Well, I’m going to start off telling you how easy these ham rolls are then I’m going to tell you that you need to bake two loaves of my French bread and some of you are going to start crying cuz you don’t wanna bake bread. But here’s a secret–Georgia uses bread from the store. Yes, you can just do that. Georgia says so. Not that Georgia isn’t a baker, but she’s 78 and sometimes she doesn’t feel up to baking bread. These Easy Ham Rolls are her favorite thing to make for just about any occasion. Like if there’s a church supper. Or a funeral lunch. Or her neighbor fell off his tractor and broke his leg. Or if you have been gone all day and she’s standing outside your bathroom door with your mail (after she came in without knocking) and she’s worried that your poor, starving children WON’T GET FED RIGHT AWAY. She’s got ham rolls. (People need to be fed. Right away. She’s always concerned about that. DID YOU MISS A MEAL? She’s worried!)

So just get on with your bad self and go buy some bread. Or break down and bake two loaves of this earth-shatteringly incredible bread, come on! How can you not want this in your oven?





You can also use sandwich rolls or sub rolls or dinner rolls, too. Georgia’s favorite is Pepperidge Farm. She usually doubles this recipe to make two pans, by the way. You can’t have enough ham rolls.

How to make Georgia’s Easy Ham Rolls:

approximately 1 dozen rolls or sliced french bread sections (how many rolls you need depends on the size of the rolls–you need enough rolls to fill up a 9×12 pan)
1/2 pound sliced ham (or turkey, beef, whatever)
1/2 pound sliced Swiss (or other cheese)
1 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon dried onion
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon prepared mustard





Combine melted butter with dried onion, Worcestershire sauce, and mustard in a pot. Cut rolls in half. If using French bread loaves, slice in half to separate top from bottom then cut into sandwich-size rolls. Spray a 9×12 foil-lined pan with oil then place bottoms of rolls in pan.





Load on the ham and Swiss. Pour about one-third of the melted butter mixture over them then add tops. Pour the rest of the melted butter mixture on. Don’t be complaining about the butter now. You can use margerine if you must. (Georgia would never! Everything I know about butter and sugar, I learned from Georgia. And she’s 78. So go with it.) In fact, if you need extra sauce, get you some more!

Georgia likes to sprinkle poppy seeds on top. I don’t like poppy seeds because I always imagine they are stuck in my teeth. But if you are daring, go for it.

Cover and refrigerate overnight. Or not. Georgia would never skip this step, but here’s another secret. I usually do. I have hungry children who are STARVING, remember? But you go ahead and refrigerate if you have time. It gives all that buttery flavor a chance to soak in. And these ham rolls? They have some seriously good flavor.)


Bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes. Of course, you can do this a hundred different ways with various combinations of meats and cheeses, and even adding sauteed onions or peppers or mushrooms, oh my! The possibilities are endless. Don’t tell Georgia. She FOLLOWS RECIPES and she got this one for HAM.

Note: Also try these with my homemade buns.

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They have weird food here. But every time I try one of these weird things they do in the country, I like it. Like ramps. I admit, I like ramps. They are pungent!!! But they were actually, shockingly, good. You can read about my ramps adventure here. And see more about cooking with ramps here. Then there were the Fried Bologna Sandwiches. You might as well have suggested I put ketchup on Oreos when I first heard about that, but I found out I liked it. And now….pepperoni rolls. Everywhere, they sell pepperoni rolls. So I had to try that, too. (Seriously, if you told me to jump off a cliff, I’d probably do it! I think I have to try stuff!) I found I liked pepperoni rolls, too, only…. There just wasn’t enough stuff. Enough pepperoni. Enough cheese. Enough sauce. Solution? Make my own!

This is a “hot pockets” style pepperoni roll. (For a true West Virginia-style pepperoni roll, see my traditional pepperoni roll recipe.)
Homemade hot pockets! There is nothing they can package up and sell at the grocery store that you can’t make better at home.

How to make Homemade Hot Pockets:

Start with the basic Hot, Crusty French Bread recipe, using the Italian bread variation, doubled for a dozen Homemade Hot Pockets.

6 cups all-purpose flour
1 package yeast
(rapid-rise recommended)
2 cups warm water
salt to taste
4 tablespoons olive oil

In a large bowl, combine water with yeast, salt, and oil. Let sit for five minutes. Stir in flour until the dough is stiff enough to knead. (Add flour a little at a time. Six cups flour is approximate; exact amount may vary.) Knead dough until smooth and elastic–a few minutes. Place dough in a greased bowl; cover. Let rise until doubled.





Now it’s time to turn this into pepperoni roll hot pockets–all you need is a package of sliced pepperoni, spaghetti sauce, and mozzarella cheese.

Divide dough into four parts and one portion at a time, roll into a 6-inch by 12-inch rectangle. To make three pepperoni roll Homemade Hot Pockets per portion, start with two teaspoons of sauce, spread in three parts across the rectangle of dough. Leave a space between where you will cut the rolls apart. Add pepperoni slices and mozzarella cheese.



Cut rolls apart with a knife, roll up, pinch ends and edges to seal. Once packed and rolled, place on a greased baking sheet and bake 15-20 minutes (till nicely browned) in a 375-degree oven. Let cool on a wire rack.

You can use anything for Homemade Hot Pockets. Ham and swiss! Bacon and cheddar! Roast beef and provolone! Add sauteed vegetables, or use vegetables alone for a veggie hot pocket. You can use a couple teaspoons of sour cream instead of spaghetti sauce for different flavors. The possibilities are endless for a perfect grab-and-go sandwich!

Store them in the fridge for a few days or in the freezer to grab whenever you need one. Reheat in the microwave for a minute.

They’re so good…..

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More posts you might enjoy:

Tea Cakes

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Biscuits & Gravy

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly