French Bread Pizza

I decided to put the Jalapeno Chicken on hold, hoping that a certain friend (you know who you are) will come make and eat it with me... but I do have a couple of other recipes for you! I'll do one today and one tomorrow.

I had the brilliant idea this evening to make french bread pizza, which I've made several times and was sure I'd blogged. When I looked back and found that I had neglected it, I decided that it was finally the time!

This is a quick and simple recipe that can be easily tailored to different tastes. This makes it fantastic (and fun) to make with friends, but also good for just one or two because you only have to make as much as you'll eat. I'll keep the rest of the bread around for a couple of days, and then freeze it for later use. I've found that bread freezes and recovers pretty well - especially when toasted (or baked).

Start to finish (including clean up), this took me about 20 minutes.

First, I should admit that I love the salad bar at my local grocery store... not so much for the salads (they're good too), but for the already chopped, fresh veggies. I use them for stir-fry meals and pretty much any recipe that does not involve using a whole vegetable (bell pepper, broccoli, etc). Today, I even found a few pepperoni in there - which I was wanting, but not wanting to buy an entire package of 100 (or whatever a package of pepperoni contains). This in inexpensive and cuts down on prep time and waste of unused veggies (today's container cost me a whopping $0.75).

Cut your bread into manageable pieces, and then in half lengthwise. I like to cut mine into four pieces, and then make a total of 8.

I wasn't going to put a shot of this until I had it all together and ready (next picture), but in case you are under the false impression that things are neat and clean when I cook/bake, I wanted to set your mind at rest. This was today's oops!

Once all pieces are cut, you'll want to prepare each piece with as much sauce, cheese, and additional toppings as you like - this is where it's fun to let other people prepare their own. Also, I prepped these on the cutting board and then moved them to the pan for less mess. I also like to put foil down most of the time to help with cleanup... it's so much easier to throw away foil than to scrape off baked on cheese and sauce and toppings...

Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 20-25 minutes (I got that from somewhere on the internet... I actually baked mine for about 18 minutes, and it was fine. If you're making the whole loaf, you'd probably need the full time).

Plate and enjoy! I like to top mine with a little Parmesan Cheese and Red Pepper Flakes. And, I just like this picture. It turned out so much nicer than the others!