breakfast pizza

Yesterday morning, I put some pizza dough in a bowl, covered it with cling film and let it go about it's yeasty business. By nightfall, the dough had risen and was at it's peak, however, due to unforeseen circumstances, my plans to make a pizza dinner that night fell through. So when I woke up this morning, I looked into the bowl of risen dough and found my inspiration. Breakfast pizza! Everyone likes a slice of re-heated pizza in the morning once in a while, so why not go the extra distance and create one from scratch with a breakfast twist.

So I oiled up my cookie sheet, making sure my hands got nice and olive oily in the process and set to work stretching the dough to all four corners of the pan. If I was a bit more practised in the art of taming the sticky dough, I most certainly would have tried to create a bit more of a raised edge. A little bit more olive oil on top for a nice glisteny finish, some cut up scallions and sundried tomatoes were scattered about the top of the dough. Then I threw on some fresh basil leaves and fresh spinach and popped the whole thing into the oven for about 5 minues to get the dough a bit crusty and the toppings wilty. Meanwhile, I took 3 eggs and beat them in a small bowl, seasoning them well with kosher salt and pepper. I also sliced some leftover smoked Mennonite farmer's sausage into disks. Out of the oven came the pizza and I immediately laid out the sausage into a pleasing pattern right on top. Then I slowly pored the beaten eggs over top. You can imagine why I wish I was more skilled in the art of spreading out the pizza dough....as a raised edge works wonders for keeping the runny eggy goodness on the dough and off of the cookie sheet. Oh well. I popped the pizza back in the oven for a couple of minutes and then went back in to scrape off the slightly firmed up egg off the sheet and back onto the pizza. I then covered the whole thing with some grated Cheddar cheese and put the whole shebang back into the hot oven. When the cheese became nice and melty and bubbly, the breakfast pizza was ready.

And oh, what a breakfast it was! Savory and rich and melty and crisp. It was the most perfect breakfast for a rainy Saturday morning and I can't wait to try a new breakfast pizza variation soon. With a breakfast like this to look forward to, there is no need to sleep in.