French Bread Pizza

My niece Ashley loves to make her pizza with French bread. I make it exactly the way she does, except I use a homemade pizza sauce. Bottled pizza sauce is also convenient. You may wish to omit the pizza seasonings and pepper for a milder kid-friendly sauce. The seasoning used in this recipe is available online from www.penzeys.com. They have an amazing variety of spice mixtures.  

    1 (20 x 4-inch) loaf French bread
    1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
    1 (6-ounce) can Italian tomato paste
    1 teaspoon pizza seasoning
    ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
    4 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
    1 (3.5-ounce) package mini-pepperoni slices

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚.  Cut the loaf in half, lengthwise. Place
    the two halves, cut side up on a baking sheet.

2. Pizza Sauce: In a medium bowl, whisk the tomato sauce,
    tomato paste, pizza seasonings and pepper until blended.

3. Top bread halves with enough sauce to cover the surface.
    Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and top with pepperoni slices.

4. Bake for 10 minutes. Change the oven setting to broil and
    cook just until the cheese is bubbly. Cut into 2-inch slices
    with a pizza wheel.

    Makes 16 two-inch slices