Ham, Egg and Cheese Braid

I was featured with these fine ladies!

Recently I saw a picture of a Ham and Egg Breakfast Braid from www.itisakeeper.com and thought it would be a good thing to make for Christmas morning.  It's anyone's guess what time everyone will be at my parents' house and sometimes, we get kind of hungry before it's time for Christmas dinner.  Something with a little protein seemed like a good idea.

In the original recipe, it suggests using tubes of crescent roll dough but I don't buy those, so I had to think about what I would use that would be easy and would hold together.

I whipped out my tried and true pizza dough recipe and made up a batch in my bread machine.  Using the bread machine saves so  much time because it does all of the kneading and and rising for me.  I also know it takes exactly 1 hour 45 minutes so I can plan what I will do.

I made this as a trial the other night and it was really big for one cookie sheet.  For Christmas, since we have a non dairy eater, I divided the dough in half and did one with cheese and one without.

Once I had the dough laid out, I put about 6 pieces of deli ham down the center and then half of the scrambled eggs on top of that.  I didn't put cream cheese in my Christmas day version and I liked the texture of the eggs better without it.  On one tray, I put some monterey jack cheese on top of the eggs.  I used cheddar the first time and it was good but a little sharp.  This was milder.

It's not really a braid when I make it.  I slice each side and put the sides across and stick it to the dough on the opposite side.  Then I slice some more, etc.  They end up looking like swaddled babies, I think.

I baked them at 415 degrees for about 15 minutes because pizza dough cooks faster and hotter.

I always, always, always forget to do an egg wash, so I didn't even bother separating an egg to pretend I was going to do it this time!

I used a pizza cutter to slice across and people took pieces to eat on a plate with a fork or just in their hands.

It was a big hit and I think I will make it for Christmas morning again. 

Linking here:

http://www.myturnforus.com/2015/12/freedom-fridays-with-all-my-bloggy_24.html
http://julieslifestyle.blogspot.com/2015/12/cooking-and-crafting-with-j-j-31.html
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2015/12/clever-chicks-blog-hop-171-featuring.html