This recipe for Florida Beach Bread is made with Italian bread, garlic butter, diced tomatoes, crumbled queso fresco, gooey mozzarella cheese and bacon!
Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line a large baking sheet with nonstick aluminum foil.
Slice 1 loaf Italian bread in two halves creating a top and bottom half. Remove some of the inside of the bread so that the toppings are able to lay evenly on the bread without falling off on the sides.
Place bread halves on baking sheet.
In a bowl, mix together 1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened and 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic. Stir together well.
Spread this garlic butter evenly on the two halves of the bread.
Evenly top both halves of the bread with 3 Roma tomatoes, finely diced.
Next, crumble 5 ounces queso fresco and evenly sprinkle it on top of the tomatoes on both halves of the bread.
In a bowl, mix together2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup mayonnaise until combined well.
Spread this cheese mixture evenly on top both halves of bread.
Finally, sprinkle 1/4 cup bacon pieces on top of the cheese layer.
Place baking tray in the oven for about 15 minutes (until cheese is fully melted and bubbly.)
Remove from oven and sprinkle with 4 green onions, sliced.
Slice and serve. Note: I find it easier to slice this bread with a pizza cutter.
Notes
The original version is made with blue cheese crumbles or blue cheese dressing. I dislike blue cheese with a passion so I skipped the blue cheese. Instead I crumbled up queso fresco as a substitute. You could certainly use blue cheese if you enjoy that or even feta or goat cheese crumbles.
Queso fresco can be found in the cheese aisle of your grocery store. Queso fresco is a Mexican crumbling cheese and has a very mild taste. Sometimes you will find it where other Latin cheese products are carried in your grocery store.
I added bacon and green onions to the original recipe because isn't everything made better with bacon? Again, it's not in the original version of Florida Beach Bread so you can skip it if you want. But why would you want to?
I use real bacon pieces that can be found near the other salad items in your grocery store. If you don't want to use those, just cook and crumble about 1/2 pound of bacon.
Finally, I know some of y'all are gonna wonder what is up with the mayonnaise in the mozzarella cheese. I know it's not in the original beach bread version but it definitely is worth it! I'm going to really need you to trust me on this one. It makes the cheese melt better and just gives it such an elevated level of flavor! It is my secret ingredient to making amazing cheese bread!
This recipe is a lot of fun to play with. As you can tell, I really made this bread my own (and I think much better!) by adding my own flair to it. If you like the idea, but not necessarily my exact recipe, then have fun and add what you love or stick to the original which is just Italian or French bread, garlic butter, diced tomato, crumbled blue cheese and shredded mozzarella cheese.