French Bread Pizza Perfected

1. Preheat the oven to 425 F.
2. Slice the French bread in half the long way, forming two long halves (like a hot dog bun but don’t keep them attached). Lightly press on the bread with the palms of your hands or with the bottom of a flat baking sheet until the bread is compressed to about half of what it was (generally about 1/2-inch or so thick, but like I mentioned in my post, homemade French bread doesn’t flatten quite as well in my experience).
3. Drizzle the olive oil on the cut side of both halves, about 1/2 tablespoon for each half, and brush oil lightly into the dough. Sprinkle with just a touch of garlic powder.
4. Sprinkle half of the Parmesan cheese across the cut side of each half. Place the loaves of bread on an aluminum-foil lined baking sheet and bake for 3-5 minutes, until the Parmesan cheese is just barely starting to turn golden and has hardened a bit to the touch. Take care not to burn the Parmesan! Remove from oven.
5. Spread pizza sauce on top of the Parmesan-crusted loaves and top with pizza toppings of your choice. I usually go with about 1 cup of mozzarella cheese for each half and throw on some pepperoni and olives but the sky is definitely the limit here!
6. Bake the pizzas for 8-10 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and the edges of the bread are starting to crisp up and turn golden. Remove from oven.
7. Using a serrated knife, cut each half into pieces and serve immediately.

Recipe source: Mel’s Kitchen Cafe (inspired by tips from Serious Eats and Cook’s Country).