…but my carbs are right there. To celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day, Ben and I concocted an “Irish Breakfast Pizza” that took its inspiration from a delicious breakfast pizza served at Basil Wood Fired Kitchen and Lounge, and from a whole wheat vegan potato pizza recipe that we make sometimes when we are feeling virtuous. Of course, if you consider bacon a virtue, then you’ll feel great about this meal!
Irish Breakfast Pizza
Slow-Rise Pizza Dough
3 3/4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon yeast
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups cool water
Mix ingredients thoroughly, until a dough forms, the evening before making pizza. Cover dough in bowl with lid or plastic wrap. Let rise on countertop 18-20 hours. Just before getting pizza toppings ready, turn dough onto lightly floured surface, and form into two balls. Let them rest 30 minutes or more while oven heats and you prep toppings. Place two cast iron skillets in oven and heat to 500°.
Sauce
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup warm milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
Melt butter in a small saucepan and mix in flour, cooking this paste a minute or two. Slowly whisk in milk over medium heat. When it has thickened, but is not yet boiling, remove from heat and stir in lemon juice, mustard, salt and pepper.
Toppings
1 pound small waxy potatoes, scrubbed
1 pound thick-sliced bacon, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
1 fennel bulb, sliced thinly with fronds reserved
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3-6 poached eggs (How much do you like eggs?)
1 cup shredded cheese (family dispute over Dubliner cheddar vs. Pepper Jack)
Place whole potatoes in cooking pot and add cold water to cover by two inches. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, and cook 10-25 minutes (depending on potato size) until they can just be pierced with a fork. Drain and cool potatoes until they can be handled. Slice them as thinly as you can. Whisk olive oil and lemon juice together in medium bowl with salt and pepper to taste, and add sliced potatoes, tossing to coat.
Cook bacon in skillet until browned. Remove with slotted spoon and drain on paper towel-lined plate, reserving 2 tablespoons bacon grease.
In reserved bacon grease, cook fennel until lightly browned. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
To assemble pizza, be sure you have the oven and pans preheated to 500º (see above) and the sauce and toppings ready. On a floured surface, stretch both balls of dough into flattened circles about the size of your pans. Working with one pan at a time, plop the dough into the pan, taking care not to burn your hands. Spread half the sauce on top of the dough in the pan, add potatoes, fennel, bacon and cheese. Bake 10-15 minutes, or until crust looks done, while you are making the second pizza.
Top pizzas with poached eggs and fennel fronds.
