Ham, Cheddar, And Mustard Pull Apart Bread

A great deal of situations can be solved with ham and cheese..

Say for instance… ….. breakfast.. lunch.. dinner..

As a kid, a ham and cheese sandwich was made daily for me... as my after school snack. My grandmother made it using pimento cheese and tomato, lettuce and juicy leftover baked ham. My mom went down the road of  Oscar Meyer ham, that square yellow cheese encased in the coolest plastic envelope and mustard slapped on 2 pieces of Sunbeam white bread.. Even with the basic of ingredients my mom’s sandwich with just the ham, cheese and mustard always cut diagonally was hands down the best.

So as the years have passed my fondness for these 3 fixings meticulously placed between 2 layers of bread has just caused me to find more ways to bring the sandwich to life…

Lately, I’ve had this crazy obsession with bread baking.. some recipes turn out better than others . But we shall discuss that at a later date..
One of my favorite breads is Pull Apart bread mainly because I feel it maybe the best thing ever created..that is at least until I bake another loaf of bread that has a better wow factor..

There is no less than.. one hundred, fifty-two thousand and 60  different variations...I have so many ideas that I can barely think of anything else to cook..

But, I had trouble bringing any of these ideas to existence until I was able to create those fluffy overlapping layers of bread bubbling over with melted cheddar cheese, succulent slices of ham and the tangy taste of mustard.

How did I do?

Ham, Cheddar, And Mustard Pull Apart Bread..
adapted from Smitten Kitchen 
Print me

You might need these..

Bread
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 1/3 cup luke warm water
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Filling
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoon mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1 teaspoon paprika
dash of black pepper
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cup deli ham chopped

Start with the dough: In a large bowl whisk together the yeast and warm water. Let sit for 5 minutes until yeast is foamy. Mix in olive oil, salt, sugar and flour. If you have a stand mixer, using the dough hook attachment..knead the dough for 5-6 minutes or until elastic. If you prefer the old school way, turn dough out onto a lightly flour surface and knead until elastic.. Transfer dough to a lightly oiled medium/large sized bowl cover with plastic wrap and set aside for an hour. Make the filling while waiting

For the Filling:

Using a saucepan melt butter. Remove from heat and stir in mustard, Worcestershire and hot sauce until combined and smooth. In a separate bowl combine cheddar, ham, paprika and black pepper mixing all ingredients together. Cover and refrigerate mustard sauce and ham and cheddar mixture until ready to use.

Put it all together:
Coat a 9x5 loaf pan with non-stick spray or butter
On a heavily floured surface roll dough out to 12 in wide X 20 in long
Brush mustard mixture evenly over the dough, then slice the dough vertically into 5 strips.

Sprinkle 1/4 of the ham and cheddar mixture over one strip and then top with another strip. Sprinkle another 1/4 of the ham and cheddar mixture over this strip and then top with another strip. Continue this process with the remaining strips.  My mother carefully pointed out that I also need to say that the last strip should not be topped with the ham and cheddar mixture. : )
Using a very sharp knife, cut the bread stack into 6-7 segments.  The dough will stretch somewhat as you cut it so you maybe able to get 8 segments out of it.

Layer the dough in the loaf pan in a flipbook like form.. or more like stacking each one behind the other ( To make it easier, turn your pan to the short side and stack one on top of the other)
If you run out of space in the pan, just press the dough in to make room for more segments.

Cover pan with more plastic wrap and set aside to let rise for about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350
Bake loaf for 25-30 minutes or until puffy and golden brown. The dough pulls apart when warm.. so let cool for only a few minutes before serving..

I know.. I know.. this is a lot of work.. but the end result is insanely good! Think mustard flavored bread with melted cheddar and juicy ham...

If you are not like me and able to save some .. this bread is even better the next day sliced, then toasted and topped with scrambled eggs....