Egg and Cheese Pastry

This is surprisingly easy, yet comforting and so fun to make for breakfast or brunch, especially if you are hosting a special occasion and have lots of people to feed.  You can make the dough in advance and refrigerate it.  Then when it's time for some seriously awesome one-eyed cheesy boats - you totally got it!



Ingredients:

2 cups of milk
2 eggs (for the dough)
8 eggs for each piece (as a topping)
2 tbsp of oil
4- 5 cups of all-purpose flour (add more if needed)
1 teasp of dry active yeast
2 teasp of salt
1 cup of shredded cheese (mozzarella with feta)

Directions:

1.  In a mixing bowl pour a cup of lukewarm milk and add the yeast.  Let it sit for 5 minutes.
Add the remaining milk, eggs and oil to the yeast mixture and whisk well.  Sift the flour and salt together and stir into the mixture.  Continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the dough begins to come together.

2.  Knead with your hands for a few minutes, until the dough leaves the side of the bowl.  Shape the dough into a ball, put it into the bowl and cover with a plastic wrap.  Let it rise in a warm place for 1 1/2 hour.

3.  Brush a baking sheet with butter and dust it with flour.  Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured counter and knead for 1-2 minutes.  Divide the dough into 8-10 equal pieces.  Using your fingertips  gently press out each piece (or roll out) shaping them to an oval.  Then roll each side to the center,  pinch the ends and twist to secure.  Now roll back the sides from the center just enough to make a room for the cheese and eggs, as shown in the pictures below.  It'll look like a boat (really cute:))

4.  Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Spoon the cheese and place it in the center of each shaped dough.  Bake for 10-15 minutes then take them out and gently push down and the melted cheese to open some room for the egg.  Carefully crack an egg in the center of each piece - over the cheese and bake them for another 10 minutes until the eggs look cooked.  Dust with fresh ground black pepper and serve warm.

Note:  It's up to you how well you like your egg to be cooked.  In this case I like my egg to be a bit runny but not watery so I can dip in with my bread.  It's a trip to heaven!