These Korean Cream Cheese Garlic Bread are so unbelievably good! The exterior is perfectly crunchy, while the interior is kind of custardy all while still chewy like good bread should. It's filled with a lightly sweetened cream cheese filling and loaded with exactly what you want in a garlic bread - garlic flavor!
Stir together warm water and active dry yeast. Set a side to let dissolve, about 2-3 minutes.*Depending on where you live, you may or may not need as much water for the dough, so adjust accordingly. You can start off with 1⅓ cup water and increase the amount as needed.*
In the stand mixer bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, and salt. Pour the water with dissolved yeast into the flour mixture and stir on low speed with the dough hook until the dough turns shaggy and starts to come together.*The dough can be mix ½ by hand at this point to help the mixer out. You can also knead the dough completely by hand.*
Increase the speed to medium high and knead until the dough is smooth and passes the window pane test, about 8-10 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball and let it proof in a covered bowl, in a warm area, until doubled in size, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.*To do the window pane test, take a small portion of the dough and stretch it between your fingers. The dough should spread thin enough to see silhouettes through it without tearing. Refer to the post for more detail and picture.*
Once the dough has doubled, punch it down and fold it onto itself a few times to tighten the dough. Divid the dough into 6 equal pieces. Tuck and roll each piece of dough into a smooth, tight ball. Range the dough on parchment lined sheet pan, about 2-3 inches from each other. Cover the dough and let it proof in a warm area until almost doubled, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
When the dough balls are nearly doubled, you can brush each of them with egg wash if you wish. Bake the bread for about 20-25 minutes until the exterior is golden brown (if egg washed, or golden if no egg wash), and the interior registers 190°F.
Let the bread cool at room temperature until they're cool or at least comfortable to handle.
For the cream cheese filling:
Combine the softened cream cheese and sugar in a mixing bowl. Whisk the cream cheese until smooth and the sugar is incorporated. Transfer the cream cheese filling to a pipping bag or ZipLoc bag and set aside until needed.
For the garlic butter:
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all the ingredients for the garlic butter until completely smooth. Heat the mixture over a bain-marie or a pot of water with simmering water until the sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture is warm and very fluid. Make sure to whisk the mixture constantly and DO NOT overheat, or the eggs may scramble. Keep the garlic butter warm until needed.*You can heat up the garlic butter using the microwave if you like. Just make sure to use a glass bowl and to heat the mixture in short increments.*
To assemble the Korean cream cheese garlic bread:
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
When the bread is cool enough to handle, cut each bread into 8 equal wedges. Make sure to NOT completely cut through the bread. You want the bread to stay intact.
After the bread has been cut, pipe a rope of the cream cheese filling in between each wedge. Be careful not to break the wedges.
Once the bread has been filled with cream cheese, dip the entire bread into the garlic butter. Make sure the garlic butter coats in between the wedges as well. Hold the bread upside down to let excess garlic butter drain. Repeat with all the breads and arrange them back on the parchment lined pan.
Pipe the remaining cream cheese filling in the center each bread and sprinkle a pinch of kosher salt on each bread. Bake the bread for about 8-10 minutes, until the breads are crispy. Make sure to not let the breads get too dark!*If you're want to ensure that the bread doesn't get too dark after the 2nd bake, you can skip the egg wash.*
Let the bread cool for a few minutes and enjoy!
Notes
Please refer to the post for photo references, tips, and FAQs!
If you wish, you can just purchase bread rolls from the grocery store. However, we did find that homemade bread rolls yield better texture cream cheese garlic bread.
* After many comments about the dough for the bread being too dry, we've decided to change the amount of water for the dough. However, if you're like us and live in a warm, humid area, start with 1 ⅓ cup of water and increase as you need. At 1 ⅓ cup water, our bread had a tighter denser crumb, which was what we were aiming for, but a lighter bread with more open crumb tasted just as good!*