Where I work, weekend day shifts are traditional brunch days - traditional as in bacon and eggs alternating with sausages and eggs, both served with toast, hash browns and orange juice. Over time I grew tired of the same old thing and started looking for alternatives. omelets, crepes, waffles, Eggs Benny, frittatas, homemade fruit cocktail instead of orange juice - why, I've even served my ‘Outrageous Egg Foo Yung' recipe for breakfast in my quest for something different. That's what the opening chapter of ‘Fire Hall Cooking' is all about, options to the traditional firehouse breakfast.

But I'm not the only firefighter who thinks outside the cereal box. Michael - how's this for a firefighter's name? - Sparks makes a great Breakfast Pizza. Michael and I used to work at #18 fire hall together but on different shifts, and I first tried his Breakfast Pizza when I spotted his shift's leftovers in the fridge. Just one bite, that's all it took for me to realize that this was a recipe that I needed to hunt down and make for my crew. Thanks to Sparks the recipe is yours to share as well.
 
BREAKFAST PIZZA

Oh sure, you can cook up a big batch of the Eclectic Pizzas (pages 156-158) place the leftovers in the fridge and, when you wake in the morning, simply revisit your dinner. Or you could get busy in the kitchen and tailor-make an early-riser pizza with bacon, sausage, veggies, hollandaise sauce and eggs. I say, get off your butt and go for the Breakfast Pizza!

BEFORE YOU HIT THE HAY MAKE SURE YOU HAVE

•  2 large store-bought pizza shells or even better…
•  Bread-maker Pizza Dough (page 155)
•  10 large eggs – beaten
•  1 package prepared hollandaise sauce
•  ½ pound (225 grams) bacon
•  6 hot Italian or chorizo sausages
•  1 small red pepper - diced
•  1 bunch green onions - diced
•  100 grams (1/4 pound) or so mushrooms - sliced into Ts
•  Mozzarella cheese - about 500 or 600 grams (a little over a pound)

DOUGH DE DOUGH!

•  Spread out the dough on greased pizza pans.
•  The “heart-attack helper” hol­landaise needs some attention, so make it up as per directions, except that I want you to use only half the butter it calls for, because I care about you. I do! I know you could make up the Hall-a-Blaze Sauce , (page 206) but I'm a reasonable man. It's first thing in the morning and I can only expect so much from you at this time of day. Go on, grab a coffee!
•  Cook the eggs scrambled eggs style, fry up the bacon, and set both of them aside.
•  Parboil the sausages to rid them of excess fat – see, I told you I care.
•  Slice them into pieces, like slices of pepperoni, and brown them in a frying pan. Set them aside.
•  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
•  It's time to go to town. Spread a thin layer of hollandaise on the dough, followed by the eggs, ba­con, sausage, pepper, onions and 'shrooms.
•  Finally, top your creation with a thin layer of mozzarella cheese.
•  Off to the oven for 15–20 minutes, long enough to brown the crust and melt the cheese, and it's Breakfast Pizza Up!