I love make-ahead dishes. But I really, really love breakfast make-ahead dishes. The classic breakfast casserole has become a family favorite since the beauty of the dish is such: mix it together at night, refrigerate, and in the morning, place it in the oven and before your first cup of Joe has kicked in, without any work at all, breakfast is served.
And while breakfast casserole has served us well, this year for Christmas I began looking for a new recipe. I found several, and combined them to come up with this idea, which uses pizza dough, eggs, light cheese and vegetables and/or sausage.
Please excuse the darkness in the photos, but in a way, they add to the authenticity of the recipe…it was prepared in the darkness of a very late night, and cooked before the sun was up.
Breakfast Braid
One batch Sweet Pea Pizza Dough (or enough dough to make a 16 inch pizza)
½ cup reduced-fat shredded cheddar cheese
4 eggs
½ cup steamed vegetables or sausage
Roll out the dough in a 9 x 13 inch rectangle. Sprinkle with the cheese. On either side, cut, using kitchen shears, two inch slices diagonally in the dough:
Whisk the eggs and scramble on the stove top. Cook until scrambled, but still a bit “wet.” Place the eggs down the center of the dough rectangle.
Sprinkle the eggs with the vegetables (we used jalapeno and spinach) and/or cooked sausage.
Alternating between the two sides, pull one strip at a time from the side of the dough rectangle, across the top and over to the other side. Repeat until the strips are all covering the eggs.
Place in the refrigerator overnight.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the dough is browned slightly.
Serves 6-8.
SPC