Breakfast Pizza

If you’re like me, then the idea of cold, leftover pizza is a horrifying thing.

But we all know people who’ve done it. Even more terrible, people who ate it, and enjoyed it. *collective gasp*

Do not fear the title of this post, fair readers, as I would never suggest you commit such a vile act against our lovely delicious friend, the pizza, such as eat it when it’s a day old and cold.

Instead, I’m suggesting you make a special pizza, just for breakfast (or brunch, or whenever the heck you want), using common breakfast foods: scrambled eggs, breakfast sausage, cheese etc.

Yes, my friends. Enter, The Breakfast Pizza.

I wasn’t a believe either until recently, when I tried this delicious bit of breakfast-y pizza heaven, but oh, it’s good. Like, really good.

The key to breakfast pizza, however, is to have pre-made pizza dough, ready to go. I usually make extra whenever I make a batch of pizza dough, and then freeze the extra in personal pizza size. That way, I can just get out a de-frosted (take it out of the freezer and stick it in the fridge the night before you need it) ball of dough whenever I want a quick pizza, roll it out, throw on some toppings, bake it, and have me some pizza. Good times guys, good times.

For this pizza, I spread a little sun-dried tomato pesto on the dough instead of sauce, but if that’s a bit too much in the morning for you, you can just brush a little olive oil on the dough instead. Do whatever sounds tasty to you.
Also, I used ground turkey sausage, scrambled eggs, mini tomatoes, and spinach as toppings for this pizza, but again, don’t limit yourself to just those. Try additional or different toppings. Crumbled bacon or diced ham would be great too, and even hash browns or sauteed mushrooms would be yummy. Let loose and add whatever floats your boat. That’s the great thing about pizza.

Breakfast Pizza

(makes 1 large pizza)

• 1/2 batch of pizza dough
• 3 Tbsp. sun-dried tomato pesto (or 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil)
• 1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 lb. ground breakfast turkey sausage
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 c. mini tomatoes, sliced in half
• 5 oz. fresh spinach (or a couple large handfuls)

1. Pre-heat oven to 425° F (220° C). Spray a large pizza pan/stone or baking sheet.
2. Heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add sausage and cook until browned and crumbly. Add spinach and cook until wilted. Add eggs and cook until scrambled. Add tomatoes, season everything with salt and pepper to taste, and remove from heat.
3. Roll out dough to desired size, and place on pan. Spread pesto (or olive oil if using) evenly over dough, leaving 1/2″ – 1″ along the edge.
4. Spread mozzarella cheese over dough, add the toppings, then sprinkle the cheddar cheese on top of everything.
5. Bake pizza 20 minutes, or until the crust edges are golden brown. Cut into slices and serve immediately.

 

Homemade Pizza

I used to not like thin crust pizza.

I was all about deep dish pizzas. Original/regular crust was okay too, but if I had a choice, deep dish was the way I always went. Something about all that lovely, soft yet chewy, delicious bread just made my day.

Not that I don’t still like deep dish pizza. Oh, I do. I’ve just learned to appreciate thin crust pizza.

When living in Japan, I realized that pretty much all the pizza there is thin crust. At first, this greatly bummed me out (when I actually did eat pizza that is, which wasn’t very often). Eventually, however, I came to appreciate thin crust pizza.

There’s something wonderful about the perfect balance between bread, sauce, and toppings. Too thick of a crust, and it’s like eating, well, nothing but bread. Too little crust, and it turns into something like a cracker. Too much cheese and…wait. What am I saying? You can never have too much cheese on a pizza (or anything for that matter! It’s the American way! ).

The point is, thin crust pizza can be just as wonderful as a well executed deep dish pizza. Plus I think it’s more authentic, really, if you’re going for real Italian style pizza.

Unless it’s really crispy. Like a cracker. That’s just not cool. If I want a cracker-like pizza then I’ll put some sauce and cheese on a Saltine and bake it (disclaimer: I know some people love crispy cracker-like crust for their pizzas. There’s nothing wrong with that. I just don’t like it. Power to you).

The pizza dough for this recipe is quite versatile. You can use it to make 4 small thin crust pizzas, 2 large thin crust pizzas, or 1 large deep dish pizza. You can also use it to make my egg, sausage, cheese bread, stromboli, calzones, etc. It also freezes well, so whatever you don’t use, wrap with plastic wrap, put it in a storage bag, and pop it in the freezer until you need it.

 

Homemade Pizza

(makes 4 small thin-crust pizzas, 2 large thin-crust pizzas, or 1 large deep dish pizza)

• 2 1/4 tsp. dry yeast
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1 1/2 c. warm water
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 3 1/2 c. bread flour (approximately)
• pizza sauce
• Mozzarella cheese (fresh or shredded)
• desired toppings (onion, green pepper, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, pepperoni, ham, sausage, etc.)

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in water. Let set for 10 minutes.
2. Add salt and oil, then mix in 2 1/2 c. flour.
3. Continue adding flour until a ball forms. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead dough, adding flour as needed, until dough becomes smooth and elastic.
4. Spray a large bowl with non-stick spray, add dough to bowl, cover, and place in a warm spot to rise until double in size, 1 – 2 hours.
5. Pre-heat oven to 425° F (220° C).
6. Punch down dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and roll out into the desired number and size of pizzas.
7. Place rolled out pizza crusts in an oiled pan/pans.

For deep dish pizza: Allow crust to rise for 10 – 20 minutes. Bake crust for 10 minutes on the oven’s middle rack, remove from oven, add pizza sauce, cheese, and toppings, then return to oven to bake for an additional 15 – 20 minutes. Cut into slices and serve immediately.

For thin crust pizza: Spread pizza sauce evenly over top of pizza crust. Cover with mozzarella cheese and any desired toppings. Brush crust edges with olive oil (optional). Bake on the oven’s middle rack for about 20 minutes, or until crust edges and golden brown. Cut into slices and serve immediately.

Homemade Pizza Sauce

I taught my first ever cooking class last Friday here at our apartment.

It ended up being a small affair with just a few people, but considering our apartment is quite small, and this was my first time to teach a cooking class, I was glad for the small size. It was more intimate that way. Like friends having a cooking party rather than a formal class.

We made thin crust personal pizzas including the pizza dough and pizza sauce, salad with a homemade balsamic vinaigrette, and brownies.

We all had fun, and only one dish was broken! Ha!

I thought I would share my pizza sauce recipe with you today. Pizza sauce is really really easy to make, and it only has five ingredients. Also, it also only takes, oh, less than 10 minutes to make. It’s easy. But it tastes great!

This recipe makes more sauce than you’ll need for your pizza/pizzas (unless you’re making enough pizzas for a party). You can freeze the leftover sauce for later, or, what I usually like to do, is to use it as pasta sauce the next day. Add a little basil and/or oregano and you have marinara sauce. Add some chopped up olives, capers, and anchovies (or can tuna), and you have puttanesca sauce.
Or you can just make more pizzas. Never a bad idea, that. You can never have too much pizza, right? Right.

Pizza Sauce

• 1 (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 large onion (or 1 whole small onion), diced
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 tsp. salt (or to taste)

1. Add olive oil to a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and saute gently for 3 – 4 minutes, or until onion turns translucent.
2. Add onion and garlic to a blender along with the tomatoes. Blend until smooth. Return to skillet, add salt, and heat through.
3. Use as pizza sauce, pasta sauce, etc. Can refrigerate up to one week, and freeze up to one month.

Roasted Vegetable & Pesto Pizza

I’m writing this post from my new desk at my mom’s office, where I’m helping out for the next few weeks.

It’s interesting to be working again. I haven’t worked full time in quite awhile now. I’m finding it difficult to fit in my workouts, cooking, and of course, blogging!
I got up  at 6:30 am yesterday morning, and did my workout before work, and today I got up at the same time and went to swim laps. 6:30 am wasn’t too bad for lap swimming really, as Hisa and I usually get up at 7 am, so it wasn’t that much of a difference. The main difference was I had to swim faster than usual, and I had to keep checking to clock to make sure we left in time, so I would have plenty of time to get ready when we got home.

Anyway, enough talk!
On to the pizza!

This is a great vegetarian pizza that’s a nice change from your regular tomato sauce pizza. Instead of tomato sauce, I used pesto as the base sauce on the pizza crust. Then I spread the shredded cheese over that, and roasted zucchini, onion, and green bell pepper on top.

You can make your own pesto in a food processor (which I really want to do, but have yet to try!), or just use the stuff in a jar like you buy in the grocery store.
You can also make the crust ahead of time and keep it in the fridge, and then stick it in the fridge 24 hours before you’ll need it. Pizza crust is pretty forgiving stuff. And tasty too. 🙂

I used a pizza stone to bake this. If you use a pizza stone (and I highly recommend you do, but it isn’t necessary), stick it in your pre-heated oven for about 20 minutes before you bake your pizza. This will get the stone really hot, bake your pizza fast, and make your pizza crust wonderful! Basically, the hot stone mimics the hot bricks that bake the pizza in a brick pizza oven.
You don’t have to use a pizza stone for this. If you don’t have one, you can bake your pizza on a regular baking sheet. Pizza stones aren’t expensive though, so I recommend trying one out. 🙂

Roasted Vegetable & Pesto Pizza

(makes 2 round pizzas or 1 large rectangle pizza)

For the crust:

• 2 1/4 tsp. dry yeast
• 1/2 tsp. brown sugar
• 1 1/2 c. warm water
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1/2 c. corn meal
• 2 1/2 – 3 c. bread flour

For the pizza toppings:

• 1/2 c. pesto
• 2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese (or whatever cheese you like on your pizza)
• 1 green zucchini, sliced
• 1 yellow zucchini, sliced
• 1/2 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced
• salt and pepper
• extra virgin olive oil

1. Pre-heat oven to 400° F (200° C).
2. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in water. Let sit for 10 min.
3. Add salt and oil, then stir in corn meal and 2 c. bread flour.
4. Turn out dough onto a floured surface. Knead, adding flour until smooth and elastic.
5. Place dough into a well oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour, or until double in size.
6. Place sliced zucchini, onion, and pepper, in a greased baking sheet. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat the vegetables. Bake for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender. Remove from oven.
7. Punch down dough, roll out dough into 2 round crusts or 1 large crust. Place in an oiled baking sheet and let rise 10 – 20 minutes.
8. Pre-heat oven to 425° F (220° C). If using pizza stone, place dry stone in oven to heat up for 20 minutes.
9. Remove pizza stone from oven. Carefully place rolled out pizza dough on stone. Spread pesto on pizza crust. Sprinkle cheese on top of that, and then place the roasted vegetables on top of that.
10. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes, or until pizza crust is golden brown.
11. Remove from oven, cut into slices with a pizza cutter, and serve immediately.

 

 

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

My brother sent me a link to this recipe for cauliflower crust pizza, suggesting I try it out, a couple of weeks ago. I’d never heard of such a thing, but I was intrigued. Cauliflower as a substitute for bread. Who’d ever heard of such a thing? Would it hold together? Would it taste weird? I decided I should try it out.

I didn’t tell my family what was in it, and instead, made them guess. My dad and my husband could never guess what it was. They both thought it must have corn meal and/or potatoes in it. My mom was the only one who guessed correctly, as, she told me later, she’d made a mashed potato substitute with cauliflower before, and therefore recognized the texture.

This crust was delicious.
It held together wonderfully (although it’s something that’s easier to eat with a fork and knife rather than your hands), and tasted nothing like cauliflower. It reminded me of a crust made out of polenta with possibly some potato or flour added to it. It was really good!

If you’re gluten intolerant, trying to cut back on carbs, or just want to try something different a little bit healthier than regular pizza, you should really try this out! I was pleasantly surprised!

First, wash off a head of cauliflower and take off the leaves. Chop it up, and pulse it in your food processor in batches until it turns all crumbly. You should end up with about 6 cups of riced cauliflower (if it’s a large head. If your supermarket only has small heads, you might buy two).

This is the texture you want. Don’t pulse it too much or it’ll get watery. Dump it all in a microwave safe bowl, and microwave it, uncovered, for 8 minutes.

Add 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese, 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese, 1 tsp. garlic powder, 1 tsp. onion powder, 2 tsp. dried oregano, and 1/2 tsp. salt. Mix everything well, and then adjust the seasoning to taste.

Add three eggs, and mix everything up well.

Pour out onto a sprayed baking sheet. Spread the cauliflower mixture around evenly so it fills up almost the entire pan. Bake in a 450° F oven for 15 minutes.

It’ll get slightly browned on top and around the edges, and it’ll smell fantastic!

Add pizza sauce (I just use my homemade marinara sauce), shredded cheese, and the cooked toppings of your choice. I used onion, bell pepper, mushrooms, olives, and cooked turkey sausage. I also sprinkled on a little extra cheese on top after taking this picture. Because you can never really have too much cheese.
Pop it back in the oven for about 5 minutes (until the cheese melts), cut it into slices, and serve!

 

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

(serves 4 – 5)

• 6 – 7 c. riced cauliflower (one large head)
• 1/2 c. shredded parmesan
• 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• 2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3 eggs
• pizza sauce
• shredded cheese
• cooked pizza toppings of your choice

1. Pre-heat oven to 450° F.
2. Wash cauliflower head, remove leaves and stem, and chop up. Add to food processor and pulse until it ressembles coarse crumbs (don’t over pulse so that it becomes watery).
3. Add riced cauliflower to a microwave safe bowl. Microwave, uncovered, for 8 minutes.
4. Add cheese, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, and salt. Mix well. Adjust seasoning to taste.
5. Add eggs, and mix well.
6. Pour out onto a greased baking sheet. Spread out evenly. Bake for 15 minutes.
7. Remove from oven. Add pizza sauce, shredded cheese, and toppings.
8. Bake for about 5 minutes, or until the cheese melts.
9. Remove from oven, cut into slices, and serve.

Recipe adapted from Eat. Drink. Smile.