Weekend Recipe: Breakfast Pizza

Breakfast Pizza is an easy, unexpected crowd favorite for a Sunday brunch, but it comes with a challenge: achieving a crisp, golden-brown crust without overcooking the eggs. To get there, America's Test Kitchen presses room-temperature dough into a lightly oiled sheet pan and parbake it for 5 minutes to give the crust a head start before we add the toppings. The remaining minutes in the oven cook the eggs just right, with golden, just-set yolks. The surprising addition of cottage cheese tethers all the ingredients together with a silky creaminess.

Breakfast Pizza

Serves 6

Small-curd cottage cheese is sometimes labeled “country-style.” Room-temperature dough is much easier to shape than cold, so pull the dough from the fridge about 1 hour before you start cooking.

INGREDIENTS

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling

6 slices bacon

8 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded (2 cups)

1 ounce Parmesan cheese, grated (1/2 cup)

4 ounces (1/2 cup) small-curd cottage cheese

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

Salt and pepper

Pinch cayenne pepper

1 pound store-bought pizza dough, room temperature

6 large eggs

2 scallions, sliced thin

2 tablespoons minced fresh chives

INSTRUCTIONS

Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 500 degrees. 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.

Press and roll dough into 15 by 11-inch rectangle on lightly floured counter, 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 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 11 to 12 minutes for soft-cooked yolks, rotating sheet halfway through baking.

Transfer pizza to wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Transfer pizza to cutting board. Sprinkle with scallions and chives and drizzle with extra oil. Slice and serve.

BUILDING A BREAKFAST PIZZA

For a crisp crust, we parbake the dough for 5 minutes, until the bottom is just beginning to brown. We then add the toppings, creating wells to keep the eggs in place.

Drop the eggs into the wells, one at a time.