The Simple Step That Prevents French Bread Pizza From Curling

For the perfect French bread pizza, you want each bite to offer a satisfying crunch. The key to getting that perfect blend of textures and flavors is to ensure that your bread does not curl when it's baking. If it does, the pizza will collapse, and you will get a soggy, sunken pizza without crisp edges. 

To start, you just need a cheap loaf of French bread for your pizza base. When you think of traditional French loaf, you may think of the baguette. While baguettes are fantastic, they aren't the best choice. The crust of a baguette becomes too hard when baked, and the surface area is too small for many toppings. Instead, look for a French loaf that is wide and soft, with a gently toasted exterior and light and fluffy interior. 

While the surface area of this type of French bread is ideal for building your pizza, it has a tendency to curl at the edges, which can ruin the whole pizza. The key to preventing curling edges is to slice your French bread loaf in half and crush it. Pressing down on the loaf with a flat surface, like a baking sheet, before pre-toasting the bread helps to keep the edges flat and gives you the perfect surface for building the type of crispy and flavorful pizza that cravings are made of.

Another way to prevent sogginess is by pre-toasting your bread with olive oil or butter before you layer on the toppings. For a flavorful way to pre-toast your bread try brushing on a roasted garlic compound butter and adding a thin layer of mozzarella cheese before pre-toasting it. Garlic is quintessential for making an Italian-American dish with excellent flavor. You can avoid soggy French bread pizza by prepping your loaf with garlic butter and a cheese layer, which repels the moisture from the sauce.   

When it's time to layer on your toppings, get creative and experiment with different flavor profiles. For example, instead of a traditional Italian-inspired pizza, you can try a barbecue-inspired twist. Use a tangy barbecue sauce as the base, and then layer on shredded chicken or pork. Complement the flavors with red onions or a sprinkle of cheddar, and finish with even more mozzarella. You could also swap traditional red sauce for Alfredo and make a delicious white pizza.

Once you have loaded on your favorite toppings, finish your French bread pizza with the broiler for the perfect texture. Doing so provides intense, direct heat that quickly melts the cheese and crisps the toppings. This method ensures a bubbly, golden finish while keeping the bread's interior soft. It also helps to prevent the pizza from becoming soggy, preserving that perfect crunchy texture.