Bubble Bread from the Bubble Room Copycat Recipe
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We vacation almost every summer in Sanibel, Florida, and usually end up at The Bubble Room on Captiva Island, seeking out their famous Bubble Bread. We always miss this delicious, cheesy bread so much when we are back at home, so we decided to try to recreate the recipe ourselves, so we could enjoy it whenever we wanted it.
This was our mission on our most recent visit to Sanibel. After lots of discussion with our family and friends about what exactly the "secret" ingredients are for this original recipe, we purchased a bunch of likely ingredients and ordered some Bubble Bread to go. We rushed back to our condo with our golden slices and tasted them very carefully.
Despite what some of our memories told us, we determined after tasting the original that there was definitely some blue cheese in the mix. The taste is very faint. So faint, we didn't even remember it being there the last time, but it's there. We kept baking, testing again and again until we arrived at this recipe. Which, according to our large table of testers last night at dinner, tastes exactly like the original Bubble Bread.
Bubble Room's Bubble Bread Copycat Recipe
- Italian bread
- 1 tbsp plus 1/4 cup butter, softened (not margarine)
- 1 tbsp crumbled blue cheese
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise
- pinch of pepper
- 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
- 1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese
- paprika
- chopped parsley for garnish
Split loaf of Italian bread lengthwise. Butter lightly with 1 tbsp butter then toast for a minute until barely browned. Mix 1/4 cup butter, blue cheese, mayo, pepper, Swiss cheese, and 1/2 cup of the Parmesan together in a bowl. Spread liberally on split loaf of Italian bread. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese on top. Sprinkle with a bit of paprika and parsley for color. Broil until golden brown.
Split the loaf of Italian bread lengthwise brush with 1 tbsp butter. Broil just a minute or so until very lightly browned.
Then mix the remaining butter, blue cheese, mayo, pepper, Swiss cheese, and 1/2 cup of the Parmesan together in a bowl.
Spread the cheese mixture liberally on the toasted, split loaf of Italian bread.
Add remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese on top. Sprinkle with a bit of paprika and parsley for color.
Broil until golden brown, then cut into pieces and serve hot.
While we'll never know the original secret recipe, we all think our copycat recipe is really close. Let us know what you think!
48 comments so far:
This recipe is "OFF the CHARTS" Yummy!!!!!!!
I bought everything I needed and it was just wonderful! I let my daughter try it and now she wants the recipe. She could not believe how great it was. I have never been to the Bubble Room but you have a great recipe. Thank you so much!
Pattyjo
the the bubble room i went there when i was 10 now i am 31 cant wait to make the bubble bread thank you
I have eaten at the Bubble Room for years, and this is the recipe I have always wanted. I finallly got the waitress to give me 2 of the ingredients and you are correct: blue cheese and of course Parmesan chesse (wich everyone had already figured out). Got home last night from Sanibel, and can't wait to try your recipe.
Thanks!
Thanks for the recipe! Tomorrow is my husband's birthday and bubble bread is his FAVORITE! He raves about it all year long. I look forward to trying your recipe and I'll let you know how it turns out.
Jennifer, please do. We would love to have more input on if we got the recipe just right. We think we do but always appreciate additional taste testers.
Read your Bubble Bread recipe, all wrong, made it for 2 years..here it is
Sourdough (they made it fresh)
garlic butter
blue cheese dressing thick (Blue cheese,mayo,cream,pepper)
Parm Cheese
chopped Parsley
paprika
Brush bread with garlic butter, toast, let cool
Coat with blue cheese dressing, and parm cheese, sprinkle parsley and paprika, bake till it bubbles.
Awesome recipe! I have been going to the Bubble Room for over 20 years and have always wondered how to make this. We tried your recipe last night and my son and I vote it is right on! Thank you!!!!
Loved the bubble room ever since I stepped foot in it. I live in Jacksonville and there was a Bubble Room in st augustine. It's closed now, but I'm particularly happy I found this recipe. I combined both yours and Darin's recipes. It came out alright but not exactly like the Bubble Room's. I also burned it a little. I'm making it again tomorrow and this time I'm following your recipe exactly!
Perfect! Just made it and it tastes just like our long time Bubble Room favorite! Thanks so much! We've been wanting this recipe for years!!!
Thanks, Ginna (and Darin). My sister will also be thrilled with this recipe! For many years during the '80's and '90's, we visited the famous Bubble Room Restaurant. It was at its best when Jamie and Katie Farquharson (the original owners) were there. They sold the BR (with many of their recipes) in the late '90's. Sadly, it has never measured up to the high standards and quality of its founders. Katie was (and is) famous for her cake creations (the red velvet and others are her/grandmother's recipes). I read a local news article several years ago that she was working on a cook book, but I never heard whether it was completed. Katie split from her husband, left the restaurant business and is now a popular and gifted artist in the area of Sanibel-Captiva-Pine Island. She now goes by Katie Gardenia. My most favorite items at the Bubble Room were: Bubble Bread (of course), the entree "Eddie Fisherman" (black grouper filet covered with Ritz cracker & pecan topping and baked in parchment bag), the "3 Coins in the Fountain" appetizer (baked concoction of shrimp, langostinos, artichoke hearts, mushrooms and spinach in a cream-sherry sauce) and the most incredible cake of all: "Katie cake" (a delicate angel-food type cake with the most delicious and delicate white frosting with glazed, toasted almond slices sticking out all over like a porcupine). DOES ANYONE REMEMBER THESE DISHES? RECIPES, PLEASE?!
Patty,
My husband and I have been going to Captiva since 1978. We know of all the recipes you are telling everyone. The bubble bread has changed over the years, but I am going to make the above recipe tonight. I have been craving it. I will be their next week.
Mary Anna Marshall
Mary Anna, wish we could tag along! Let us know what you think of our version.
YUM! Pretty dang close!
I was a "Bubble Scout" with the Bubble Room in Weaverville, NC, Orlando and on Captiva Island. I loved Jamie,Katie and their daughter Patti. The Bubble Room was an amazing place to work and the food was out of this world. I would love to go back in time and sit in the Bird Cage or The Tunnel of Love and eat the Eddie Fisherman just one more time!
Thank you so much for working on the bubble bread recipe! I can't wait to make it! I've been a Captiva Bubble Room fan for years and we got to go again a couple of weeks ago. MMMM Good! I just can't express how thrilled I am to be able to make bubble bread at home! Thanks again!
Kate, let us know what you think of the recipe after you try it.
Just tried the recipe last night and my husband said it was spot on! We have been going to Captiva for years and every time we eat at the bubble room and try to dissect the ingredients of Bubble Bread! This recipe was so easy (couldn't believe it!) and delicious! Thank you!
That's so great to hear, Amanda! I'm hungry just thinking about it :)
Thanks so much for this recipe. I use to go to the Bubble Room in Captiva all the time. I grew up in Cape Coral and my parents still live in Fort Myers. I love the red velvet cake and the orange crunch cake!!! OH and the white Christmas cake!! YUMMY!! Thanks for bringing back such fond memories!
Landed on this site while looking for a way to restore crystalized honey (go figure). I'll be TRYING that bread! But what I'm REALLY interested in is the recipe for that Christmas Cake ya'll claim is so awesome. My family has this annual Christmas "dessert throwdown" (with a trophy & everything). I need to pull myself out of 2nd place!
Welcome, Sally! We're glad you found us and hope you stick around to enjoy more of our project ideas. Your family's dessert throwdown sounds like a wonderful tradition. Which cake recipe are you planning to try?
The Bubble Room is one of my favorite places to visit and eat at while in the area. Every time we visit my father in Fort Myers it's a tradition that we go! I can't wait to try the bubble bread recipe and I will come back and let you know what I think! Also, I found this link for the Orange Crunch Cake for those looking for it-http://allrecipes.com/recipe/orange-crunch-cake-2/Detail.aspx. I haven't made it, but plan on trying it because it is also another favorite of ours from the BR! Thanks for posting this site and allowing us all to make our mouths water talking about the BR!
Great job C & J ... your recipe is right on the money. I wholeheartedly disagree with the comment that says to use blue cheese salad dressing and sourdough. Tried it and it tasted like Blue Cheese Crunchy Bubble Bread. (not entirely terrible. would actually be good for a different/unique version of this but not the original) Did the chica and jo recipe and the swiss really counteracts the blue for a perfect blend. The only thing I would do is add maybe 1/4 more of the mix for a cheesier bread. Maybe my loaf was too big. I remember going to the Bubble Room when I visited my grandparents in Ft. Myers as a kid. Had many birthdays there with a giant steak and huge cheesecake. But Bubble Bread was the standout! If I was on Iron Chef and the secret ingredient was Italian Bread, I would make this! Thanks for taking me back to childhood. I hope the Bubble Room stays open long enough for me to take my kids there one day! Good job y'all!
Comment #6 is the exact recipe. I was just looking around to see if people ever figured out there was blue cheese in it. I have a copy of the recipe from Miss Katie herself. I wish I had the foresight to get some of her dessert recipes. And she told my grandmother to use Marie's dressing also. Enjoy!
Comment #6 is nearly correct, it is blue cheese dressing as follows 1/3 c. sour cream, 1/3 c. mayo, 1/3 c. blue cheese, pepper, splash of lemon juice. If you want to use for salad dressing thin a little with milk or cream.
broil garlic bread until brown on edges
spread layer of blue cheese dressing (less is more)
sprinkle with parm cheese, paprika and chopped parsley
broil until bubbly and lightly browned.
yummmmmm
Thank you Jody! It's been a while since I had real Bubble Bread, You helped me with the one remaining variable - the perfect blue cheese salad dressing. And thanks for keeping me from being heavy handed with it (I'm a more is more girl :) )
As a Cape Coral resident, when we need to feel like we're on vacation, we head to the Bubble Room for dinner. This recipe was spot on. Thanks so much!
Darin has it pretty perfect! I was one of the managers of The Little Bubble Room in Weaverville,nc. It was sad to close it down! I worked at the one in Maitland and have been many times to Captiva. The restaurant was so much better when Jamie and Katie owned it!!! It was a f
Great place to work andi miss it. Much!!!
2 Words.
Freakin
Awesome!!!!!
I worked at a restaurant who made this and they used boursin cheese!
Way to go! The "Original" Bubble Bread recipe is spot on! My family and I have been going to the Bubble Room for 27 years and we are always talking about trying to duplicate the recipe! I used quite a large loaf of Italian bread, so I doubled the recipe, since it said to "apply liberally". My family was googly eyed when they saw it!! It went great with our Super Bowl chili! Thanks for fine tuning this recipe for all of us!!
Barb, we're so glad you enjoyed it! We devoured our loaf of during the first half of the game!
My sisters and I just returned from a lovely vacation on Captiva and, of course, our first meal was at our beloved Bubble Room. This was my first time to visit at dinnertime and my first introduction to the Bubble Bread. We sat at the table and tried our best to pick out each ingredient. I was surprised to find out it has mayo and bleu cheese in the topping since I always thought I hated bleu cheese. Boy was I wrong! I plan to start making Bubble Bread at home on a regular basis though I'd much rather go to Captiva and let them make it for me! Thank you, Jo!!
Wow! I live in Broward county...went to Sanibel and Captiva almost every month! Bubble Room was a must...but was so spoiled by Katie and Jamie that when they sold the quality went down. Sadly stopped going...plus the Island became so crowded...we loved going there because it was a quiet uncomericalized sleepy awesome place to escape to.
THEN. I found your site by looking up Bubble bread...oh Happy Day!!
Then as I scrolled thru the feeds.. came across all my fav recipes...and Katies possible where abouts, and possible recipe book...will look for that too.
And at the end I see folks who have been there this year...2017...didn't know it was still open.
Might do a nostalgic drive back there and have dinner.
Thank You!!?
Whispy, we're glad we could revive your nostalgia about visiting the Bubble Room!
When my wife and I were married in Orlando in 1995, we were choosing our wedding cake from between Karen Donatelli's and my choice, red velvet cake from the Bubble Room in Maitland. The sample from Karen's was exquisitely beautiful and traditionally tasty, while the red velvet was just too soft to tier, and visually non-descript, but OMG, it was red velvet cake from the Bubble Room. This is one of the few decisions in the wedding that I felt strongly about, so we wound up creating five glass pedestals of different heights, and when we sliced into the cake, people were astounded at the rich contrast between the deep red and the cream cheese frosting. Good choice! As it turns out, we now live in Asheville, where Karen Donatelli's has relocated several years ago, and one of our favorite restaurants nearby is the Glass Onion in Weaverville, where the mosaic floor tile at the entrance still reads "The Little Bubble Room." I will go back and take a photo to add to Yelp for the Glass Onion.
My family and I went to BR often. A few years ago Katie (original owner) wrote a lovely book called A Bubbly Moment.. Great stories and all the recipes including Bubble Bread are there as well. You can got to their website an order one.
We love Bubble bread. I just made it for my Son's Birthday. He (we) LOVED IT!
Thanks for the recipe..
Former 6-yr employee/manager. Have made Bubble Bread many times, and trained new employees. Nice try; But you do not have the "Real" recipe. Though I am sure your version tastes good too.
Ok so i don't recall the exact recipe to say whether this is an exact match or not but I'm going to give it a try, looks to be very close. I worked at The Bubble Room years ago and can verify that its bleu cheese dressing
Enjoyed reading all reviews. I also googled Katie Gardenia. She did write a book with several of her special recipes , I understand it is for sale on Amazon. However, the price is $50,00. The article said it was also available in the Bubble Room gift shop.
I worked for the Bubble room, started on appetizer station in 1983. Jamie and Katie were awesome to work for, only job where I knew I was appreciated. I was promoted to Chef and stayed 7 years or until it was sold to people that were clueless in how to treat employees and customers. I use to give classes on bubble bread, Eddie fisherman and 3 coins in a fountain. I've owned 3 restaurants since then and served bubble bread, red velvet cake, fudge brownie nut pie, orange crunch cake and my favorite the Rum soaked pound cake with chocolate mousse. Your close on recipe, needs to be garlic toast, and mayonnaissy blue cheese dressing, I use Marie's and add mayo to it.
Hello, I came across your recipe while I was looking for something else. My family and I have been to Captiva and Sanibel many times. What a great time. My older brother has a time share on Captiva. We would go deep sea fishing with Charlie Rossi and his wife Gloria worked at the Bubble Room. I will definetely try your recipe. Gloria gave me a recipe. I haven't made it in quite a while but now I want it. This is what I had. You always tweak it a bit after you make it.
Italian Bread - split loaf length wise
Cream Cheese, Blue Cheese, Ricotta Cheese (small Containers) Mix & form into paste. Spread on bread. Sprinkle chopped parsley (or flakes), parmesan cheese, pepper, and paprika on top. Bake 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, than put in broiler.
Can't wait to try this! Fun working with you on the KOC competition!
We have gone to the bubble room over the years,the first time was in Weaverville,N.C when they had a Bubble room there! Went to the one in Sanibel too.I’m afraid that the restaurant prob didn’t survive Ian since almost everything was wiped out from the hurricane! I have made the recipe over the years and only thing diff was I used mozz cheese instead of Swiss.
Hi all, I am still alive at 79 and still making my Bubble Bread and Cakes ...got a kick reading all the "Bubble Bread Recipes"
Katie, we're honored to hear from you! We love all your recipes and do our best to recreate something close when we're at home and can't get to the far away Bubble Room as often as we'd like. Thank you for stopping by to say hello. :)
It was a real hit! I didn’t have blue cheese so I used blue cheese dressing.