Ham and Cheese Braids

I really liked this recipe a lot! It's easy and something that picky eaters will eat. My picky eater ate a lot of it! I just served it with vegetables and homemade ranch. I used the Ranch recipe in Deceptively Delicious even though the one below is great too.

2 3/4 cups flour
1 T. sugar
1/2 t. salt
1 pkg yeast
3/4 cup warm water
4 T. butter, melted
1 egg
Diced ham
Shredded Cheese

You can use rapid rise or just active dry yeast. Combine water, yeast and sugar and let it stand for a few minutes. Then add the salt, butter and egg and mix. Add one cup of the flour and stir it up good. Then add the rest of the flour while you stir/knead. It will make a very workable and moderatly stiff dough (not sticky). I knead it until I like the feel of the dough (10 minutes or so?). Then roll out the dough on a floured surface into a rectangle (not too thin, not too thick), cut the rectangle into three equal strips, fill the strips with much ham and cheese clear to the ends and pinch each one shut being careful to leave no holes where all the good stuff will leak out. Then gently braid the three pieces and tuck the ends tight. Brush it with melted butter or egg white wash and sprinkle it with whatever you want. Let it raise in a warm spot until larger and fluffy looking (time varies). Bake at 375 for approx 30 minutes. You want it to be pretty brown on the outside so as to ensure the inside will not be doughy. Let it cool a bit before cutting into it. Enjoy! It is yummy dipped in ranch.

For home made ranch just mix some sour cream and mayo along with garlic salt, Mrs. Dash seasoning, dill and lemon pepper. Delish!