Breakfast Pizza

You might be wondering what breakfast pizza is. Is it pizza you eat for breakfast? Well, possibly, but in this case it’s more like pizza with breakfast-themed toppings. Apparently, it’s a regional specialty of the Midwest, but I’d never heard of it – I got the recipe from The Kitchn. It seems like a long recipe, but I took a few shortcuts: I made the cheese sauce and scrambled eggs ahead of time, and I bought premade dough and cooked sausage crumbles, because I am all about what makes my life easier. You could also leave out the hash browns or use only one kind of cheese if you want, or swap ingredients with what you have on hand (like bacon or roasted potatoes, why not). The quantities below are for two pizzas, because again, leftovers make my life easier, although I baked them fresh on two consecutive nights after prepping once. (I found that there was enough cheese sauce for both pizzas as written, but I doubled the other quantities.) We all enjoyed this one!

1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 cup lactose-free whole milk
1 cup shredded lactose-free cheddar cheese, divided
¼ tsp. kosher salt, plus more to taste (I added pepper)
16 oz. uncooked breakfast sausage, casings removed (or precooked sausage crumbles)
8 large eggs
2 lbs. pizza dough
2 cups frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese substitute (I used Daiya)
4 scallions, thinly sliced

Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375 °F. Place a pizza stone in the oven. (If you don’t have a pizza stone, you can always use a baking sheet; if you don’t have a pizza peel, though, I’d recommend lining a baking sheet with parchment paper and keeping it ready on the counter.)

To make the cheese sauce, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the flour and cook, stirring, until the butter-flour mixture loses its sheen, about 1 minute. Whisk in the milk and bring to a boil, whisking occasionally, until thickened, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in ½ cup of the cheddar cheese and ¼ teaspoon of the salt. Set aside to cool slightly while you make the rest of the toppings.

Heat a large nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. Crumble the sausage into the pan and cook until browned and cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes. While the sausage cooks, whisk together the eggs with salt and pepper, to taste. Remove the cooked sausage to a paper towel-lined plate. Leave the sausage's fat in the pan and pour in the egg mixture. Scramble the eggs until almost cooked through but still moist, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the pizza dough out into two 12-inch rounds. Working with one pizza at a time, transfer the dough to a parchment-lined pizza peel (or the prepped baking sheet on your counter). Use the tines of a fork to dock (poke holes in) the pizza dough, working from the middle out to within 1 inch of the edge. (This will prevent the dough from getting soggy from the steaming cheese sauce.)

Spread on the cheese sauce in a thin, even layer as you would pizza sauce. Sprinkle the sausage onto the cheese sauce, followed by the hash browns, and finally the scrambled eggs. Sprinkle the pizza with the mozzarella cheese, remaining cheddar cheese, and scallions, splitting it evenly between both pizzas.

Bake until the cheese is melted and the crust is golden-brown, 20 to 25 minutes.

Let the pizza cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving (you can bake the second one during this time if you’ll be eating it that night; otherwise I prefer keeping the ingredients in the fridge and making it the second night).