A few weeks ago I made these breakfast pizza pockets. It all feels like a different time and place now, but I’m hoping that this recipe can be a form of sustenance and a break from the constant shit spiral of depressing news these days.

My breakfast pizza pockets use simple pantry ingredients, stuffed with scrambled eggs, cheese, and a sausage and veggie gravy made with kale, bell peppers and mushrooms. While you may not have this particular set of ingredients on hand at the moment, substitutions can be made quite easily to fit what you currently have in your pantry. The vegetables can be swapped out for whatever you have or needs to be used up, and the sausage can be replaced with bacon, or leave it out all together to make a vegetarian version. If you go the vegetarian route, be sure to replace the pork fat with butter or oil when you cook the vegetables. It’s highly adaptable, as we all must be right now, and equally as resourceful. Only half the pizza dough is used to make these breakfast pizza pockets, so the dough will stretch to make a few meals.

I hope you enjoy my weekly offering of art and food, may it be everything you need it to be in this moment.

Breakfast Pizza Pockets

Ingredients:

Pizza Dough

1 C warm water

1 tsp honey

1 packet active dry yeast

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 1/2 tsp + 1 Tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 C 00 flour (*substitute with all purpose if you don’t have this on hand)

1 1/2 C all purpose flour

Sausage and Veggie Gravy

1 lb sage pork sausage, casings removed

2 C cremini mushrooms, sliced

1 C bell pepper, diced

1 bunch kale, stems removed and chopped

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

pepper

2 Tbsp all purpose flour

2/3 C half & half

1 C milk

Scrambled Eggs

6 eggs

1/4 C water

2 Tbsp unsalted butter

kosher salt

pepper

Breakfast Pizza Pockets

1/2 batch pizza dough

sausage and veggie gravy

scrambled eggs

1/3 C shredded mozzarella cheese

1 Tbsp olive oil

Maldon sea salt

Make the pizza dough. In a large mixing bowl, or bowl of a stand mixer, combine warm water and honey. Stir until the honey has completely dissolved. Add yeast and stir gently. Let the yeast sit for 5-10 minutes, or until it has become alive and foamy. In a small bowl, combine the double zero and all purpose flours. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil, salt, and half of the flour mixture to the yeast, stirring to combine. Next, add all but 1/2 cup of the remaining flour mixture and mix well with your hands or the dough hook attachment of a stand mixture. If making the dough by hand, transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface for kneading. Knead dough for 5-7 minutes, slowly adding in the remaining 1/2 cup of flour until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. The dough should not be sticky or wet. Coat a large bowl with remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Transfer dough to bowl, coat with oil, and cover lightly with cling wrap. Place bowl in a warm spot and let the dough rise until it has doubled in size.

While the pizza dough is rising, make the sausage and veggie gravy. In a large frying pan, brown sausage over medium-medium high heat. Once the sausage has browned, remove it from the pan with a slotted spoon to drain on a paper towel lined bowl or plate. Drain all but 2-3 Tbsp of the pork fat, and add the mushrooms, bell peppers, and kale to the pan. Season the vegetables with salt and garlic powder, and cook until the bell peppers are soft, the kale is wilted, and the mushrooms begin to brown. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables, stir to coat, and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add the half and half and milk, stirring to combine. Season to taste with salt and lots of fresh cracked black pepper. Return the sausage to the pan, and cook over medium heat until the mixture starts to bubble and thicken. Remove from heat and let cool completely.

While the gravy mixture is cooling, make the scrambled eggs. In large bowl, whisk together the eggs and water. Melt the butter in a large nonstick frying pan over medium low heat, and add the eggs to the pan. Season with a large pinch of salt and pepper. Gently scrape a spatula along the bottom of the pan, dragging the eggs as they gently cook. This will create large curds as you scrape. Cook until the eggs are almost set and remove from the heat. Set aside until you are ready to assemble the breakfast pizza pockets.

Once the pizza dough has doubled, punch down the dough and divide in half. Put one half of the dough away for another use, and cut the remaining half into 6 equal portions. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion of dough into a 5” diameter circle. Place a few spoonfuls of the sausage and veggie gravy over half of the dough, leaving a 1/2” border around the edge. Next, layer on scrambled eggs, and some mozzarella cheese.

Gently lift the side of the dough without any filling over to the other side of the dough, making a half moon shape. Seal the dough by pressing the edges together firmly, and crimping the corners together. If you’re feeling fancy, you can do a folded braid around the edge. The main thing is to make sure to seal the edges really well so that the filling doesn’t ooze out while baking. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.

Transfer breakfast pizza pockets to a lightly oiled sheet pan. Brush the tops with olive oil and sprinkle with flaky sea salt. Bake in a 500 degree oven for 12-15 minutes, until the dough begins to brown on top.