my favorite pizza

don't be alarmed. it's just an egg on pizza.

egg on pizza is not as scary as it sounds. if you like eggs and toast, you will like eggs on pizza. there's no need to fool around with the whites- the yolk is where the money is. i like mine to be soft, but not runny- you have to keep an eye on it while it's in the oven, but it goes so fast that's it not a burden. if you're serious about making some delicious pizza, there are a few things that take homemade pizza to another level:

a pizza stone, which requires a pizza peel, and a crazy hot oven.

in the past, i've purchased pizza dough from trader joe's, because it seemed like too much of a hassle to make it from scratch. wrong. dead wrong. Jim Lahey's no-knead pizza dough recipe has been around for awhile, and it's so simple. the dough has to rise for multiple hours, so you need to make it a day in advance. the recipe calls for "instant yeast", but the yeast i found at my grocery store didn't say instant anywhere on it. my mom suggested adding a little sugar to help activate it (she's fantastic for stuff like that). i had whole wheat flour on hand, and figured i might as well use it.

no-knead pizza dough:

• 3 cups whole wheat(or all purpose) flour, plus more for dusting
• 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

• 1 1/2 cups water

• in a big bowl, mix together flour, yeast, sugar, and salt. add water and stir until well combined. cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot for 18-24hrs.

• on a lightly floured work surface, turn out the dough and sprinkle with a bit more flour. fold the dough over itself a few times, cover lightly with plastic wrap and let sit for 15minutes.
• divide dough into 4 balls. sprinkle a cotton towel with flour and cover the balls. let rise for another 2 hours.

white pizza with arugula, beech mushrooms, egg yolk, and parmesan:

• pizza dough (i made a "personal pan" sized pizza, so i only used 1/2 of a ball of dough)
• olive oil
• fresh buffalo mozzarella
• beech mushrooms
• baby arugula
• 1 egg yolk
• salt and pepper
• parmesan cheese, shaved with a vegetable peeler

• preheat oven as high as it will go.
• separate mushrooms in a bowl. toss with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper. let marinate while working on the rest of the pizza.
• starting with 1 dough ball, roll out, or hand stretch into a general circular shape. it helps to keep moving the dough to prevent sticking.
• brush the dough with a little olive oil around the edges, and a sprinkle of salt.
• evenly distribute cheese, arugula, and mushrooms around the crust, leaving a shallow well in the middle.
• if using a pizza peel, sprinkle it with flour, and slide it under the pie. quickly slide the pie onto the stone and bake until the cheese starts to melt.
• with the pie still on the stone, add the yolk to the middle and continue to bake until it reaches the consistency you prefer. how long it takes will depend on your oven temp, so keep an eye on it.
• when the yolk is set, slide the pie back on the pizza peel and remove from the oven.
• lightly salt the yolk, and top with shaved parmesan cheese.