French Bread Pizza

Printable Recipe

This comes from a Cook's Country magazine. Do not use baguette bread.

6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 tbsp finely chpd fresh basil leaves
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
1 (24") loaf French bread, halved lengthwise and if desired, cut crosswise into 8 even pieces
(You can also use Hoagie buns, to make individual pizzas - split them lengthwise as directed above.)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup pizza sauce
2 cups Mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 425°. Microwave the olive oil, garlic, 2 tbsp of the basil and pepper flakes on high power, in a small microwave-safe bowl until fragrant, 30-60 seconds.

Brush half of oil mixture over crust and edges of bread and arrange cut-side up on a foil-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese evenly over bread and bake 425° until cheese begins to brown, about 3 minutes.

Whisk pizza sauce, remaining basil, and remaining oil mixture in a bowl*. Spread sauce evenly over bread, then top with Mozzarella cheese. Bake until cheese is melted and spotty brown, 5-7 minutes longer.

Notes:

The recipe doesn't call for any other toppings, but you could certainly add meat or vegetable toppings along with the Mozzarella.

*I made this with this homemade pizza sauce found here. Since the sauce already had olive oil in it, I did not add the remaining olive oil mixture to it. I actually brushed most of the olive oil mixture on the bread itself.