Breakfast Pizza with Tomato or Mushrooms, Mozzarella & Egg

A few weeks ago I attended a pizza making masterclass where I learnt how to make pizza with chef Francesco Mazzei. The dough I made during the class, I took it home to rise. A few days later, I was at home about to cook some eggs for lunch when I realised I didn’t have any bread at home, but I had pizza dough in the fridge. So I decided to bake the pizza and top it with a fried egg. I made breakfast pizza! It’s a fun recipe idea, easy to make and to adapt to whatever ingredients you have in the fridge.

I always keep eggs in my fridge. They are healthy and versatile and my favourite food to eat for lunch when I work from home. When I buy eggs from a supermarket, I look for British Lion Eggs. The British Egg scheme ensures the highest standards of food safety and animal welfare. 90% of all UK producers are part of the scheme and their eggs are easily recognizable by the British Lion Quality stamp.

I love pizza of course, but I admit I like to keep it simple when it comes to toppings. For example, I never liked a Capricciosa pizza, which comes with a boiled egg on top. But a sunny side up egg? Now we are talking!

A fried egg works so well on pizza, because the yolk is still liquid, so when you cut a slice, the dough soaks up the runny yolk and all the topping combine into a perfect, yummy mouthful.

Last week I made breakfast pizza again, dividing the dough into 4 small portions and using different toppings: mozzarella, mushrooms and egg on two pizzas; tomato sauce, cherry tomatoes, mozzarella and egg on the other two.

Even though I personally like to stick to classic pizza flavours, there aren’t really any rules when it comes to toppings. Choose your favourite ingredients or follow the breakfast theme fully: you can mix spinach and salmon, sausage and bacon, tomatoes and beans.

Remember, making great pizza at home is not impossible, even if you are not a professional pizzaiolo! All you need to make a delicious classic Italian margherita pizza are: a great recipe, high quality fresh ingredients, time and a good oven!

My only recommendation is to cook the toppings separately (not directly on the pizza in the oven). The prep is a little bit longer this way, but vegetables or meat are tastier when cooked in a frying pan (rather than baked in the oven).

The idea of making breakfast pizza is inspired by Izy Hossack’s The Savvy Cook, a new cookbook with over 150 vegetarian recipes that are easy, flexible and interesting. In the book, pizza is considered as a ‘template’, ie. a base, to then make many different dishes. The cookbook is full of tips on how to swap ingredients between recipes, helping you to use up leftover ingredients and limit food waste.

I have used my own recipe for the dough in this post, but if you want to try Izy’s pizza recipe, you will find it in the ‘Clear the Fridge’ chapter of her book. Once you have made the pizza base, you can add all the toppings you like. Then simply put an egg on it and your breakfast pizza is ready!

Ingredients

Serves 4 people.

For the dough

• 250g white bread flour
• 250g white spelt flour
• 250g warm water
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 5-10g salt
• 7g dry yeast

Toppings

• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• 250-300g fresh mozzarella, sliced in small pieces
• 250g chestnut mushrooms, cooked
• 100g cherry tomatoes
• 4 British Lion Eggs
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper
• fresh basil leaves

Preparation

Prepare the pizza dough using this recipe. Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover it with cling film. Leave it in a warm room for at least 8 hours or until it has doubled in size.

Pre-heat the oven to 230°C. Divide the dough in 4 balls.

Flatten and stretch the dough balls using your hands or a rolling pin.

Place the 4 pizza bases on an oiled oven tray (avoid using baking paper – like I did – when using the grill in the last stage of the recipe).

1. Mozzarella, Mushrooms, Egg Pizza: drizzle the pizza with extra virgin olive oil, then bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
2. Tomato Passata, Cherry Tomatoes, Mozzarella, Egg Pizza: spread the tomato sauce over the pizza, leaving a 1-cm border of dough all around.

Bake the pizza base in the oven for 8-10 minutes, until it’s slightly browned and nearly cooked.

Take the pizza out of the oven. Switch on the oven grill to the maximum setting.

1. spread the pizza base with chopped mozzarella and sautéed mushrooms.
2. spread the pizza base with chopped mozzarella and cherry tomatoes.

Carefully break one egg over each pizza. Season with salt and pepper. Place under the oven grill and cook for approximately 3 minutes.

Remove from the oven, add fresh basil leaves and serve straight away.

Disclaimer: post written in collaboration with British Lion Eggs. All opinions are my own.

Find more delicious egg recipes here: Huevos Rancheros; Menemen Turkish Eggs.