do I need to let it sit longer?
HI! Yes, you can hand mix, just make sure to really mix the dough until it forms a smooth ball. To use regular yeast, dissolve the yeast in the water and honey and let it sit 10 minutes. Then add the remaining ingredients. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe. Thanks so much! xTieghan