Pesto, Provolone & Egg Pizza

This is without a doubt the best pizza that has ever come out of my kitchen. It’s simple. It’s fresh. It uses few ingredients. And most importantly, it’s unlike any pizza I’ve made before. And by that I mean I’ve never had eggs on my pizza before.

My participation in Foodbuzz's Tastemaker program earned me the opportunity to receive a free dozen of Eggland's Best eggs. A coupon was delivered to my mailbox with the request that I produce an original recipe using the eggs. Though I don’t eat or make a ton of egg-based dishes, I was eager to come up with something.

When I decided to add the eggs to a pizza I realized I really didn’t want to make a pizza with a tomato sauce base. I remembered this pesto I recently picked up at the SOWA Open Market by Pestos With Panache. I figured it would make an excellent eggcellent (sorry) addition to my egg-topped pizza.

I started by making the pizza dough:

• 2 c all-purpose flour
• 1/2 c cornmeal
• 1 envelope Fleischmann’s Pizza Crust Yeast
• 3/4 t salt
• 1 c very warm water (120 to 130 degrees)
• 2 T olive oil
• cornmeal for dusting pizza stone

Combine 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup cornmeal, undissolved yeast, and salt in a large bowl. Stir very warm water and olive oil into flour mixture. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 4 to 6 minutes.

Roll dough into ball. Shape to fit desired pan/pizza stone. Bake crust at 400 for 10 minutes. Carefully remove from oven and top with:

• 4 T pesto, spread in thin even layer
• 5-6 slices of provolone cheese

Return to oven for another 8 minutes. Carefully remove again and crack 1 egg in each quadrant of the pizza (4 eggs total). VERY carefully return pizza to oven and cook for another 4 minutes until eggs are set. You could reduce this to just a couple of minutes if you like a runny egg.

Let pizza cool for a few minutes. Cut into 8 slices. Enjoy!