Cheese and Garlic Crack Bread

INGREDIENTS
1 crusty loaf, preferably sourdough or Vienna
¾ cup shredded Mozzarella cheese (or other melting cheese)
Garlic Butter
100g/3.5oz unsalted butter, softened
2 garlic cloves, minced
¾ tsp salt
1 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.
2. Combine butter, garlic and salt in a heatproof bowl and melt in the microwave. Stir through parsley.
3. Cut the bread on a diagonal into 2cm/1" diamonds but do not cut all the way through the bread (just like you would cut a french stick for garlic bread).
4. Use your fingers or a knife to pry open each crack and drizzle in a teaspoon of butter and stuff in a pinch of cheese. This might sound like a bit of an effort, but I promise you it is worth it! You don't need to be super neat, it's nice to have some of the butter drizzled over the crust.
5. Wrap with foil and bake for 15minutes until the cheese has mostly melted, then unwrap and bake for 5 minutes more to make the bread nice and crusty.
6. Serve immediately.

NOTES
1. To make ahead, after wrapping with foil, wrap with cling wrap as well. Store in fridge overnight or freeze to store for longer. To cook, thaw then follow recipe instructions to bake.

2. The denser the bread, the better the pieces will hold together when pulled off.

3. Use already baked bread, not uncooked bread dough.

4. **Update** A reader reminded me of a fabulous "SPEEDY" tip that I should share with you! Instead of melting the butter, cream it. Then cut diagonal slices (in one direction only) and use all the butter and generously spread it in each crack, on both walls. Then cut the bread to make diamonds and as you drag the knife through the bread, it will spread the butter into the new crevices you are cutting. This doesn't provide quite the same even coverage of butter but for a speedy version, it is a small compromise. Thank you to CJ for the tip!