Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Place bread on a large sheet of aluminum foil.
Cut the bread diagonally with a bread knife, making sure not to cut through the bottom of the loaf.
Cut the bread diagonally again, this time in the opposite direction. Make sure to not cut all the way through again. The second cut will give you the squares or rectangles that will be pulled out after baking.
Melt the butter in a microwave-safe bowl and mix in the ranch seasoning.
Pour the ranch seasoning in the crevices of the cut bread, moving pieces to make sure you cover all the holes.
Place the cheese and bacon in the crevices of the bread, making sure to cover any open spots. You want all the crevices to be covered in cheese.
Wrap in foil and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the top is golden brown.
Remove, allow to cool slightly and serve!
Notes
Bread - You will need an oval shaped loaf of bread that is uncut such as a sourdough or ciabatta. You can normally find these speciality type breads in the deli department of the grocery store. You don't want a super soft bread for this recipe. If it's too soft, it will be hard to cut and stuff properly.
Use unsalted butter for this recipe. The ranch seasoning has salt in it so you don’t want your bread to be overly salty.
I used Oscar Mayer real bacon pieces but you could use microwaveable bacon and then chop it up or fry up some bacon for this. Just depends on how much work you wanna do.
Cheese - The fun part about this bread is that you can use whatever cheese you like! Want a spicier pull apart bread? Use a jalapeno cheddar cheese. I used sharp cheddar and mozzarella slices for my bread. You can also use slices or shredded cheese, it’s your choice. After having made this for many years, I have found the thick sliced cheese is the easiest to stuff the bread with.