Pizza for breakfast! I have found a way to make two meals about cheese and bread! This pizza includes TWO cheeses, soft-scrambled eggs in a creamy béchamel sauce with sausage, sautéed red pepper and onion. All of my favorite foods. I made it for dinner, because I don’t have the patience to do all the parts in the early morning. It’s delicious for brunch or lunch. The leftovers were even fantastic.

As usual, I increased most ingredients. How can you have too much of a good thing? You cannot! I was sure that I had made too much of the veggie/sausage topping. I convinced myself that I would use it in an omelet later in the week. Nah…I made it all fit.They key was to stretch the dough close to the edge, and make a little ridge, so the béchamel doesn’t leak out. Mine did a little and it was ok. I made my own pizza dough, because I could. It’s really simple. Store bought pizza dough is also great. I used it to make pizza on the grill recently.

I love slathering on pizza sauce on a regular pizza. Surprise surprise, this pizza has no tomato based sauce, but uses a béchamel sauce that is easy and brings it to another level of pizza love. The original recipe calls for 4-6 large farm fresh eggs. I used 5 large grocery store eggs and no one complained. I was nervous about adding the eggs to the sauce and wondered, what is soft-scrambled? Well, mine was a little too-soft-scrambled and it worked. I whisked the mixture until it was getting thicker and had some soft chunks, because I didn’t want to over cook it. The oven finished it off perfectly.

I tend to increase the bests ingredients in recipes. I used 12 ounces, instead of the recommended 8 ounces of breakfast sausage. I used a whole red pepper instead of measuring out a 1/2 cup. My rationale is, when will I use the rest of the sausage or pepper, if I follow the original recipe? Never. My onion addiction had me use two medium onions instead of 1/2 cup. I don’t like measuring some things. I grated my own mozzarella and cheddar cheese. I measured THOSE, but added extra for “good luck.” I mean, CHEESE!

Let’s make some pizza!

one pound of pizza dough

12 ounces of bulk breakfast sausage

two medium onions, diced

1 large red pepper, diced ( a mix of red and yellow peppers is purdy)

3 tablespoons of butter

3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour

1 cup of whole milk

5 large eggs

1+ cup of shredded mozzarella

1+ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Instructions

Pat out your pizza dough onto a baking/cookie sheet. I lightly coated the pan with olive oil and a dusting of cornmeal. Let it rise while you prepare the topping. I stretched the dough from the middle in an outwards motion. Gently. Let it rest a few minutes and continue to stretch a few more times. Pizza dough is funny like that. I like to form a ridge at the edge so the egg mixture doesn’t drip onto the pan.

In a large saute pan, cook the onions and peppers in a touch of butter or a glug of olive oil, until they begin to soften. You don’t want them to brown. If the pan gets too hot, take it off the burner and add a splash of olive oil to help cool it down. Add the sausage, breaking it up with your hands as you put it in the pan. Cook until the sausage is cooked through but not browned. If there is excess fat, drain it off. Let the mixture cool slightly.

In a medium saucepan, cook the 3 tablespoons of butter and 3 tablespoons of flour for a few minutes. Whisk it so it all cooks. You do not want it to brown, but to cook off the flour taste. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the milk. Return the pan to the heat and cook and whisk until the sauce begins to thicken.

Crack the eggs into a bowl, and then whisk them into the mixture. Continue to cook and whisk the eggs until soft set. Avoid overcooking or the eggs can become rubbery.

Spread the egg mixture over the crust, and top with the sausage mixture, spreading evenly. If you have more sausage mixture than pizza, save them for an omelet later in the week. If you have more eggs than you need, save if for scrambled eggs. I got mine to fit!!! Top with both cheeses. Stand back in awe. How beautiful is THAT?

Bake the pizza in a preheated 400 degree oven for 15-18 minutes, until well-browned and bubbly. I like to slip a metal spatula under the crust to see if it’s browning.

Enjoy!

The original recipe, from the good people at King Arthur Flour, is in the hyperlink above.