French Bread Pizza – 4 Ways!

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Easy French Bread Pizza – 4 ways!

Skip the pre-made, frozen store-bought pizza in a box and make your own French Bread Pizza at home!

Thrill your family with this easy, quick and delicious recipe for flavorful French bread pizza! Each pizza is easily adapted with your favorite toppings. This is pizza perfection from the easy, rich tomato sauce to the garlicky buttered soft French bread; it’s a thousand times better than store-bought.

What ingredients do you need to make homemade French Bread Pizza?

Start with our quick and easy no-cook pizza sauce made with:

• good quality canned crushed tomatoes
• tomato paste
• olive oil
• dried Italian seasoning
• dried oregano
• onion powder
• granulated garlic, or garlic powder
• salt
• pepper

Combine the sauce ingredients and refrigerate until needed. This sauce can be made 24 hours in advance and freezes well, too! If you don’t want to make your own, try using a good quality jarred pizza sauce.

For the French bread pizzas you’ll need:

• A large loaf French Bread (20 to 24 inches long)
• unsalted butter
• granulated garlic, or garlic powder
• salt (omit if using salted butter)
• red pepper flakes
• mozzarella cheese
• Parmesan cheese

We like to use pre-shredded, low-moisture mozzarella cheese for these homemade pizzas. While pre-shredded cheese is a great shortcut, we always take the extra step and shred our own Parmesan. The flavor is completely different from the powdery stuff, which doesn’t really melt.

Select your favorite pizza toppings and prep ahead of time. Here are a few of our favorites:

• Traditional pizza: with pepperoni, cooked crumbled ground beef or Italian sausage, or make plain cheese pizza topped with fresh basil leaves.
• Hawaiian Pizza with deli sliced ham, pineapple tidbits and crumbled cooked bacon.
• BBQ Chicken Pizza with a sweet BBQ sauce in place of the pizza sauce. Add diced, cooked chicken, crumbled cooked bacon, sliced red onion and a little shredded cheddar on top.
• Supreme French Bread Pizza with pepperoni, Italian sausage, onion, bell pepper, and olives

TIP: Next time you cook bacon for a recipe or breakfast, freeze a few slices to have on hand for this pizza. The same goes with the chicken and ham. Freeze a leftover grilled chicken breast to use on your next BBQ Chicken Pizza. And don’t forget to reserve and freeze extra Italian sausage next time you make our Stuffed Manicotti. You’ll be ready for your next family pizza party!

I love having extra ingredients on hand to transform into another weeknight meal. I bet you will too!

How to make French Bread Pizza

This recipe couldn’t be easier!

1. First cut the French bread in half crosswise. Then split the bread in half lengthwise and place on a large baking sheet, cut side up.
2. Next brush the bread with the butter and garlic mixture and bake until toasted and golden brown.
3. Top the toasted bread with pizza sauce, mozzarella and Parmesan, then finish with your favorite toppings.
4. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted. Serve!

What’s the best kind of bread to use for these pizzas?

A large, long, soft loaf of French bread is best for making French bread pizzas. While I adore baguettes, they’re a little chewy and crusty to use as a base for these pizzas. I recommend using a soft crusted bread for best results. Split deli rolls or even hot dog buns will do in a pinch 🙂 If you love French bread, you’re going to love this pizza!

How to prevent soggy French Bread Pizza:

By buttering and toasting the bread first, you can prevent soggy French bread pizza. Also, our pizza sauce is thick and chunky and not watery so it doesn’t soak into the bread. The pizzas are crispy on the top but soft in the middle. They’re easy to eat right out of hand; no utensils needed. When you sink your teeth into these delicious, hearty pizzas, it’s love at first bite!

Bring the family together for pizza night

Everybody loves a good pizza, but many have strong opinions about what kind of toppings are best. To solve this dispute, set up a buffet style assembly line with an assortment of toppings to chose from. Put the family to work creating their own personal pizzas. Picky pizza peeps? No problem!

Personally I love a lot of sauce, and would never turn up my nose at extra on the side for dipping. Some folks love a good cheesy overload while others prefer a sparsely topped creation. You get the idea. Make everybody happy with this simple meal.

French Bread Pizza makes for great party food too!

Assemble a variety of pizzas as we have done here, then slice into 3 or 4-inch pieces. Place on a platter and serve with a side of fresh shredded Parmesan and red pepper flakes. Sit back and watch them disappear!

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PRINT THE RECIPE!

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French Bread Pizza - 4 ways!

Prep Time

20 mins

Cook Time

25 mins

Total Time

45 mins

 

Skip the pre-made, frozen store-bought French bread pizza and make your own!

Course: Main Course, Pizza

Servings: 4

Author: Tricia

Ingredients

For the sauce:

• 1 (14oz) can crushed tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 ½ teaspoons Italian seasoning
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• ¼ teaspoon onion powder
• ¼ teaspoon granulated garlic
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper

For the French bread pizza:

• 1 loaf soft French bread (18 to 24 inches)
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 teaspoons granulated garlic
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 8 ounces low-moisture mozzarella cheese, shredded (2 cups)
• 1 ounce Parmesan cheese grated (½ cup)
• Fresh basil leaves or chopped parsley optional

Optional topping ideas:

For traditional pizza:

• thin sliced pepperoni, or
• cooked ground beef, or
• crumbled, cooked sweet Italian sausage, or
• plain cheese pizza with fresh basil leaves

For Hawaiian pizza:

• sliced ham
• pineapple tidbits
• sliced red onion
• crumbled cooked bacon

For BBQ Chicken Pizza:

• use sweet BBQ sauce in place of the pizza sauce
• diced cooked chicken
• crumbled cooked bacon
• sliced red onion
• shredded cheddar cheese

For Supreme French Bread Pizza:

• pepperoni
• crumbled, cooked sweet Italian sausage
• sliced red onion
• sliced green bell pepper
• sliced black olives

Instructions

To prepare the sauce:

1. Combine all sauce ingredients and set aside. Sauce may be made 24 hours in advance and refrigerated until needed

To prepare the French bread:

1. Adjust the oven rack to an upper-middle position. Preheat oven to 450°F.

2. Using a serrated knife, cut the bread in half crosswise. Cut each half lengthwise to create 4 equal pizza crusts. Place the bread, cut side up on a large rimmed baking sheet.
3. In a small bowl, combine the butter, granulated garlic, salt and red pepper flakes. Cover and microwave until melted, about 40 seconds. Stir to combine then brush the butter mixture on the cut side of bread.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until well browned around the edges, about 5 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven and spread the sauce evenly over the toasted bread. Top with mozzarella then Parmesan. Add additional toppings as desired.
6. Bake until the cheese is melted, about 15 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes then serve.

Recipe Notes

Sauce is easily doubled and also freezes well. It's great for dipping, too!

Here are a few more pizza recipes you might enjoy:

Chicago-Style Deep-Dish Pizza Recipe

Cheesy BBQ Chicken Pizza Rolls

Skillet Pizza Margherita