Breakfast Pizzas - Pizza Oven How To

Now that I showed you our wintery

pizza oven mantel decor on my last

post, it is time to make some pizzas.

Yum! We decided to switch our usual 

make your own pizza party up and do breakfast

pizzas.

The dough has already risen once,

and the balls are shaped and have

risen for about 45 minutes when it is time

to eat.  These are just after they have

been shaped.  They are going to get nice

and puffy.  I usually build the fire about

2 1/2 hours before eating is to begin.

Then I make the dough in my Bosch mixer,

let it rise and then shape.

The pizza ingredients are a lot simpler

for breakfast pizzas.

Toppings are cooked bacon, cooked maple

sausage and Canadian bacon.

The sauces are Alfredo sauce, Salsa, Ranch dressing

and Country Gravy.

Country Gravy turned out to be the big hit.

A lot of people made theirs and then topped

it with salsa.

I scrambled up 36 eggs, but also placed some

fresh ones on the table in case anyone wanted to

crack an egg on top.

Only two cheese were served, shredded cheddar

and shredded mozzarella.  

Wow so much easier with so few ingredients.

Everyone rolls their own dough and chooses

their toppings.  

Then they deliver it to the pizza

oven to be cooked.  Of course you can do the

exact same thing in your own oven and on a

pizza stone.  We did it that way for years.

Just be sure that you really do heat the pizza

stone at 550 degrees for at least an hour

before you bake it.  That creates the crisp crust.

See the layers of sauce (country gravy), scrambled

eggs, meats and cheeses.  

We did this for a brunch after a meeting with

our Young Single Adult Leaders and fed

about 22 of them.  Some said they were

their favorite pizzas they have made at our

house, and we have had them over many times,

but never for breakfast ones.

Pizza Dough Recipe

(Recipe from Mugnaini Ovens, they said not

to use oil or sugar as that makes the dough

burn more easily.)

2 T. yeast hydrated in 3/4 C. warm water

12 C. all-purpose flour

1 T salt

4 1/2 C. additional warm water

Hydrate the yeast for about 5 minutes, then

place it, flour and salt in bottom of your

mixing bowl.  Add the additional water.

Knead on medium low for about 5 minutes.

Turn out into a large bowl sprayed with

Pam, spray top of dough with more Pam

and cover with plastic wrap.  Let raise

for about 1 hour.  Punch down.

Shape into balls.  This will make about 20 balls.

Spray baking sheet or proof box with Pam and

place balls in to raise.  Cover with plastic

wrap or proofing box lid.  Let raise about

45 minutes.

To shape pizzas, remove a ball and gently press

around edge keeping about 1/2 inch lip for

your crust edge.  Lift up and gently stretch into

a round.  Let the weight of the dough do the

stretching to avoid tears.  The larger you stretch

it the thinner the dough.

Top with sauce of your choice, toppings

and then cheese.  Bake in pizza oven or

oven.  In pizza oven you will have it back

close to the fire, and you need a log burning

with a flame to melt the cheese.  Turn the

pizza several times to even brown the crust.

In the oven, just leave in place, but be sure 

you heated up your pizza stone.

Pizza Oven Tips

A lot more people are building pizza ovens.

My daughter just finished her new house and

she installed a pizza oven inside. Be sure to

season your pizza oven as directed by the

manufacturer before you begin making pizzas.  

It usually is a several day process of small fires,

building up to a big fire.

Clear out any old ashes using your

long handled pizza peel

Build a fire, log cabin style by placing

2 double split hard wood logs (fruit or oak)

down and then two going across, and then

one on top.  The logs have to be close enough

to each other to catch fire, but far enough

to let the air circulate.  Use a firestarter

to start the fire.  I like the Diamond Strike

A Fire (at grocery store) or Weber Lighter Cubes

(online or during BBQ season I have found at

Home Depot).

Watch to make sure the fire starts well.

After the flame is roaring, use your metal

pizza peel to carefully push the fire back

to the middle of the oven.  You want to heat

the middle floor of the oven. At about 1/2 hour,

check to make sure the fire is still burning and

then add another piece of wood.  This really

takes very little wood when you think that 

the wood is double split, or each piece is

a quarter of a log.  (We get our wood from

a nursery that sells wood.  We actually saw

them delivering to Carrabas and contacted them.

A load will last us about a year.)

Now is when I make the dough so they

are both finished about the same time.

You can use the door at an angle to

create a draft to help the fire get going.

Check every half hour and add another

piece of wood to keep the fire going.  See

how the flame spread up and over the round

pizza top.  By the time the oven is heated, that

area will turn ash white.

(Long handled pizza peel for handling the pizzas in the oven,

wire brush for cleaning the floor of the oven, and proofing

box.)

About 15 minutes before you are going to

begin baking pizzas, push the coals to the back

of the oven and brush the floor clean with a metal

pizza oven brush.  Add another piece of wood so

that you have a flame for melting the cheese.

We place the pizzas across the back, in

front of the fire, although at our class in

Italy they had us push the fire to the side and

place them front to back - that was too difficult

to manage that back pizza.  

Add a piece of wood as needed to keep a flame

On occasion we have made the oven too hot

on the floor and the first pizzas burned.  I just

got an old dish towel damp and placed it

over my metal brush and gave the floor a

quick wipe.  It cooled it down enough without

being too wet or cold to cause damage to

the stone on the bottom of the floor.

No clean up is necessary, just close the door

and let the fire burn anything out that

got on the stone.  Remove the ashes before

next use.  Don't remove hot ashes without

having a metal container and a safe

place for them, so they don't start a fire.

If we are making dessert pizzas we leave them

closer to the front as the sugar burns quicker.

You can also bake bread on the hot stone,

just keep turning the loaf.  You can cook a

casserole, again turning it once in a while.

You can pull the hot coals forward and 

grill if you have the grill accessory.

You can bake a turkey in the oven.

You can slow cook a roast overnight, but we 

found it was better to have it frozen so as

to not overcook it.

With a larger flame, you can broil.  It really

can do just about anything, not just pizzas. 

This was Hubby's creation.  He likes

to make two different kinds per pizza -

kind of a half and half.

He always likes to finish the meals with 

a dessert pizza.  This one was a S'Mores

pizza with a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar!

He generally cooks a few and brings around

a bit for those that want to indulge, since a

whole dessert pizza might be too much for them.

Really, your imagination is the limit on 

make your own pizza parties.

I will be posting with

Dishing It and Digging It