Waffle Pizzas

One night when I couldn’t fall asleep, I decided to read the latest copy of Food Network’s magazine on the iPad. As I electronically flipped through the pages, a tiny little picture caught my eye. It was a waffle. But also smothered in tomato sauce and cheese. Brilliance! I thought.

I admit, I could eat pizza almost every day. If I didn’t think about calories, health factors, etc. Even if I did think about those things, I could probably convince myself that one slice (which often turns into 2+) wouldn’t be too deadly… and would at least be the makings of a delicious death.

Drama aside… I like pizza. I enjoy waffles. Not just sweet waffles, but savory ones as well. I thought about my yeast-laden overnight waffle recipe and how I could incorporate them into some kind of pizza-style crust. The result was amazing. I wasn’t sure if the kids would think “waffle pizza” was a synonym for “disgusting” or a fun idea. Turned out to be the latter… Luckily, as these pizzas were also very tasty.

Your choice of toppings is vast. Do whatever the hell you want! Well. At least that’s how we tend to run “make your own pizza night” at our house. Because of the yeast in the waffle batter, these take a little bit of time to make (most of which is time allowing the batter to rest and rise). The waffles are light, crisp, and hold up nicely to their toppings.

Pizza Waffles

For the waffle batter

Ingredients:

2 cups milk (whole, 2%, whatever you’ve got)
2¼ tsp. active dry yeast
½ cup water (warmed to approx. 110ºF)
½ cup butter, melted
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp. granulated garlic
½ tsp. dried oregano
½ tsp. dried basil
¼ tsp. onion powder

Reserved for later:
2 eggs
½ tsp. baking soda

Directions:

Combine the yeast, warm water, and sugar in a bowl. Set aside, allowing the yeast to proof until bubbly (about 10 minutes).

Meanwhile, warm the milk (careful not to boil), then set aside until it reaches room temperature.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, garlic, oregano, basil, onion, and salt. Mix thoroughly. Stir in the melted butter, milk, and yeast mixture. Stir until all the ingredients are well incorporated. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit at room temperature at least 3 hours, up to overnight. After sitting for a few hours, the batter should look something like this:

Making the Pizzas

Prepare your toppings. (We ended up using grated mozzarella/cheddar/feta/parmesan cheese, marinara sauce, pesto sauce, dried/fresh herbs, artichoke hearts, thinly sliced zucchini, olives, pepperoncini, fresh tomatoes, jalapenos, and pineapple chunks.)

Preheat your oven to 475ºF. Also preheat a waffle iron according to the manufacturer’s directions.

Stir the reserved 2 eggs and baking soda into your waffle batter. Mix thoroughly then set aside until ready to be used.

When the waffle iron is ready, add enough batter for a full-sized waffle.

When lightly browned and crisp, the waffle is ready for your pizza toppings. You can cook all of the batter up before adding toppings to any of them.

Generously top each waffle with sauce, cheese, and whatever else you’d like. Bake on an ungreased baking pan for about 5-7 minutes, until the cheese is nicely melted.

Enjoy!

The Mister’s creation

12½-year-old V’s creation

Note: The number of waffles this recipe yields depends on the size and shape of your waffle iron. We ended up with 6- 7 ” round waffles.