If you need something to wake you out of a sugar induced coma from Halloween ... this will do just the trick. Although, I can't say that it will help your waistline any more than Halloween candy!
It's the Hisega Lodge Breakfast Pizza. Located in Rapid City, South Dakota, innkeepers Carol and Ken serve this to guests before they embark on outdoor adventures in the Black Hills. But this is, not your typical pizza by any stretch.
While I must confess that ... yes ... I have ... at some point ... had cold pizza for breakfast. In college.
And it was ... Yuk.
So the thought of having pizza for breakfast instantly brought back that memory and made my upper lip curl up like Elvis.
BUT
This is a hot and delightfully tasty good-morning version! It's everything that is great about breakfast on a round of dough with a little added Mediterranean flavor.
And it is ... YUM!
Let's get to it, shall we?
Now, there are quite a few ingredients to this puppy ... so if you're the type of cook that usually pulls things out of the refrigerator or cabinets as you need them, I would recommend getting everything out on the counter first before beginning. (I have the full list of ingredients and recipe at the end of the post.) You'll also want to take a quick look at how to roast red peppers. It's really easy, but I recommend doing it the night before you make the pizza for breakfast in order to save some time.
Pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees and place your cream cheese in a bowl next to the oven so that the heat coming from it will start to soften it up. Ideally you want it to be around room temperature so it spreads nicely.
The Hisega Lodge makes their own dough with biscuit mix, which is another great breakfast staple to add to the mix. But just for fun, I chose to take the opportunity to use dough from our local pizzeria, PizzAmore.
When this clever little idea popped in my brain, I asked my boyfriend if he could pick up a "wad" of pizza dough from PizzAmora on his way home. He stared at me blankly for a minute and then asked, "exactly what unit of measurement is a 'wad'?" Ha! That's where all the trouble and fun began.
Okay, I was having a "ball" (get it? a ball! Buwahahaha) playing with pizza dough. This picture in particular made me giggle since it looked like I was holding it in my mouth ... though I had just tossed it in the air.
"Look ma, no hands!"
You can see the wild gleam in my eye from the fun that Iwas having. I did say this was the "grown up" version of pizza for breakfast, right? Oops!
Anyway, you want to mix a little flour and cornmeal for your surface (and your fingers) to prevent sticking. I probably have WAY too much there. You can use a little less.
Pizza dough is one of those things that just doesn't want stay where you put it. If there is one little trick I learned from watching Jessie at PizzAmore, it's that you've got to let gravity help you stretch the dough.
Pick it up by one side ... let it start to droop .. then start moving it quickly between your hands like you are moving a wheel.
After it is about the size you want it, place it on your pizza pan or stone.
Even after all that stretching ... it still wants to shrink back to it's original ball like a tight pair of spandex!
Jessie has another trick for this that he calls "spanking the dough"
Eh ehm.
Well. You could read into that if you wanted to ... but I'll tell you that I saw him try this at PizzAmore and it more like smacking it between your hands.
I'm digging myself into a hole here, aren't I?
Anyway, he then does the whole "hand tossed spin" thing with the dough above his head. Since the dough would be mid air for a couple of seconds ... and I don't trust myself as a pizza dough spanker/smacker/twirler/etc ... I'm going to make sure it stays on the table where I can make sure it has a good chance at becoming breakfast instead of my dog's treat. And believe me, she's right by my feet ready and waiting ...
On to the toppings. Make sure your cream cheese is smooth and soft. Almost like frosting so that it's easy to spread.
Spread it over the dough ...
Oh, and PS ... that is a fairly new baking stone that has only had a couple of uses. It's not "dirty" ... just needs a total bath in oil and some curing.
Okay. Now that that is clarified. Add your hashbrowns and then sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan. The recipe calls for 2 1/2 cups of hashbrowns ... but I think my pizza crust is a little smaller than what they make so I didn't need quite as much.
Next, chop up some pre-cooked bacon and green onions and spread those on top of the cheese and hashbrowns.
Slice up some artichoke heats ...
Mmm ... starting to look YUM!
Next, layer on your roasted red peppers and sprinkle on more cheese.
Add some capers and pop it into the oven for 15 minutes while you prepare your eggs.
Now THIS was a neat flavor that I'll have to add to other recipes.
White pepper.
It's a little more mild then regular black pepper, but then again it packs a little more heat. Neat-o.
Add a 1/4 tsp of white pepper and 3 large eggs to a mixing bowl and whisk together.
Take the pizza out of the oven and SLOWLY pour the scrambled eggs on top. You want them to fill into every open nook and cranny. If you pour fast ... they'll shimmy off the top of the other ingredients and ooze over the edge.
Bake for another 20 minutes until the eggs are solid. A great tip that the Hisega Lodge added was to then slice the pizza and add back to the oven for an additional 5 minutes. It's definitely a "deep dish" style pizza, so the extra 5 minutes helps it cook through.
You may even need a bigger pizza cutter! I know I did!
I had forgotten all about the cream cheese we spread first on the crust ... until I took a bite. Woooooow.
The cream cheese with the bacon and eggs and salty capers is mouth watering. In fact, I'd say the white pepper and the cream cheese are the two "secret" ingredients that make this recipe pop.
Are you an Innkeeper? Do you have a favorite breakfast recipe you'd like to share? Email it to InnTheKitchen@gmail.com and we'll test it in our kitchen and post it here on www.InnTheKitchen.com
6-8 servings
Ingredients
2 cups biscuit mix
1/2 cup water
8 oz cream cheese, softened
6 green onions, finely sliced
6 canned, quartered artichokes
6 slices bacon, cooked and chopped
1/2 cup roasted red peppers, cut in strips
1 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
2 1/2 cups frozen hashbrowns
1 1/2 tbsp capers
1/2 (additional) cup mozzarella
14 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 eggs, whisked with 1 tbsp water and 1/2 tsp white pepper.
Directions
In a bowl, combine the biscuit mix and water and stir 20 strokes. Turn onto a floured surface
and knead 10 times. Roll into circle and put into a 12-inch pizza pan. OR roll into a rectangle
approximately 14-inch X 10-inches and place on the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of a
13X9 inch baking dish.
Spread the softened cream cheese evenly over the dough. Place the hashbrowns over the
cream cheese and follow with 1 1/2 cups mozzarella and the parmesan cheese. Sprinkle the
bacon, onions, and artichokes over that and arrange the red pepper strips over all. Sprinkle the
1/2 cup additional mozzarella over all and sprinkle the capers over that.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Bake pizza in middle of oven for 15 minutes and then pour the
egg mixture carefully over the pizza. Bake another 20 minutes until crust is golden brown and
the eggs are just solid. I cut the pieces when the pizza is almost done and then put it back in
the oven for 5 minutes to finish baking. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Serve pizza with
fresh tomato and spinach.
###
