Pizza is an Always Food: Breakfast Pizzas

Photo by Jo for Jo Cooks

A good friend and I have a joke about our love for pizza. After hearing that Cookie Monster on Sesame Street would begin singing a song titled, "Cookies are a Sometimes Food" (to encourage kids to eat healthy food instead of just sweets, obviously), we joked that no matter what, "Pizza is an always food!" I didn't realize how true our statement was until I started seeing the breakfast pizza trend popping up. Usually, the only time I've eaten pizza in the a.m. is when I'm heating up some leftover slices on a lazy morning. But as people experiment more and more with the classic pie, they're finding that cracking an egg and laying some bacon on their pizzas is a great way to start the day. (Then again, bacon is good on everything…) If you'd like to get started with your own breakfast pizzas, here are a few tips and ideas from around the blogosphere!

The first thing I noticed is that though the toppings may vary slightly from recipe to recipe, there is almost always bacon, eggs, and cheese. Breakfast pizza toppings can be those that we consider traditional pizza toppings, they can be the ingredients you might think of when you're preparing an omelette, and they can be a mashup of the two. At Jo Cooks, Jo starts off with a layer of mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses, followed by diced tomatoes, small bacon bits, and eggs, with a sprinkle of chives and parsley.

Photo by Adrianna at A Cozy Kitchen

Adrianna over at A Cozy Kitchen is totally on our wavelength with grilled breakfast pizza. Grilling pizza isn't as easy as just using an oven, but it's worth it! Adrianna wisely points out that "you want to put the toppings on when the dough is [already] on the grill," and that if you're not using a stone, the pizza should be cooked over indirect heat. Adrianna also starts her breakfast pizza by putting her eggs directly onto the dough, then following with her cheese and bacon.

Pizza from Zero Zero, photo by Eva Frye for 7x7 Magazine

Local magazine 7x7 also takes on the trend by reviewing breakfast pizzas available at restaurants in San Francisco. Writer Eva Frye checks out pies from Zero Zero, Gioia, Rose's Cafe, Starbelly, Delarosa, and Casey's. The most adventurous is Zero Zero's pizza with "market squash, squash blossoms, oregano, garlic, goat cheese, house-pulled mozzarella, Grana Padano, and topped with the softest sous-vide egg imaginable." Definitely a pizza worth getting out of bed for!

Photo by Round for Getty

If you're not in the Bay Area, you can still get an early-bird pizza from Domino's. According to the NY Daily News, the major chain is testing breakfast pizzas in the Dayton, OH (the only location in the US open 24 hours) area with an eye toward expanding to their other franchises.

Their basic breakfast pizza features cheese and eggs, with ham, onions, and sausage available for a more hearty pie. With all these delicious pizzas available for breakfast, even the most snooze-button dependent of us can transform into a morning person! The only thing left is to create a sweet breakfast pizza to accompany our coffee...