Party food you can make ahead, freeze and can even be reheated in the microwave without it going soggy! Every piece of bread you pull out is like a mini pizza!
Prep Time15 minutesmins
Cook Time30 minutesmins
Total Time45 minutesmins
Course: Party Food
Servings: 8
Calories: 269cal
Author: Nagi | RecipeTin Eats
Ingredients
1/3cupsalted butter
1garlic clove, minced (or 2 if you like really garlicky)
1baguette / french, 60cm / 2 feet long (or multiple short ones)
1/3cuppizza sauce
1 1/4 to 1 1/2cupsgrated mozzarella cheese(Notes 1 and 2)
4 oz / 120g pepperoni, sliced or diced (I used mini pepperoni)
1/4red onion, finely diced (optional)
1/2tbspfresh parsley, finely diced (optional)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
Melt butter with the garlic in it.
Cut the french stick into 1.5 - 2 cm / 3/5" - 4/5" thick slices (about 25 slices, including ends) and lay them out on a work surface.
Brush butter on each slice, ensuring to dab some garlic on. Use most but not all the butter.
Spread a small dab of pizza sauce on each piece of bread, top with onion, cheese then pepperoni (in this order).
Stack 6 or 7 pieces of bread on top of each other. Then pick up the stack (hold the top and bottom pieces) and place it in a 22cm / 8" square baking dish. (See photos below) (Note 3)
Brush the top of the bread with the remaining butter.
Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes, or until cheese is mostly melted. Then remove the foil and bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown and crusty (to your liking).
Remove from oven, sprinkle with parsley (if using) and serve immediately!
Notes
1. You can substitute the mozzarella for any melting cheese of your choice but mozzarella gives the best "stretch". Provolone Dolce is pretty good for stretch too. If you are planning to reheat again after baking, or are expecting leftovers (unlikely!), then I suggest sticking with mozzarella because it remelts quite well.2. I tried this with sliced and grated cheese. Grated works better - sliced tends to slide to the bottom when it melts and doesn't distribute as well on each slice (also more calories!).3. Fitting the bread in the baking dish snugly is key for ensuring the cheese and pepperoni don't slide to the bottom while baking.4. This can be frozen (2 months) or refrigerated (3 days) before or after baking. If it is uncooked, then follow the recipe directions to bake in the oven (thaw first, or add 5 to 10 minutes to the baking time). If you have refrigerated or frozen a baked one (i.e. cheese is melted), then you can reheat it in the oven (wrap in foil) or in the microwave (it does not go soggy because it has a thick crust on it).5. If you bake it, then after it has cooled and set, you can remove it from the dish (use a spatula) and wrap it in foil. It holds together quite well when reheated so it is transportable without the baking dish.5. Nutrition per serving.