Pizza Today - June 2019 - 35

L

ast month, through trial and
error - we were able to successfully cook eggs directly
on a pizza in the Pizza Today
Test Kitchen. It was a feat
and the challenge of it triggered a quest to find out
more about eggs as a pizza topping.
The nutrient-dense protein is popping up
on pizza menus across the country, from the
small mom and pops to upscale artisan restaurants, and with good reason. In America,
we love eggs. In fact, the U.S. consumption
was estimated at 278.8 eggs per person
in 2018, according to the American Egg
Board. That's a lot of eggs.
In pizza's long history, egg as a topping is a relatively new choice. It turns out
the origin has been challenging to track
down. Around the world, egg on pizza is a
mainstay ingredient rather than a delicacy.
Let's explore a few ways eggs are being used
on pizza:
* "Zanzibar Pizza," a street food filled with
minced beef, onion and an egg is commonly served in Stone Town, Zanzibar,
Tanzania.
* Portuguese Pizza is a popular pie in Brazil
and features sliced hardboiled egg with
ham, onion and olives.
* The Italian Pizza capricciosa has a beloved
version with artichoke hearts, olive oil,
olives, basil and finished with an egg.
* Poached egg has become a welcomed addition to Pizza Florentine with spinach,
ricotta and mushrooms.
* Fried egg is a favorite pizza topping in
France.
Americans' acceptance of unique pizza
toppings likely traces back to the introduction of the California-style pizza in the
early 1980s. The idea of putting chicken,
egg, avocado or goat cheese on a pizza
became hip and hasn't wavered.
There are dozens of ways to cook an egg.
We're going to focus three methods that
can be duplicated in any pizza kitchen. They
are:
* Scrambled as a base or topping. This
may be the easiest way to introduce eggs
onto your menu. Scrambled eggs can be
precooked and placed on the makeline. In
the Pizza Today Test Kitchen, we found if
you scramble the eggs with ingredients like

whole milk or ricotta, the eggs will have a
wetter consistency to prevent overcooking
them in the oven. There is nothing worse
than rubbery, dry eggs on a pizza.
* Cracked on a pizza while baking. This
method requires testing, a lot of testing. In
an instructional video series, Los Angeles
chef Vito Iacopelli at Provami shared how
to cook an egg on a pizza in a wood-fired
dome oven. After stretching and topping
the pizza, the egg is cracked directly onto
the pizza. He placed the pizza closer to
the mouth of the oven to cook slightly
slower than other Neapolitan pies. In the
test kitchen on a deck oven at 500 degrees,
our method was different. The best result
came from par-baking the pizza for three to
four minutes then adding the cracked egg
and cooking for an additional six to seven
minutes until the white is set and yolk is
still soft.
* Eggs applied post bake. This is the
method that allows the most versatility in
the ways you can prepare the egg. You can
simply fry an egg over easy and place it atop
a hot pizza and serve. Another approach is
to poach the eggs and place on the pizza.
Poaching was the preferred method in the
Pizza Today Test Kitchen. It allowed us to
control the outcome and have a vivid white
with a bright yellow yolk. We opened the
yolk with a knife to run on the pizza to give
it a beautiful presentation. When poaching
an egg, if the white separates when dropped
into the boiling water, add a tablespoon
or two of vinegar. If you are looking for a
perfect egg with a runny yolk, you can use a
mold during poaching or try the sous vide
technique. It requires a water bath with an
immersion circulator (temperature ranging
from 145 F to 170 F) and time to bring
eggs to desired doneness. Sous vide eggs
provide a jaw-dropping presentation.
I REACHED OUT TO PETER REINHART,
CHEF AND BAKING INSTRUCTOR AT
JOHNSON & WALES UNIVERSITY AND
CO-FOUNDER OF PIZZAQUEST.com, about

our egg pizza quest. The first time he says
he encountered eggs on a pizza was about
15 years ago at Roberta's in Brooklyn, New
York.
We asked Reinhart for tips on the three
methods. "None of these methods are very
complicated," he says. "Scrambled are easy
because they can be added like any other

topping ingredient, prior to the bake (the
cheese and sauce protects it); cracked, uncooked eggs can usually go on at about the
halfway point (though the timing
depends on the type of pizza and oven
temp, but a few test bakes should determine
the ideal moment of application); sous vide
or prebaked eggs are already at the ideal
stage so they need to go on top only for the
final 30 to 60 seconds, so as to heat but not
overcook the yolks. If you have the ability
and wherewithal to sous vide the eggs then
the final application on top of the pizza is
the easy part."
Reinhart offers a few more helpful tips
for a perfect egg on pizza. "I like to gently
pre-crack the egg into a cup or bowl so that
it's ready to apply without trying to crack
the egg directly over the pizza," he says. "It
also minimizes the possibility of breaking
the yolk. The key is to have a runny yolk but
fully cooked white. Doming the pizza for a
few seconds may be necessary depending,
again, on the oven temp. If using scrambled
eggs, you can also mix them with some
savory sauce, like sriracha or harissa to
enhance their flavor."
Once you figure out how you are going
to cook eggs, include egg as an add-on item
to your protein list. Depending on your
market, you may charge $2 to upwards of
$5. If you go through the effort to source
organic, free-range, local eggs from a nearby
farm, let your customers know that. If egg
as a pizza topping is new to your clientele,
you may need to specify cooking method. If
they are thinking scrambled and the pizza
arrives with an egg sunny-side up, it may
lead to pies being sent back to the kitchen.
With so many ways to prepare eggs
and use across a menu, the egg is an ideal
ingredient to test new methods in your
kitchen. ■
DENISE GREER

Pizza Today.

is Executive Editor of

TRY THE "SRIRACHA-CHA-CHA
SCRAMBLED EGGS AND BACON
PIZZA" AND "POACHED EGG,
ARUGULA & WILD MUSHROOM
P I Z Z A " R E C I P E S AT P I Z Z AT O D AY. C O M / R E C I P E S /

J U N E 2 0 1 9 / P I Z Z AT O D AY. C O M / 3 5
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Pizza Today - June 2019

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