Roasted tomatoes and garlic make a simple sauce for this classic snack.
Food cravings: Who can explain them? Sometimes just a photo of food triggers my saliva glands. On a recent trip to my grocery store, I spotted something in the frozen food case— Stouffer’s French Bread Pizza—that triggered a memory and Pavlovian response.
Wow, I hadn’t had one of those pizzas in years! (Saliva glands activated.) So, I caved to the craving, but it wasn’t as delightful as my teenaged mind remembered from the 1970s. Back then, it was common for Mom to bake a pan of these for me and my friends and it was quite a treat.
Now that I am of “a certain age,” pepperoni and I are not always friends, and hard bread can be a land mine for my teeth. Luckily, this is a simple dish to create at home—the secret is a roasted tomato sauce. My Easy French Bread Pizza also uses a more tender Italian-style bread and turkey pepperoni, which is lower in fat than traditional pepperoni (4 grams of fat versus 12 grams). So, let's get cooking!
To make Easy French Bread Pizza, which yields four servings, you’ll need these ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
10 ounces fresh tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
16 slices nitrate-free turkey pepperoni
1 (16-ounce) loaf Italian-style bread
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper
2 tablespoons fresh chopped basil
How to make Easy French Bread Pizza
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. If using cherry tomatoes, add them to a bowl with garlic, salt, and pepper. Roma tomatoes will need to be quartered first. Drizzle with oil.
Roast tomatoes and garlic for 20 minutes. Cool on pan for 10 minutes.
Transfer tomatoes and garlic carefully into a blender or food processor. Blend until a sauce is created.
Slice each loaf of Italian bread in half and then cut each half on the equator. Each slice should be about 10 inches in length.
Lightly coat each bread slice with tomato sauce, covering the surface.
Cut pepperoni slices into half; arrange evenly on each slice of bread. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle fresh basil over bread.
Arrange bread on a parchment-lined baking tray and bake at 400 degrees F for 8 minutes.
Whether you enjoy as a snack or add a salad for lunch or dinner, Easy French Bread Pizza is nostalgia in one groovy bite!
History of French Bread Pizza
While Stouffer’s may have popularized French bread pizza, several culinary histories point to a food truck from the 1960s in Ithaca, New York, owned by Bob Petrillose who used sub sandwich bread to create pizza for Cornell University students’ late-night munchies. The Wall Street Journal claims Stouffer’s debuted its frozen French bread pizza in 1974, designing the pizza to be heated in toaster ovens (no doubt popular with the college crowd, too).
About the blog
Three Women in the Kitchen is an award-winning food blog offering today’s home cooks comforting, hearty recipes with a personal touch. The website also pays tribute to Deborah’s mother, Katie Reinhardt, and paternal grandmother, Dorothy Reinhardt (the “three women” in the kitchen). Whether you’re an experienced or a novice cook, you’ll find inspiration here to feed your families and warm your heart. Subscribe today so you won’t miss a single delicious detail.
