A crowd pleaser

Breakfast pizza makes an ideal dish for a brunch crowd

Although it sounds like a bad Saturday morning commercial (Pizza?! For breakfast?!!), it turns out breakfast pizza is just a creative version of the classic breadeggs-cheese-meat combo.

It makes an ideal dish for a brunch crowd and isn’t difficult if you start with store-bought pizza dough. Our challenge was getting a crisp crust without overcooking the eggs. To get there, we pressed room-temperature dough into a lightly oiled baking sheet and parbaked it for 5 minutes to give the crust a head start before we added the toppings. The remaining minutes in the oven cooked the eggs just right.

The surprising addition of cottage cheese tethered all the ingredients together with a silky creaminess. Room-temperature dough is much easier to shape than cold, so pull the dough from the fridge about 1 hour before you start cooking.

INSTRUCTIONS

Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 500 F. Grease rimmed baking sheet with 1 tablespoon oil.

Cook bacon in 12-inch skillet over medium heat until crisp, 7 to 9 minutes. Transfer to paper towel-lined plate; when cool enough to handle, crumble bacon. Combine mozzarella and Parmesan in bowl; set aside. Combine cottage cheese, oregano, 1⁄4 teaspoon pepper, cayenne, and 1 tablespoon oil in separate bowl; set aside.

Sprinkle counter lightly with flour. Roll dough into 15-by11-inch rectangle with rolling pin, pulling on corners to help make distinct rectangle. Transfer dough to prepared sheet and press to edges of sheet. Brush edges of dough with remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Bake dough until top appears dry and bottom is just beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Remove crust from oven and, using spatula, press down on any air bubbles. Spread cottage cheese mixture evenly over top, leaving 1-inch border around edges. Sprinkle bacon evenly over cottage cheese mixture. Sprinkle mozzarella mixture evenly over pizza, leaving 1⁄2-inch border. Create 2 rows of 3 evenly spaced small wells in cheese, each about 3 inches in diameter (6 wells total). Crack 1 egg into each well, then season each egg with salt and pepper.

Return pizza to oven and bake until crust is light golden around edges and eggs are just set, 9 to 10 minutes for slightly runny yolks or drizzle with extra oil. Slice and serve.

VARIATION