Monday, December 22, 2008

French Bread Pizza


I thought I'd throw this one out there for all those normal eaters.  Someday, I hope to be able to recreate this using allergen free ingredients.  Not happening anytime soon, though.

The first time I made these, the bread was a little soggy from the sauce.  I remedied that problem by toasting the bread prior to topping, for a few minutes in toaster oven.  

French Bread Pizza - serves 4

Ingredients:
1 baguette of high quality french bread - not the .99 stuff from the grocery store, but the real stuff from your local bakery.
Tomato sauce - I used a pint of home canned sauce, but any leftover spaghetti sauce would work
Fresh Mozzarella, sliced - these were made with block mozzarella.  That's the only thing I regret about this recipe.  Use the fresh stuff instead.  Buy from your local Farmers Market or from the refrigerated case of an upscale grocer.
Toppings - we used sun-dried tomato chicken sausage from PCC, and black olives.  Use whatever floats your boat.

Pre-heat oven to 400.  Slice baguette in half and then down the center.  You should have 4 pieces now.  If you're like me, you can cut off the pointy ends and munch on those pieces while you cook.  Toast slices in toaster oven on the medium setting (doesn't need to be golden brown, just crispy) or throw in the oven on a cookie sheet until crispy and slightly browned.

After removing from oven, place slices on a heavy duty cookie sheet with sides (in case sauce spills.  You don't want to be scraping that off your oven).  Cover with 2-3 tablespoons of tomato sauce each.  Add toppings, then add cheese (This is just how I did it.  You can do whatever you want).
Place in oven and bake for about 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.  Turn oven off, and turn on the broiler.  Turn on oven light and watch closely.  You want the cheese to start puffing and turn brown, but don't let it burn.  The bread might turn slightly black in spots.  This is okay.  After cheese is brown and crusty, remove from oven.  Let cool for a minute or two (because boiling cheese does gnarly things to the roof of your mouth).  While pizza is cooling, heat up a cup or so of the tomato sauce for dipping.  Serve with dipping sauce on the side.

So awesome!  I miss these already.





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