College bowl season always brings a mix of emotions for me (yes, even the Beef O’Brady’s Bowl or the GoDaddy.com Bowl or the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl). On the one hand there’s the excitement of the games; you’re taking every school’s traditions, cranking them to 11 and adding more cowbell. And since it’s a bowl game it calls for a party, which calls for drinking, which calls for extra jumping around, yelling and throwing things at the screen. On the other hand, college bowl season marks the end of college football season, which effectively marks the end of the holidays. This means you have January and February to solider through until spring, St. Patrick’s Day and March Madness arrive.
If you plan on celebrating bowl season, you need to make the most of it with some kick ass football watching food. I give you Cheesy Mushroom Pull Apart Bread a.k.a. Crack Bread. As is the case with the Slutty Brownie, I did not name Crack Bread, that was Pinterest, but I can see why it was given this name. It is addictive, it is bad for you, you can’t stop thinking about it and you have a hard time sharing it.
Crack Bread is also like Slutty Brownies in that you can adapt it to your own taste. I’ve seen versions that are more of a pizza flavor or a taco flavor. This one is the original I found on Pinterest with an insane photo of a chunk of bread connected to the loaf via a long, thick strand of cheese with mushrooms and green onions dangling. I figured since I’d never made it before I’d stick with the original. I did a mix of provolone and monterey jack and I did not use the poppy seeds. Who needs opiates when you have cheese, I always say.
The one drawback of this bread is that it’s not as pull-apart friendly as it appears in the photos I’ve seen on Pinterest. If you just grab the crust of the bread it tends to break without taking the melty cheese with it (I guess because it is bitter for simply being a vehicle to get cheese into your mouth. Don’t be so sensitive bread, you know I love you too). You actually need to reach your hand into the cheese and break if free from the bottom (how often do you get to say that in your life?), which probably isn’t an appetizing thought to your OCD guests who already dislike shared food. I suggest you serve with a fork to help people free their bread.
Please make this bread for your bowl party so I can live vicariously through you. I’m a lonely Badger fan in a sea of SEC, so I’ll probably be watching the Rose Bowl from a local bar. Hopefully some drunk dude with baby mama problems won’t start smelling my hair again.
Cheesy Mushroom Pull Apart Bread (Crack Bread)
By Beantown Baker
Ingredients
For the Mushrooms
12 oz sliced mushrooms
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme
For the Bread
1 unsliced loaf sourdough bread
12 ounces Provolone cheese, thinly sliced
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup finely diced green onion
2 teaspoons poppy seeds
Directions
Heat a medium skillet on medium heat. Add the butter. Once the butter is melted, add the mushrooms. Cook 4-5 minutes until they start to sweat. Add the thyme and continue to cook another 2-3 minutes. Set mushrooms aside and allow to cool.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cut the bread lengthwise and widthwise (like a grid) without cutting through the bottom crust. This can be a little tricky going the second way but the bread is very forgiving.
Place loaf on a foil-lined baking sheet.
Insert cheese slices between cuts. Pour the mushrooms between the cuts. Use your fingers to push the mushrooms down into the loaf.
Combine butter, onion, and poppy seeds. Drizzle over bread. Wrap in foil; place on a baking sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.
Unwrap the bread and bake 10 more minutes, or until cheese is melted.
Adventures of a Hungry Redhead 
OOOOOhhhh!! My mouth hurts from watering at the sight of that bread!
Eat it and it will make your mouth feel better.