Boy does this ham bread bring back memories. It’s one my favorite meals that I learned from my Mom, who is a great cook and helped kick-start my love of home cooking.
Growing up, my mom always made it her goal to have a hot home-cooked meal ready each night. Not an easy feat, considering she was raising 8 hungry children with wildly different appetites and food preferences.
As a kid, I can’t remember if I appreciated ham bread as much as I do now (I was a calzone kid through and through). But these days, I can’t get enough of it. I’d be content eating ham bread at least 5 times a week.
For me, ham bread checks of all the criteria of a perfect meal:
1. It involves making bread (which I find to be therapeutic as fuck).
2. It’s easy to make (I was daunted by it at first, but was happy with how my first attempt turned out and definitely will try it again).
3. It’s pretty cheap. Ham, some shredded cheese, yeast, flour, pickles, and some mustard aren’t gonna run you more than 10-15 bucks. While that would only feed 8 kids for a night, it can feed dinner for two for almost a week.
4. Reheated, it still tastes great.
5. Or cold. It tastes great straight out of the fridge.
6. It goes great with a big glass of wine.
7. It’s the kind of home-cooked meal that defines what’s so human about cooking in the first place. It’s a communal ritual that helps connect us to our past and gives us stories to pass down in the future.
Ready to try my Mama’s famous ham bread? Here’s what you need to get started.
Time You’ll Need
- Prep: 15 min. + 15 minutes rising
- Bake: 35 min
- Yields: 6 to 8 slices
What You’ll Need
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoons sugar
- 1 package of quick-rise yeast
- Salt (to taste)
- Pepper (to taste)
- 2 tbsp minced garlic
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 pound of diced ham
- 1 cup of shredded swiss
- 1/2 cup chopped dill pickles
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
What You’ll Do
- In a large mixing bowl, add the sugar, yeast and 1 cup of warm water. Cover and let yeast activate for about ten minutes.
- In a small saucepan, heat and melt butter, mustard, and ½ cup of water (heat to about 125 degrees, or until butter is completely melted).
- After the ten minutes are up on the yeast, add four cups of flour. Then add the mustard/melted butter mixture, and then the minced garlic, salt and pepper to taste, and onion powder. By hand or by mixer, mix everything together to form a dough.
- Knead the dough until smooth and stretchy, about 4-6 minutes.
- Roll dough out over a flat, floured surface, into a rectangle-ish shape.
- Down the center of the dough, add cubed ham, then swiss, then pickles, top with any remaining ham or desired seasonings.
- On each side of the dough, cut about ½ to ¾ inch strips from end to end toward the center. Braid the alternating strips, crossing them at an angle across the filling. Pinch the ends to seal. Cover the dough with tin foil, place on a greased baking sheet, and let it rise for 15 minutes (for best results, in a medium size pot, fill about halfway with water and bring to a boil. Then with the dough on a baking sheet or pizza pan, place over the boiling water. Cover dough with a sheet of tin foil, and let rise for 15 minutes. The steam helps give it a crispier crust, but a pillow soft inside).
- Once the dough is rising, start preheating the oven to 375. After the 15 minutes are up for rising, brush the dough with an egg wash, then bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes until golden brown.
- Enjoy!