Fresh hot crusty bread, garlic butter and gooey cheese… I’m in hawg-heaven just thinkin’ about it! Whenever family or friends dropped by unexpectedly, Daddy would mix all the drinks, while Momma would head for the kitchen to make her famous Cheesy Crack-Top Bread ! It was sooo delicious, that everybody would gobble it up! So, right before she’d take it into her hungry guests, Momma would call me into the kitchen after she’d taken the bread out of the oven, (all crusty and slathered in that delicious garlic butter and gooey cheese) smile and  pull out a few pieces, just for the two of us to munch on. It was always sooo good and always looked beautiful! YUM!
Momma’s Cheesy Crack-Top Bread
Recipe by: Bobbi Jo Lathan
Recipe type: Appetizer
Cuisine: Southern
PREP TIME
10 mins
COOK TIME
20 mins
TOTAL TIME
30 mins
INGREDIENTS
1 big loaf sourdough or crusty-top artisan bread (like Vienna)
5 ounces of butter (softened)
2 cloves fresh garlic (minced or pressed)
½ teaspoon kosher or pink Himalayan salt
1tablespoon fresh parsley (finely chopped)
1 tablespoon fresh thyme (finely chopped)
¾ cup Mozzarella cheese (shredded)
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat your oven to 350°.
Put your butter in a bowl to soften at room temperature.
Once your butter is softened, mash it down with a big spoon.
Next, mince or press your garlic in a garlic press and add that to your softened butter in the bowl. Chop the fresh parsley and thyme and add this to the butter-garlic mixture and mix well and set aside for a minute.
Git your loaf of bread out and place it on some aluminum foil (enough to pull over the top and wrap it) on a cookin’ pan or sheet. Git a sharp bread knife (with serrated edge) and cut the top of the bread, on a diagonal, about three- fourth’s of the way down. DON’T go all the way through!
Now, turn the bread around and repeat the exact same cutting, on the diagonal, going in the opposite direction. You will end up with a diamond-shaped cut on the top of the bread loaf.
Take your butter mixture and spoon it into the crevices you have created in the loaf of bread. Be sure and spread it around, evenly, into those crevices.
Next, take your shredded Mozzarella cheese and stuff the cheese into the crevices you have just buttered. (OMG… my mouth is waterin’! I LUV this bread!)
Last, pull the foil up over the bread and close the top.
Place the covered loaf in a 350° oven and let it cook for 15 minutes until the cheese is all melted. Then, pull back the foil from the bread and place it back into the oven and let it brown for another 5 minutes. It should come out all nicely browned and crusty.
Take it out of the foil, place it on a platter, and sprinkle a little extra freshly chopped parsley on top and serve it up to your guests (Who now LOVE you!) immediately. I swear, ain’t nuthin’ better than butter, garlic, gooey cheese and fresh hot bread! YUM!