Time to Catch Up with Bon Appetit--French Bread Pizza Style

3/08/09: French Bread Pizza using French Bread I Made from Scratch

• Sources: French bread recipe from Annemarie's Betty Crocker cookbook and pizza recipe from recipezaar.com (Recipe #355783).

• Defining moments: First time making French bread pizza.

• What I learned: French bread takes a good amount of time to prepare--about 3 hours in all, and that is only in the rising. So what was I to preoccupy myself with during this long duration? Why reading a couple back issues of Bon Appetit of course! I may skip over a good portion of the magazine because restaurant reviews are just not my thing but I did find some interesting articles, interviews, and of course recipes. So today I learned that French bread and a magazine work exceptionally together. Hmm. . . Maybe I should do what my mom did while cooking: play a game of solitaire. Haven't played a card game in a while. :)

Ok, let me get to the real cooking facts. I didn't really follow the Recipezaar recipe (in both ingredients and preparation) but it is this website that provided the inspiration for the meal. This would be my second time in making french bread; to learn more about my first encounter go to my earlier post entitled: ¿Hablas español? Parlez-vous Francaise?. So I didn't walk into uncharted territories this time, everything seemed pretty familiar and not too far beyond my grasp such as the meringue episode of last week. :) I may not have learned a new technique or skill this week but I am getting more comfortable about creating my own recipe.
In able for me to remember exactly what I did for the pizza toppings here is my ingredient list, from first layer to last: store bought pizza sauce, ground Italian sausage, Italian cheese blend, and a few slices of pepperoni on top.
After reviewing these ingredients I have come to realize how inexpensive this meal is. I glimpsed at the price tags while I was waiting for the bread to rise and I estimated that everything (including the bread) comes to the total of five dollars. $5 for eight people, now that's nice!

• How it tasted: So far all good comments. But since we ate it about two hours ago I don't know the full story yet. Will add more info as soon as I receive more input from the expert food tasters.

• How about a 2nd time? Only when I have a full afternoon free. French bread takes a long time to prepare because it is a heavy dough and the yeast needs extra time to create those air pockets.

1st step:



2nd step:


3rd step: