A fresh take on our viral Cheesy Baked Egg Toast recipe, this hearty Baked Cheesy Bacon Egg Italian Bread recipe is decadent and quite filling! Perfect breakfast for a special occasion!
Use a large can, a large circle cookie cutter, or if you have these one cup measuring bowls (these bowls are from the Pampered Chef prep bowl set) and cut away the shape into the bread. Depending how large your Italian bread is, or how closely you place your cut-outs, you should have four circle cut-outs per side, eight total with both sides of the bread.
From here, you’ll take a metal cookie scoop or a meatballer or a well rounded spoon to press into the bread to flatten it out. To help you get the sides flattened, you can use your fingers to help you press it, too.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Using a basting brush, butter the bread completely, both in and out of the circles and along the edges.
Take your cooked bacon and wrap it along the outside of the circles.
Carefully crack and egg into each circle and dispose of the shell. Repeat cracking the eggs into all the circles.
Season generously on top.
Begin adding shredded cheese to the bread. I like to keep the cheese on the sides so I can see the doneness of the egg in the oven while it cooks. To do this, you will need to use pinchfuls of shredded cheese and you’ll have to press the cheese onto the butter to get it to stay well.
Continue adding the cheese and shape it around the bacon. Don’t worry if you get a little cheese in the egg, it’s bound to happen. Just so long as you can see the yolk well enough to monitor doneness.
Bake for 10 minutes on the bottom rack of the oven, then move it to the top rack and watch the egg yolk for doneness. It should take a few more minutes to cook (depending on where you live, elevation, etc).
Let it cool down a bit first before you slice into it.
Once cooled enough to be able to handle it, use a pizza cutter or bread knife to cut in between the egg sections.