Fifty years ago today environmental activist John McConnell brought the world together to celebrate the first day of spring, honor the planet, the concept of peace and called it Earth Day. Since then it has grown into the Earth Day network with no less than 193 countries participating in global events every year on April 22.

This year will be different. There won’t be crowds of up to 20,000 in parks across the country or at concerts coming together to bring awareness to environmental issues.  But we can still pay respect to mother earth while safe at home by conservation in our own personal space.  And why not start with the world’s perfect food – pizza out of the pantry.

“There are no limits to what you can make with pantry staples – you just have to get creative,” V Restaurant General Manager Gabriela Dimovska tells L.A. Weekly. “At V, we have a lot of surplus tomato sauce and cheese, which are usually used for our signature pizzas. We’ve  made Bolognese from marinara sauce, chicken parmigiana with tomato and mozzarella, meatloaf and tomato soup. We have also gotten creative with our pizza dough, making everything from breadsticks and savory muffins to scrambled egg pockets.”

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Red base leftover pizza (Courtesy V DTLA)

Dimovska says the sky is the limit on using any vegetable you have on hand as well as can any cheese or protein to top a pizza for a quick, simple at-home dinner that can be shared and enjoyed family-style. Pizza is a great way to use surplus ingredients on their way out.

She shared her recipe for breakfast pizza with eggs and salami with L.A. Weekly, which makes for a perfect dinner.

“If folks don’t have sourdough starter at home, they can use their favorite dough recipe or store-bought dough,” says Dimovska. “Toppings are flexible, too. The great thing about pizza is you can top it with just about anything. The dough recipe makes enough to keep in the fridge for future pizza-making:

V DTLA

Breakfast Pizza Recipe

Ingredients:

Olive oil: 2 tbsp

Mozzarella: 1/2 cup

Salami: 1.8 oz

Bacon: 1/3 cup

Chili flakes: 1 pinch

Parmesan cheese: 2 tbsp

3 eggs

Avocado: 1/2

Wasabi flakes: 1 pinch

Aleppo pepper: 1 pinch

Pizza dough (see below – if you don’t have sourdough starter at home, feel free to use your favorite pizza dough recipe or a store-bought crust)

  1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit
  2. Roll pizza dough into a thin circle.
  3. Top with olive oil, mozzarella, salami, bacon, chili flakes, parmesan cheese. Crack 3 eggs on top.
  4. Place in oven on pizza stone or cookie sheet.
  5. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until crust is browned and eggs are set.

Dough:

Flour: 6.6 lbs

Water: 4 lbs

Olive oil: 1/3 cup

Sourdough starter: 1/3 cup

Salt: 1/3 cup

Dry yeast: 1 tablespoon

Instructions:

  1. Put flour, yeast & sourdough starter into a dough mixer.

TIP: use the coldest water possible! At V DTLA, we use the following formula to create a light, springy pizza dough:

  1. Measure air temperature
  2. Measure temperature of the flour mixture.
  3. Formula: Flour mix temperature – air temperature = water temperature
  4. Start mixer. Start timer and quickly add 3.6 lbs of the water to the flour mix.
  5. At 1:30 minutes:add 3.2 oz water at the edges of the mixer
  6. At 5 minutes: add the salt to the middle of the dough for 30 seconds
  7. At 5:30 minutes: add 1.6 oz water at the edge of the mixer
  8. At 8 minutes: add 1.6 oz water at the edge of the mixer
  9. At 10 minutes: switch to a higher speed on your mixer (if possible), and slowly pour in olive oil
  10. At 15 mins: Dough should be firm and done! Take out the mixer, make sure the dough is smooth. Coat in oil, wrap saran wrap and let rest for 15 mins at room temperature.
  11. Cut to small pieces (approx 7oz) pieces and roll into a tight ball with no seams

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