I recently planned a birthdday surprise for my friend. I decided that I was going to decorate her office and planned a birthday potluck. As I was thinking about how much I had to carry (decorations, gift, food, etc) I was thinking about ways to make this easier. I already knew I was going to make my easy Breakfast Bake and then I thought about how heavy everything was going to be to carry in. So then the wheels in my crazy cooking brain started turning and I thought, "Why not bake the Breakfast Bake INSIDE a loaf of bread so I don't have to carry a heavy baking pan?!?!?!"
You bake it in the bread that you end up eating! No extra dish to carry!
And wouldn't you know it! Someone else had already thought of this idea!
Here's their picture since I forgot to take a picture of the cooked masterpiece.
The beauty of this stuffed breakfast loaf is that you can put anything you want it in. For this round, I chose to use:
honey ham
onion
mushroom
green onion
eggs
cheddar AND colby jack cheese
1 loaf of whole grain bread (I would have preferred sourdough, but Trader Joe's didn't have one)
I sauteed half of a medium onion with about a cup of crimini mushrooms in olive oil for over medium heat. Saute until the onions are translucent and the mushrooms are nice and golden brown.
While the mushrooms and onions were partying it up, I chopped up some honey ham. This was about a cup.
When the onions and mushrooms were done, I added some frozen hash browns.
I added about 2 cups of frozen hash browns to my mushroom, onion and ham mixture. Feel free to use real cubed potatoes if you'd like.
Add seasoning salt and black pepper...
Throw in your ham now too. Mmmmm.
Turn on low and let your potatoes absorb all the yummy flavors while they soften up in the pan.
I threw in a large handful of green onions into the party too. I keep them chopped and frozen in my freezer.
Adds color and flavor!
If needed, I add a little water instead of oil to keep everything from sticking to the pan.
Be sure to remove the pan from heat and let it cool a bit.
Turn your oven on to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, I take my loaf of bread...
And using a sharp, serrated knife, I notch a long "v" down the length of it.
And I pull the cut "v" completely off the loaf.
Then, using your fingers, hollow out the entire loaf of bread. I save the top and the stuff I hollowed out in a ziplock bag and use it in place of bread crumbs. Nothing goes to waste.
I layer slices of cheese on the bottom.
You can use shredded, but I use sliced because I think it helps prevent any egg from leaking out of any holes you might have in your loaf.
I carefully spoon my hash brown, veggie and ham mixture into the hollowed out bread.
I used three eggs for this, but it will depend on how large your loaf of bread is.
I added a huge dollop (about 2 tablespoons) of sour cream into my eggs and whipped them up. You can use milk or nothing at all. I just like how fluffy my eggs are when whipped with sour cream or milk.
Carefully and SLOWLY pour your whipped eggs into your stuffed bread loaf.
If you rush it, the egg will spill out.
Throw this baby into the oven at 350 for about 30 to 40 minutes. I also like to top it with more cheese, because...well, why not?
When it's done baking, you'll want to let it rest for about 5 minutes. If you cut into slices right away, it will fall apart so let it set and cool just a bit before you slice it up.
I literally wrapped this in foil and took it to work with nothing other than a sharp knife. Then I just crushed up the foil and threw in the trash when the last piece was gone. Genius.
Think of the endless possibilities for combinations that you could make to go in your bread loaf...bacon and leeks, kielbasa and peppers, sausage and more sausage....Have fun creating your breakfast loaf combo.
