We have talked about scrambled eggs for dinner; now we're going to talk about pizza for breakfast. And no, this is not cold pizza from the fridge on a Saturday morning. Hot and crispy homemade pizza, with handfuls of herbs and scoops of soft ricotta cheese, topped with an oozing egg — this is a breakfast in its own right.

Saturday morning we were crunched for time but we needed to put a hot breakfast on the table; it was a long day and fruit and toast wouldn't do. We had made homemade pizza the night before, so we saved a couple balls of dough in the fridge and brought it up to room temp in the morning.

We shook it out thin, slathered it with ricotta cheese and fresh herbs from the garden. The first pizza had basil and a little leftover tomato sauce, plus some green olives and plenty of Parmesan. We cracked three eggs on top and baked. Delicious! The yolk spilled out golden goodness all over the other toppings.

The second pizza was simpler; we rubbed the dough with ricotta and a little good olive oil, then chopped basil, thyme, sage, rosemary and parsley and sprinkled it on. We baked this for several minutes, then added the eggs. Two more eggs, with salt and pepper, baked just until golden runny.

We cut it into big pieces, folded them over like egg sandwiches and ate it hot with coffee.

So good! The advantages to this breakfast are that most of it can be made ahead. Have guests? Just set out the pizza dough and toppings in the morning, then pop into the oven for five minutes. These are so thin that they don't take long to cook at all.

One more idea: Substitute tiny quail eggs for the larger chicken eggs.

Breakfast Pizza
serves as many as you'd like

1 recipe either slow rise pizza dough or thin crust pizza dough
Red or white pizza sauce - recipes here
1 16-ounce tub whole milk ricotta
Several handfuls of fresh herbs
2-3 eggs per pizza
Salt and pepper
Any other toppings you would like

Make the dough and separate into individual balls. Mist with spray oil, cover, and leave overnight. If you're going to cook it the next morning there is no need to refrigerate.

Heat the oven as high as it will go - hopefully at least 550°. Shake out each ball of dough and lay it on a sheet of parchment. Top with everything except the eggs. Put in the oven for 4-5 minutes or until it just begins to brown. Crack the eggs into a cup and slip them onto the pizza. Shake on a little salt and pepper and put back into the oven for another 5 minutes or until the yolk is just set and golden.

Let cool for five minutes then eat!

Related: Over Easy: Egg on Pizza

Originally published May 13, 2008.

(Images: Faith Hopler)