Yes, that's an egg on my pizza. And I'm happy to see you

What goes into a good egg sandwich? Toasted sandwich bread slathered with mayo, cradling a fried egg topped with molten cheese that oozes onto the plate upon slicing? A juicy tomato in the summer, or an avocado? Add a side of spinach salad- that's what I call lunch.

Sometimes, though, inspiration calls for a bastardization of said culinary delight.

Today, that inspiration came in the form of pizza. We made pizza one night this weekend and I had some leftover tomatoes, which, really, only improved with age as they were marinating with basil and garlic for the past few days. Add to that an assortment of cheeses. And some baby spinach... the pizza was practically crying out for an egg to be cracked on top.

This, while I'm sure is not novel, has struck me as an interesting idea for some time. In the beginning, I wanted to make it like an Italian take on the breakfast burrito with egg and small pieces of either bacon or proscuitto. Tomatoes instead of the salsa. I think potatoes would be too heavy, but if I had hash browns sitting in the fridge, I don't doubt that a few would make it on there.

But it was lunch, and I didn't have bacon. Or hash browns. And, truth be told, I wouldn't change anything about this. Breakfast, lunch, or dinner, it would be satisfying and delightful at any of those meals.

Crust:
360 g. flour (3 cups)
2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp instant yeast
3 T olive oil
1 c water, room temp

The night before:
Mix together dry ingredients. Add water and oil. Knead. Place in a bowl oiled with remaining 1 T oil and set in a cool spot in a covered bowl (this winter trick works brilliantly in a coastal San Diego apartment with relatively poor insulation and heat that is left off all night for fear of burning the place down). I don't know what my average night time room temp actually is, I'd guess in the low 60s F?

If it's a cool day, leave it on the counter until you're ready to use it. If it's warm, throw it into the fridge. Keep an eye on it, if the dough has risen a lot, stick it in the fridge until about 1.5-2 hr before you want to use it, then take it out and bring to RT, turn your oven on to 475F while you think of it. If you don't have a pizza stone, put a baking sheet on the bottom rack while the oven heats up.

20 min before you're ready to make pizza, divide the dough into 2 or 3 rounds. Let the rounds rest to relax the gluten.
Shape pizza on parchment by either stretching it out with your hands or by using a rolling pin. If you're doing battle with the dough, try letting it rest some more then stretch it out again.


Topping:
For the tomatoes, mix together:
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes, drained.
Add lots of dried oregano. At least 2 tsp.
Salt, to taste. Start with 1/4 tsp, you might need 1/2 or more
Pepper, fresh ground
Red pepper flakes- a good shaking if you like it hot
Olive oil- more of this than you might think. Drizzle it in there. You will need at least 1 T., maybe more.
1 minced clove garlic (optional)
It's hard to screw this up, feel free to play.

Assemble the pizza:
For extra deliciousness, spread a clove or two of garlic over the bottom of the pizza. Or, for more subtle flavor, halve a clove and crush it a bit, then rub the dough with the exposed surface of garlic.

Spread the tomatoes lightly over the crust. It won't be a solid layer of tomatoes by any stretch. You don't have to use them all.
Fashion a well in the center of this tomato topping.
Crack an egg into the well.
Grate a combination of mozzarella and cheddar on top of the pizza. (Go easy. A little cheese goes a long way in its melted state.)
Put baby spinach on top of everything.
Drizzle with olive oil. (Do this after the spinach is added, it will prevent the leaves from getting as browned as mine did).
Sprinkle with salt.

I bake it on the parchment, since I don't have the skills to slide the pizza from a baking peel directly onto the pizza stone (yet). It should take about 8-12 min. If you time it right, you can get it so that the cheese is melted and starting to brown, but the yolk is still runny.

Next time? Carmelized onions.