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, bacon, cipollini onions and Gruyère top a pizza with an egg cracked in the centre 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 flavour. 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 caramelisation) provide sweetness, and a post-bake sprinkling of chives add hints of herbal flavour.

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.

Difficulty

Servings

4 x 12-inch pizzas

Prep Time

1 hour

By Ooni HQ

A wooden pizza peel with a pizza topped with cheese, egg and bacon

Note

Poached egg added post bake or a well-distributed smattering of quail eggs would also work well here.

1. This recipe would suit a variety of pizza styles, but we think our classic pizza dough would be a great fit.

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.

Full ingredients layed out for Egg, Onion, and Canadian Bacon Brunch Pizza

For the roasted cipollini onions

1. Preheat either your conventional oven or your Ooni oven to 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

1. Fire up your oven, aiming for 450°C to 500°C on the baking stone inside.

Use an infrared thermometer to quickly and accurately check the temperature of the stone.

2. 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. 


Preparing the dough for Egg, Onion, and Canadian Bacon Brunch Pizza

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

Adding the creme fraiche to the dough base for Egg, Onion, and Canadian Bacon Brunch Pizza

4. 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.

Topping the pizza with the mozzarella cheese, onions for Egg, Onion, and Canadian Bacon Brunch Pizza

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

Adding the bacon to the pizza for Egg, Onion, and Canadian Bacon Brunch Pizza

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

Grating the parmesan cheese onto the pizzza for Egg, Onion, and Canadian Bacon Brunch Pizza

7. 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.

Launching the pizza from the peel into the oven for Egg, Onion, and Canadian Bacon Brunch Pizza

8. 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.)

Retreving the cooked pizza from the oven for Egg, Onion, and Canadian Bacon Brunch Pizza

9. 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.

Topping cooked pizza with chives onto Egg, Onion, and Canadian Bacon Brunch Pizza

Ooni HQ

From wood-fired flavour to gas-powered consistency to electrified convenience, you can use Ooni's portable pizza ovens in the kitchen, backyard or beyond.
  • 1 batch Ooni classic pizza dough
  • 160 grams cipollini onions, roasted
  • 100 grams crème fraîche
  • 100 grams Gruyère, grated
  • 200 grams fresh mozzarella, torn
  • 50 grams Parmesan cheese, grated
  • 240 grams Canadian bacon or bacon rashers
  • 4 eggs
  • 20 grams chives, chopped
  • Ingredients including cheese, bacon and eggs in white bowls and on dishes