Founder's Pale Ale Pizza

Beer and pizza have to be one of the most popular food combinations in the world. Can you even begin to imagine how much pizza and beer is consumed every Friday night somewhere in the world, or any night for that matter? At our house, homemade pizza night is quickly becoming a weekly occurrence. It’s infinitely flexible, incredibly cheap, fun to make, and, well..delicious. So, that got me thinking… Why not put beer into the pizza? That way you can make breakfast pizzas and get a sneaky one in without anyone being the wiser. Just kidding!

This recipe proves that pizza can be so much more than just an evening meal. With a little inspiration from a recent trip to one of our favorite local restaurants, I’ve gone for the breakfast pizza option below. It’s basically a posh version of bacon and eggs.

Here are the ingredients you will need to make four 12-inch pizzas:

1 cup warm (110 degrees to 120 degrees) Founder's Pale Ale

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons coarse salt

1 1/2 ounces fresh yeast

2 3/4 to 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

TOPPINGS

Prosciutto

Eggs

Bocconcini (bite sized pieces of mozzarella)

Arugula

Olive oil

Sea salt and pepper

1) Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

2) Place your bottle of beer in a jug of hot tap water for a few minutes; you want to get the beer to a warm temperature to activate the yeast.

3) In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk to combine beer, 2 tablespoons olive oil, sugar, salt, and yeast. Fit bowl on electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix until incorporated, 1 to 2 minutes. Slowly add flour, and mix until dough is fairly stiff, about 10 minutes.

4) On a lightly floured work surface, knead dough until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Brush the inside of a large bowl with remaining tablespoon olive oil; transfer dough to bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, and leave in a warm place until dough has doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

5) Punch down dough, and transfer to a clean surface. Using a bench scraper or sharp knife, divide dough into quarters, roll the quarters into balls, and keep covered with plastic wrap. When ready to use, roll out to the desired diameter on a floured surface.

6) Place the pizza bases on lightly oiled trays or pizza stones. Because I’m using raw eggs it’s a good idea to crimp around the edges to make a little barrier so the egg does not dribble off the side.

7) Brush bases with olive oil, then add the rest of your topping except for the arugula. The arugula goes on after the pizza is cooked otherwise it wilts and looses its crunch.

8) Bake in oven until crisp and golden. It should take around 10-12 minutes. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, and arugula and serve immediately.

The beer adds a great yeasty taste to this hearty crust recipe. Try it with any of your favorite toppings and I guarantee you will not be disappointed!