Quick French Bread Pizza

Delicious quick and easy French bread pizza is perfect for that quick evening meal or a party. And at only 20 minutes, it's faster than a speeding pizza dude. 

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• 🥖Bread
• 🥣Sauce
• 👨‍🍳Toppings
• ⏰How Long To Bake?
• 📖Pizza Recipes
• 🖼️Step-by-Step Instructions
• 📖 Recipe

Introduction

We all need a fast and easy dinner at times, but there is no law against it tasting great. You have seen French bread pizza but never really thought about doing it yourself. So let's see how simple it really is to do.

Many home cooks worry about pizza dough. They will use premade; they will buy dough at the store or pizza joint. Just use French bread. So easy.

This is perfect for the family that can't agree on toppings or for parties, cut up as finger food.

My Rating

I do love pizza, but this was just excellent and very little work. Wifo was a solid five also.

🥖Bread

You need nice french bread. This will be half the taste, and bland white bread just won't do. You need to know your baker.

Don't buy the cheap stuff. You want something that tastes outstanding, which comes from some nice gluten development.

Some French bread will have a harder crust. I would opt for a bit softer crust for this recipe, which will usually be sold in plastic instead of paper bags. Definitely, do not buy the baguettes that are sold uncovered.

🥣Sauce

For my "cooking for two" meal, I used about ½ cup of pre-made pizza sauce for the two 9-inch pizzas. If you're doing a large amount for a party, it may be worth making your own.

My homemade sauce recipe: One 6 oz can of tomato paste and 6 oz water. 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper, 1 clove garlic, and ½ teaspoon oregano. This will make about 1 ½ cups of sauce, which is three times what I use here for two 9 inch pizzas, so you can judge from there. It will freeze well.

Be careful about the amount of sauce. The bread will act like a sponge and absorb it. You want some taste, not a sloppy mess. A little too little is better than too much here.

👨‍🍳Toppings

I'm traditional, so Italian sausage and pepperoni for me. Please note in the pictures that even my normal size pepperoni is cut in half.

Remember, your space is limited, and toppings tended to get out of control, so only one or two will do. Also, don't use anything that will release a lot of fluid, like pineapple.

⏰How Long To Bake?

About 10 minutes at 375° convection or 400° conventional oven. The browning of the cheese will tell you when done. A larger pizza will take slightly longer.

📖Pizza Recipes

Crock Pot Pizza Casserole

Quick and Easy Biscuit Pizza

Basic Homemade Pizza Dough

Basic Homemade Pizza Dough

Quick French Bread Pizza

🖼️Step-by-Step Instructions

Preheat oven to 375° convection or 400° conventional. While preheating, you should have time to do the preparation of the pizza.

Slice a loaf of French bread horizontally. I used a 9-inch baguette, but any length should be fine. A sub bun would work, also. But the quality of the bread will determine the taste.

Prep toppings. I browned ½ pound of Italian sausage and drained well. Plus, I cut some pepperoni in half.

Top with sauce. It took about ½ cup for the two halves.

Add toppings.

Bake on the middle rack until nicely browned. About 10 minutes.

📖 Recipe

Quick French Bread Pizza

From Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan

Delicious quick and easy French bread pizza is perfect for that quick evening meal or a party. And at only 20 minutes, it's faster than a speeding pizza dude. 

Tap to leave a Rating

4.68 from 49 votes

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Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Servings #/Adjust if desired 2

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Ingredients

US Customary - Convert to Metric

• ▢ 1 loaf French bread - 9 inch for two servings
• ▢ Prepared pizza sauce
• ▢ Toppings of choice.
• ▢ mozzarella cheese

Instructions

Photos ONOFF

• Preheat oven to 375° convection or 400° conventional.
  
• Slice a loaf of French bread horizontally. I used a 9-inch baguette, but any length should be fine. A sub bun would work ok also. But the quality of the bread will determine the final taste.
  
• Prep toppings. I browned ½ pound of Italian sausage and cut some pepperoni in half.
  
• Top with sauce. It took about ½ cup for two halves. Add toppings. Add mozzarella cheese.
  
• Bake on middle rack until nicely browned. About 10 minutes.
  

Recipe Notes

Pro Tips:

1. I suggest using a softer crust French bread. Those will probably be sold in plastic bags, not in paper or unwrapped.
2. If doing a larger amount, it is worth time doing your own sauce. My homemade sauce recipe: One 6 oz can of tomato paste and 6 oz water. 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper, 1 clove garlic, and ½ teaspoon oregano. This will make about 1 ½ cups of sauce which is three times what I use here for two 9 inch pizzas so you can judge from there.
3. Do not overdo the sauce, the bread can act like a sponge and absorb too much.
4. Top as you wish.
5. Great for a pizza party for teens. They can prepare as they wish.
6. The results are very dependent on the quality of bread.
7. I generally only cook what we will eat but store and reheat like leftover pizza.
8. I do prepare toppings ahead frequently.
9. Nutrition is calculated on one half of a 9 inch baguette.

To adjust the recipe size:

You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.

Nutrition

Calories : 589 kcalCarbohydrates : 61 gProtein : 31 gFat : 25 gSaturated Fat : 12 gCholesterol : 65 mgSodium : 1611 mgFiber : 3 gSugar : 6 gVitamin A : 550 IUVitamin C : 1.7 mgCalcium : 840 mgIron : 4 mg

Serving size is my estimate of a normal size unless stated otherwise. The number of servings per recipe is stated above. This is home cooking, and there are many variables. All nutritional information are estimates and may vary from your actual results. To taste ingredients such as salt will be my estimate of the average used.

Course :Main Course

Cuisine :Italian

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Publisher Note: Originally Published November 15, 2015. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.