Cheesy Garlic Bread for World Bread Day!

Today is World Bread Day!! My plan was to conquer my yeast-fear and bake up a beautiful loaf of warm, yeasty bread...or die trying. I was going to show it off...smile for the paparazzo. I was going to put it in a sling around my body and parade it around the neighborhood...why yes! Yes, I did bake this sweet little thing from scratch, thank you for asking. Autograph!? But alas, I was foiled by that run of sickness that is still refusing to remove itself entirely from our house. I promise, it's not just another cop-out. I am going to bake yeast bread, and I'm going to do it soon.

Fortunately, actually baking bread is not a requirement for celebrating World Bread Day...sure, it would have been nice, but instead...I can just celebrate a glorious loaf baked by some other skilled baker. BUT, I did doll it up a little...adapting it a bit from a recipe by Mary from Deep South Dish.

Cheesy Garlic Bread
slightly adapted from this recipe at Deep South Dish
1 loaf of French bread
Fresh Mozzarella balls, sliced although next time, I'll shred it
~3 Tbs. butter, softened to room temperature
~2 cloves garlic, minced fine
~2 Tbs. parsley, chopped
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut slits in bread, diagonally across top, stopping with ~1/2" of bread left. Shove the mozzarella in the slits; go ahead...pack it in (Mary also suggests using white American...which I bet would be amazing). I think next time I'll use shredded mozzarella, because my fresh didn't get as melty, gooey as I would have liked.
Mix the softened butter, garlic and parsley together. Smear the outsides of the loaf with the mixture, tucking some inside the slits as well. Wrap the whole loaf tightly in foil and bake ~15 minutes, or until cheese is nice and melted. Open the foil, but leave the loaf on top and put it back into the oven for another 10 minutes or so to crisp up the outsides and brown the butter a bit, if you wish. I wished. Slice the rest of the way through the bread and try to share. It's a big loaf.
It's not to late to bake a quick loaf...it can be a yeast bread or a quick bread...or hit up your favorite bakery or baker and share it with everybody for World Bread Day!