Egg, Onion, and Canadian Bacon Brunch Pizza

The beauty of brunch pizzas is that they’re as versatile and interesting as brunch itself. From French toast to chicken and waffles, if you’ve seen it on an early morning diner menu, we’ve tried it on a pizza. For this particular ode to breakfast, Canadian bacon, cipollini onions and Gruyère top a pizza with an egg cracked in the center and cooked just right: firm whites and a delightfully runny yolk.

When dreaming up a pie that could serve as either a weekend treat or a special event showstopper — Mother's Day, for example — we wanted something both rich and delicate in flavor. The dairy components we chose are decadent, yet interesting and balanced: a base of tangy crème fraîche, sharp Gruyère, and mild mozzarella. And we didn’t skimp on the alliums.  Oven-roasted cipollini onions (small, white Italian onions ideal for caramelization) provide sweetness, and a post-bake sprinkling of chives add hints of herbal flavor. 

Cooking an egg on pizza can present some challenges. As pizza maker Anthony Falco wrote in his book Pizza Czar, toppings can pierce the yolk, the egg can slide out of place while transporting the pie to the oven, and launching can result in the egg racing right off and onto the oven floor. So if you’ve never topped a pizza with egg before and you’re making this for someone special, you may want to try it at least once, following our tips, before you serve it up for real.

To make this pizza successfully every time, we create a well of cheese in the center of the pizza and crack our egg directly into it. From there, we carefully launch the pizza into the oven. If our egg whites aren’t cooking as quickly as the pizza, we use a fork to gently spread them out and help them firm up in time to finish with the other toppings and crust. The result is that the lower third of each slice gets a drip of yolky sunshine.  A few other pro tips: Poached egg added post bake or a well-distributed smattering of quail eggs would also work well here. 

Time
1 hour 

Yield 
4 x 12-inch pizzas

Equipment 
Ooni pizza oven
Ooni Infrared Thermometer
Ooni Pizza Cutter Wheel
Ooni Pizza Dough Scraper
microplane or cheese grater 

Method
This recipe would suit a variety of pizza styles, but we think our classic pizza dough would be a great fit. Make sure to prepare your dough ahead of time to ensure it rises at room temperature before firing up your oven.

For the roasted cipollini onions: Preheat either your conventional oven or your Ooni oven to 550°F (290°C). Peel the onions, toss in olive oil and salt, and place on a baking sheet. Roast in your oven until softened and slightly charred, about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally to ensure even browning.

For the pizza: Fire up your oven, aiming for 850°F to 950°F (450°C to 500°C) on the baking stone inside. Use an infrared thermometer to quickly and accurately check the temperature of the stone.

Place a dough ball on your lightly floured work surface. Push the air from the center out to the edge using your fingers. Stretch the dough out to a 12-inch-round base, then lay the stretched dough over a lightly floured pizza peel. 

Using a spoon and circling out from the center, spread ¼ of the  crème fraîche onto the dough. 

Top it with a quarter of yours Gruyère, torn fresh mozzarella, and roasted onions, taking care to leave an egg-sized gap in the center of the pizza. 

Tear a quarter of the Canadian bacon into small pieces and evenly distribute them. 

Using a microplane, grate approximately 50 grams of Parmesan cheese onto the pizza. 

If needed, make a little well in the center of the pizza, moving any toppings slightly aside to create a  barrier that will keep the egg in place. Once satisfied with your well, crack an egg into the center of the pizza, then slide the pizza off the peel and into the oven. 

Cook for 60 to 90 seconds, turning the pizza regularly to ensure an even bake. Keep an eye on the whites of the egg. 

(Pro tip: If you find that the egg whites still look raw when the dough is almost done cooking, quickly retrieve the pizza using your peel and use a fork to spread out the whites and help them cook faster.) 

When the whites of the egg are cooked and the yolk is still runny, remove from the oven, top with the chives, slice, and enjoy.