PW Wednesday is back! And looky, looky more pizza.
Rachel had this week’s pick and I think she was a little nervous about picking another pizza. I was more than ok with it though after the heavenly carnitas one which I can only describe as an out of body experience with every single bite. Seriously, I’m still dreaming of that meat.
The last PW post got a disclaimer upfront about using ridiculous cringe worthy words, this one gets one for the inundation of photos. I’m sorry, breakfast pizza really loved the camera and I just couldn’t choose. It was like picking a favorite child and since my mom tells me that’s impossible (totally don’t buy that btw…you moms just say it so you don’t look bad), so too was this.
See?
Preeeeety.
So, let’s discuss this recipe. As with many of Ree’s recipes, there were some ingredients I wasn’t too psyched about using or just questioned in general:
1. frozen hashbrowns. I don’t usually buy things from the frozen aisle unless it’s a. green veggies b. frozen waffles or c. ice cream. Frozen hashbrowns fall into that sketchy area of weirdly packaged/processed/not so sure what’s in it but probably more butter than necessary kind of food. Not my thang. So I used sweet potatoes that I had on hand, grated them (by hand because that attachment scares me on my food processor) and made my own hashbrowns.
2. 1 lb. of bacon. Ok, I love me some bacon just as much as the rest of the world but 1lb. on a pizza?! A pizza that already has frozen hashbrowns, a ton of peppers, cheese and what was supposed to be 8 eggs? I just found that a bit excessive. I think you can see from the pictures the pizza does not look skimpy on the bacon. That was using 5 slices. Less than half a pound. Ree could maybe use a lesson in moderation?
3. 8 eggs. I have nothing against eggs. Love ’em, eat them multiple times a week yolks and all, but had I tried to crack 8 on here you wouldn’t have been able to see the actual pizza. Also, this ended up serving 2 of us for dinner. We probably ate a bit more than a serving size each so maybe it could’ve served 3 if we weren’t such animals, but not 8 like stated. 8 eggs for 2 people would’ve also been a bit much.
Consider that stuff the “bad”.
The good was plentiful too though.
1. The colors. They say you should eat a rainbow. This is a rainbow that I can sure as heck enjoy eating. Pretty food tastes better. Fact.
2. Drippy eggs rock, especially on pizza.
3. Depth of flavor. While the meat on the carnitas pizza last week made me swoon with it’s pineapple juiciness, that was pretty much the best part of that pizza. This one had so many flavors going on that you tasted something different with each bite. From the gooey mozzarella to the sweet potatoes to the sweet peppers (sauteed in bacon grease ;)) to the crispy, salty bacon and finally the freshness of cilantro. There was a lot going on on top of this pizza and my mouth was happy enjoying it with every bite.
4. The crust. I have to retract my previous statement saying the pizza dough came out weird because I used the same exact recipe (in the book as well) this time and it came out perfectly. It must have been my (expired) yeast last time. I’m also now blaming that on the patheticness of my crust rolling skills.
As you can probably see from that picture, I found it really hard to get the crust crispy in the middle. No fault of the crust, there was just a ton of stuff on top of it. It didn’t really bother me, but a fork was definitely needed to eat parts of it.
All in all, another delicious choice (with a few modifications).
Oh and just one more….
Ok, I’m done.
Go check out these lovely ladies’ posts for more drool worthy pictures.
Megan – Wanna Be a Country Cleaver
And check out Rachel’s post for the recipe!
Other posts in the PW Wednesday series:
Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.
That is a beautiful pizza! Love the colors – your pictures are awesome! And I really love that you healthed it up a little :D
Okay, seriously… your photos are STUNNING! And I agree about the recipe being way to heavy on the toppings!!! I cut mine way back also!
Thanks, Tina :) It was waaay too heavy on the toppings. All delicious ones but just TOO much!
I love your changes–sweet potatoes sound awesome! Less bacon & eggs, even better! Sometimes the key to a recipe is subtelty.. but to people that don’t cook a lot, they absolutely have to be absolutely wowed and stunned with 1 pound of bacon. Not us!
My husband would just go nuts for this breakfast pizza! Yours looks perfect, Gina!
The pics are gorgeous and YES this is the kind of food that loves the camera. When I made mango basil tortilla pizzas last month, even with dinner hour lighting, I still got tons of great images. They didnt even look as good on the blog as I wished they had but there is something about pizza colors that can just be so gorgeous. Yours is definitely gorg!
And yes, a pound of bacon and 8 eggs, nothing like a little “light” cooking :)
I like all the modifications that you made. Hash browns are definitely not my thing either… Why buy something gross and full of unknown oils/chemicals when it can be made at home easy? Also, the bacon, yes a pound is definitely a bit much. We go through a pound of bacon for many, many meals. Thank you for the talk on moderation here. P.S. Your pictures are so gorgeous… Those eggs on top of the pizza look so ooey gooey. I’ve only had eggs on pizza once before, it was quail eggs and I was sold.
Gina, you are right.. these pictures ARE pretty. So glad you posted a lot of them. I’m kinda sorta drooling at my desk and I already ate breakfast. Grr. Must make this weekend or sometime VERY soon. My bf would love this too.
I just had my first egg-on-pizza experience on Friday. I cracked an egg right in the middle of my pizza and put it on the grill to cook. But it took forEVER for that egg to cook- everything else was ready and it was still raw. I had to blast the heat over it, but then it became a little over done. My hubby said “next time just cook the egg in a pan and put it on top after.” But there’s got to be a secret to get it to cook evenly…
I’ve never done the pizza on the grill thing. It scares me! haha I wonder if it’s because the grill wasn’t hot enough or was just too unstable of a temperature? Eggs can definitely be finicky in the oven but these actually cooked up fine at 475 degrees but that’s not always the case. Broiling on high for the last minute or two always works well ;)
That looks AMAZING and your pictures are great! :)
This was my favorite recipe so far. I was bummed the middle wasn’t as crispy as the edges – buty our’e right, it’s all because this thing was piled so damn high with awesome. Yes, I said “awesome”. But it was. Oh happy day!!
And that substitution of the sweet potatoes, absolute genius.
I can’t stand using the frozen food aisle for anything other than frozen veggies and ice cream either… high five.