Apple Breakfast Pizza

This morning I was hanging out on Pinterest and found this recipe.

Apple Streusel Breakfast Pizza? Hmmmm, sounds good to me! Especially since I just happen to have a piece of pizza dough in my fridge! A few years ago we went to Romano’s Macaroni Grill in Springfield and I had their Caramelized Onion, Rosemary, Goat Cheese Flatbread. I have been making recreations of this at home since, and have even broadened out to other flavors (including a Papa Murphy’s Thai pizza knockoff!)  I make pizza often enough to have left over dough most weeks, and this was one of them. 

 

So, since I had the dough, I checked out the apple recipe.

The Minimalist Baker’s recipe is dairy free, so if you’re lactose intolerant, be sure to check it out. It sounded tasty, especially with the freshly baked apples, but I was short on time. What to do? What to do? Oh yeah! I made applesauce in my Slow Cooker last weekend! Go me!

I used a bag of Granny Smith apples that were on their way out, and threw in a couple of Jazz apples for good measure. They cooked well, but were still pretty chunky, so I attacked them with an immersion blender. I went a little overboard with the immersion blender, in fact, so my applesauce ended up somewhere between applesauce and apple butter. It was certainly not cooked as long as apple butter, so it didn’t have that rich, long-cooked taste, but the texture was smoother than I like for applesauce. I guess all that to say if you don’t have applesauce, but you do have apple butter, go for it!

If you do not have a pizza stone, or any stone pan, I do suggest you buy one if you are able. In fact, buy it when you’re able so that when you are a furloughed Government employee you will be able to raid your pantry and garden and make lots of different kinds of pizza. 

For best results, heat the pizza pan, stone or otherwise, before you put the dough on it. This cuts down on doughy or soggy centers.

Oh, and at the risk of being labeled the goat cheese lady, rather than using butter in the streusel, I opted for goat cheese.  It added that slight tang that you all know I love!

As always, have fun and make it your own!

So happy breakfast pizza!

Apple Breakfast Pizza

1 pizza dough. (homemade or store bought)

1C applesauce

¼ C all purpose flour

2 T brown sugar, white sugar, raw sugar

2 T goat cheese, butter, coconut oil or other butter substitute

1 ½ t powdered sugar (optional)

2 T Maple syrup

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Put pizza stone or pan in oven to heat.

Roll out pizza dough to about ¼ inch thick. Remove hot stone from oven. Carefully transfer dough to hot pan. Spread applesauce over dough, leaving some room for a crust!

In a small dish, mix together the flour and sugar. Using your fingers or a fork, work the goat cheese or butter into the mixture until it is well incorporated, sprinkle it over applesauce on pizza.

Bake 12-20 minutes until crust in nice and brown. The amount of time will depend on how thick you made your crust.

Meanwhile, stir maple syrup into powdered sugar.

Remove pizza from oven. Drizzle maple syrup glaze over pizza. Cut and serve.

Pizza dough

I pretty much freestyle the pizza dough, since I make it so often. For this I made 2  9x7 inch pans of pizza.

1 C flour

1 t salt

1 T yeast

3/4 - 1 C warm water, divided

1 t olive oil

I do usually proof my yeast : put 1 T (one packet) yeast in 1/4 C of the water with a pinch of flour and put it up in a warm spot for 3-5 minutes, just to make sure it's foaming.

Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Add proofed yeast. Stir in oil and just enough water to make a nice dough, elastic and not sticky. You can make this a few days before you plan on using it. Just put it in a bowl with a little oil and cover with plastic wrap and refridgerate. When ready to use, take what you want out of the fridge and proceed as above.

 

In Defense of Black and White Border Collies

        I’ll admit it. I am partial to black and white Border Collies. There is something about that traditional look that appeals to me. I belong to several Border Collie groups on Facebook and I have seen a lot of different Border Collies over the past few years. 

       I have seen a lot of tri-colors, merles, reds, and the Australian Red which is sometimes called tan and white. I’ve seen Welsh Collies and even a Rough Collie or two, and I have learned to appreciate them and their styles. I have been exposed to white-faced Collies and half-faced Collies, and I have to say, I am always blown away by the beauty of this breed and by the variety that can be found within the Border Collie parameters.

        Like many groups on Facebook, we are made up of people from all over the globe and brought together by nothing more than the love of this breed.

        As with all groups of friends and family, there is plenty of fighting : those who rescue nip at those who buy papered show dogs who say they are preserving the breed. Those who herd snap at those who choose Collies for pets. Oh, not all of them. Most of us are pretty laid back and agree that giving a Border Collie a good home and a job to do is a pretty amazing thing, no matter where the dog came from or your reason for having one.

         Oh, and pictures? Make sure you show plenty of pictures of your beautiful friends.

        I will say, it seems to me that the other Collies, the ‘fancy’ Border Collies, if you will, get more comments than the ‘traditional’ Border Collies. Or maybe it’s me. Maybe I don’t put myself and my Fiona out in a way that invites comment.

       Let me tell you something about my amazing friend. She hates thunderstorms. Like many herding dogs, she is sensitive to the drop of barometric pressure and the sounds and smells associated with our violent Midwest boomers. Yet when it's time to feed my small collection of farm animals, even if it sounds like the 'bombs bursting in air,' my Fiona will accompany me out to the barnyard. Her job is to 'herd' the chickens. It's not an easy job and she's not very good at it, but it's her job. And nothing, not rain, nor snow, nor thunder overhead will keep her from that job.

       May I have that much courage in the face of my fears!

       Of course, each of us loves our Collie best and while we can admire the beauty, grace, intensity, silliness, showmanship and courage of someone else’s Border Collie, in the end no one will see our Collies the way we do. 

In the end, when I think Border Collie, it’s my own black and white Fiona I see.

 (Painting by Morgan Kittelson)