Comfort Food: Italian Breakfast Pizza

Welcome to Comfort Food. Each week during winter, we’re bringing you a delicious, soul-soothing recipe designed to deliver the sunshine you’re missing in the cooler months—in food form. From the brilliant mind of accomplished recipe developer, food stylist and author Kirsten Jenkins comes everything from an Italian breakfast pizza worth getting out of bed for (yep, even when it’s 4°C) to a banana cake with moreish coconut caramel and black sesame praline. For our first instalment, we're serving up the aforementioned pizza, complete with spreadable salami and buffalo mozzarella. Not a morning person? Prep the dough ahead of time and, once shaped, store it in the fridge until needed. Buon appetito.

Ingredients

2 ½ cups (375g) ‘00’ flour

2 teaspoons caster sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons (7g) dried yeast

¾ cup (180ml) warm water

¼ cup (60ml) olive oil

150g nduja (spreadable salami)

4 asparagus, thinly shaved using a vegetable peeler

150g vine-ripened cherry tomatoes

4 eggs

2 buffalo mozzarella, torn

¼ cup shaved pecorino cheese

½ cup basil leaves

Basil oil

1 tablespoon finely chopped basil leaves

2 tablespoons olive oil

Sea salt and cracked black pepper

Method

Place the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a bowl. Stir in the water and olive oil until the mixture forms a sticky dough. Knead dough on a floured surface for 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside for an hour in a warm place until doubled in size.

To make the basil oil, place the basil and oil in a bowl, season with salt and pepper and stir to combine. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 220C. Punch down the dough and divide into 2 pieces. Roll each half on a floured surface to a 15cm x 30cm rough oval. Place on a large lightly greased baking tray. Spread the nduja over the bases and top with the asparagus and tomatoes. Bake pizzas for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and carefully break 2 eggs on each pizza. Bake the pizzas for a further 3 to 5 minutes or until the eggs are just set. Top with the mozzarella, pecorino and the basil leaves. Drizzle with the basil oil to serve.

Makes 2 pizzas.

Recipe and photography by Kirsten Jenkins.

Loved this? Try this Portugese spit-roasted chicken and potatoes.