Take your garlic bread to the next level with this delicious Korean Cream Cheese Garlic Bread. Stuffed with sweetened cream cheese and coated in garlic butter, you’re going to be reaching for seconds.
To a stand mixer, add the flour, warm water, yeast, sugar, egg, garlic powder, and then salt. Mix on speed 4 (I have a KitcheAid), for 6 to 7 minutes, or until the dough has gone from raggedly to smooth.
Tuck the dough into the shape of a ball and place it into the bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled in size (around an hour).
Once doubled, punch the dough down and turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and then cut into six equal pieces with a bench scraper.
Roll each of the six wedges into a ball. Folding the edge of the dough into the middle, pinching the folds together, then flipping the dough over and turn the dough in a circular motion to round it out. They should be around 3 inches wide.
Transfer the dough balls to a lined parchment paper. I usually do 3 balls per sheet pan. Cover and allow to rise until almost doubled in size, around an hour.
Heat oven to 350°F.
Once doubled, brush with an egg wash. Bake for 20 minutes to 25 minutes or until the buns are golden brown.
Make the Filling, Custard, and Assemble
While the buns are baking, in a clean mixing bowl with a wire whip, whip together the softened cream cheese, sugar, and milk until smooth. Transfer to a piping bag or a Ziploc bag with a tip cut off.
Once the buns are cool enough to touch, cut the bread into 6 wedges, but not all the way though.*
Pipe the cream cheese into the center of the buns.
Combine the (warm, not hot) melted butter, sugar, parsley, milk, egg, and garlic in a deep bowl or sauce pot.
Add the stuffed bread into the garlic butter and spoon the mixture over top. Try to get the garlic butter in-between the wedges.
Bake the coated buns on a lined sheet pan for another 10 to 15 minutes or until the cream cheese garlic breads are crispy.
Notes
* I usually make one cut down the middle with a bread knife then use scissors to snip the rest to avoid crushing the bread to slice it. You can also pull them out a little after cutting to give space for the cream cheese to push through.
For a video tutorial on rolling the balls, check out my Japanese Milk Bread Rolls. If you do not see the video, you’ll have to turn off adblock.
You can pipe the cream cheese mixture between the wedges as well but usually, the cream cheese pushes out from the middle and makes its way into the crevasses, if not, the cream cheese usually fills the inside of the bread. This recipe uses all of the cream cheese so there’s a ton in each bun without having the pipe inbetween cuts.