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Breakfast: Eggs Benedict Pizza

Source of Recipe

Published in Pizza News, May 2001, the newsletter of Pizzatherapy.com


Recipe Introduction

One of my favorite breakfast dishes is Eggs Benedict, probably due to the richness of the Hollandaise sauce. I made Eggs Benedict Pizza for a breakfast buffet I hosted for friends, and it was an instant hit! Historically in 1894, Lemuel Benedict, a Wall Street broker, hoping to soothe the effects of a night's carousing (his hangover), ordered "some buttered toast, crisp bacon, two poached eggs, and a hooker of hollandaise sauce" at the Waldorf Hotel. The Waldorf chef, Oscar Tschirky, was so impressed that he put the dish on his breakfast and luncheon menus and named it "Eggs Benedict." Chef Oscar's traditional way of preparing eggs Benedict substituted ham for bacon and a toasted English muffin for toasted bread. Eggs Benedict is famous today due to the combination of Lemuel's order, Oscar Tschirky's promotion, and the old Waldorf restaurant's popularity and prestige. The Food TV Channel has a recipe for Traditional Eggs Benedict. There is also a website devoted to Eggs Benedict with lots of recipe variations. The Eggs Benedict Pizza can also be a vegetarian pizza by eliminating the Canadian-style bacon and substituting grilled tomato slices or wilted spinach.

List of Ingredients

3 egg yolks
1 tablespoon hot water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 stick butter, melted and hot
Salt and pepper
1 13" uncooked dough crust *
5 slices Canadian-style bacon, diced
4 eggs, beaten and seasoned with salt and pepper
6 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese



Recipe

For Hollandaise sauce, put yolks, water, and lemon juice into blender and blend for 1 minute. With blender running, pour hot butter through open hole of lid. (This makes enough sauce for a second pizza or spoon extra over pizza slices.) Season with salt and pepper. Top dough crust with Hollandaise sauce, Canadian-style bacon, and cheese. Pour the beaten eggs over the cheese. (Since the raw eggs tend to run a little with movement, you may want to use a pizza screen vs. sliding the raw pizza off a pizza peel.) Bake in preheated 500°F oven on pizza stone for 8-10 minutes or until crust is golden brown and eggs are cooked. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack for 2-3 minutes before cutting into wedges and serving.

* Sponge Dough

Ingredients:
1 tsp. active dry yeast
3 cups bread flour
1 1/4 cups lukewarm water (105 to 115° F)
1 1/2 tsp. honey
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. olive oil
Crisco (for greasing pans)

Preparation:
Prepare dough sponge and proof yeast by mixing yeast, 1/2 cup flour, and 1/2 cup water with 1/2 tsp. honey dissolved in the water in a bowl and letting stand for 20 minutes until mixture is foamy. (Throw out and start over with fresher yeast if not foamy.)
Mix 1/2 of remaining flour with salt, remaining water with remaining honey dissolved in it, olive oil, and dough sponge. Mix in remaining flour (dough should be slightly sticky and not dry). Knead 15 minutes on a floured surface (10 minutes in a machine) until smooth. Use following Rise Method I or II:

Rise Method I (normal): Place dough in lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled (about 1 to 1 1/2 hours) in a warm place. Punch dough down and divide in half. Dust dough portions with flour and put in ziploc bags in the freezer for 30 minutes (stops rising) and then move to refrigerator until ready to use.

Rise Method II (refrigerator): Divide dough in half. Dust dough portions with flour and put in ziploc bags in the refrigerator for two days.

Remove dough portion from refrigerator when ready to shape into crust. Punch down dough thoroughly and spread/stretch dough portion by hand and roller on a greased pizza pan. Move dough crust to pizza peel spread with coarse cornmeal or to pizza screen. Add sauce, cheese, and toppings and bake in preheated 500° F oven directly on the pizza stone for 8-10 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Cool 2-3 minutes on a wire rack before cutting and serving.

This recipe makes 2 13" crusts.