Bacon and Egg Pizza Pie (via the Big Sur Bakery Cookbook) | Pie Month

This is the 8th entry in our Month of Pie. Pie Month is a celebration of things we love. Because life is hard, and there should always be more pie. Have a look at the other entries. Really. 

Pie #1 - Lemon Cream Icebox Pie

Pie #2 - Malted Crisp Tart

Pie #3 - Apple Green-Chili Pie with Cheddar Crust and Walnut Streusel

Pie #4 - Peanut Butter Cream Pie with Chocolate Whipped Cream

Pie #5 - Butterscotch Cream Pie with Gingersnap Crust and Cashew Brittle

Pie #6 - Banana Cream Pie with Chocolate Chip Cookie Crust

Pie #7 - Chocolate Kahlua Pie

Is pizza pie? 

We struggled with answering that question for our Month of Pie. Could a pizza really take one of our 15 slots for pie? Our decision came down to two things:

1. What would Dean Martin say (WWDMS)? Given that it is amore when the moon hits your eyes, we felt fairly comfortable with his response.
2. How did the pizza taste? In a word, “incredible.”

We've already told you about our love of the Big Sur Bakery Cookbook. So we turned to it when we stated on our Month of Pie, looking for inspiration. And while there are some sweet little pies in there (Chantrelle, Heirloom Tomato, Pork Belly with Barbecue Sauce and Sweet Corn), we were drawn to their Breakfast Pizza. In the middle of a flood of cream pies, this pizza called to us loudly.


Here’s what so special about the pizza...you crack eggs right on to top. The idea of three happy yolks standing at attention was too much to pass up (though I’m not sure I would have even thought of eating this five years ago). Also, the fresh tasting onion flavor coming from the scallions, chives, and shallots playing off the strong bacon and cheese flavors promised complete breakfast satisfaction.


We’re not big breakfast casserole people. They’re a favorite of many in our families, but this pizza is our answer to those casseroles. The ingredients are nearly the same, but the ratio of cheese to egg to bread to bacon is more to our liking.


You can make your own pizza dough (use your favorite), or you can purchase your dough from the grocery, or this being New Jersey, from a local pizza place. We made our own, but if we were in a hurry, I would have no problem using purchased dough.

This pizza can be thrown together in minutes in the morning. Within 30 minutes (10 for prep, 12 to cook), you’ve got an incredible pizza pie that balances nicely with that leftover chocolate pie you made the night before.


recipe | Breakfast Pizza via the Big Sur Bakery Cookbook


Note -  if you have a pizza stone, please use it. Heat it up in the oven and use a wooden peel to get the pizza on to the stone. We don’t have a pizza stone, so we’ve noted our approach below. 

• 3 bacon strips or extra for snacking
• Pizza dough for one pizza
• ¼ cup grated Parmesan 
• 1 cup grated fresh mozzarella 
• 3 eggs
• Kosher salt
• Pepper
• 2 tablespoons basil
• 2 tablespoons minced flat parsley
• 2 tablespoons minced chives
• 2 scallions (white and green parts), sliced thinly
• 1 shallot, minced

Cook your bacon until crisp (we roast ours in the oven on a pan, 425 F for around 15 minutes for thicker bacon).  Place on paper towel to dry.

Shape your dough on lightly floured large cookie sheet, using your fingers to stretch the dough to the shape you want. We’re comfortable with irregularly-shaped pizzas. If you can make it circular, you are a better person than we are.
Sprinkle the Parmesan, mozzarella, and broken up bacon. Season with salt and pepper. 

Place pizza in the oven for four minutes.

Meanwhile, crack open the eggs into three separate small bowls. You’re doing this to move quickly when you place the eggs on top of the pizza. You don’t want to fumble around with a hot oven.

When the four minutes are up, slide out the oven rack with the pizza pan on it. Place the eggs on top of the pizza, evenly spaced. You might need to dig into the cheese a bit to make a nest for each egg. Return the pizza to the oven and bake for 4-8 more minutes until the eggs are done to your liking.

When the eggs are done (we like them loose and a little runny) and the crust is golden, pull out the pizza, sprinkle with parsley, chives, scallions, and shallots. Slice and serve immediately.

strawberry-cream cheese coffee cake (via Amanda Clarke on seriouseats.com)

When we lived in the Chicago area, Oak Park to be exact, I had a reverse commute for a year out to Downers Grove. Though considering Chicago traffic, a reverse commute means very little in terms of saving time. The company I worked for was housed in a nondescript building behind the Hooters (I still have never had their chicken wings. Honest). It was a lot of life spent in the car, listening to WBEZ, Chicago's NPR station, pretending I would have a story good enough for Ira Glass to put on This American Life (the closest I came was talking to him at Fox & Obel one day), taking comfort in the fact that we lived three blocks from Peter Sagal, host of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Maybe a life of public radio wasn't in the cards, but at least we could wish Peter good night every time we drove past his house ( all together now..."Goodnight, Peter"). And honk at him while he raked leaves. NPR stalker.


The best thing about the commute out to Downers Grove? A drive past the local plant of a very well-known bakery brand. Coffee cakes. Pound cakes. Cookies. Danish. You know the one. They had a store at the plant that was open to the public. My favorite was the "reject" section, full of boxed baked goods that weren't fit to ship to supermarkets. This often meant the icing machine had gone haywire, leaving a half-inch thick coating of white sugary love on 3/4 of the danish. To me, this represented a new and improved feature, not a cause for rejection. 15 seconds in the microwave, and I was blissed out in butter and sugar and strawberries. A big cup of coffee, and I was buzzed for a good long while, listening to Weekend Edition, to Car Talk, to Wait Wait, to TAL, when the sugar and caffeine would wear off, and I'd realize that hopes are nice, dreams are better, but a warm danish could soothe a lot of the falling short.



This coffee cake from Amanda Clarke on seriouseats.com is about ten times better than anything we picked up from the reject pile. Homemade is usually better, right? But this one, this strawberry cream cheese coffee cake, moves into the territory of hopes and dreams. Four layers: a buttery soft crust, a layer of diced strawberries , smooth+sweet cream cheese, and perfect crumb topping full of brown sugar and butter. Really this is one for the books.

Hint - Frozen strawberries work perfectly here. So do raspberries. Blueberries. You get the point.


You can have this prepped in 20 minutes, bake it for 35. Full on love under an hour.


recipe | strawberry-cream cheese coffee cake (via Amanda Clarke on seriouseats.com)