Chicken, bacon, and ranch dressing is one of my favorite flavor combinations and this french bread pizza is divine. You must make it–today! (Or tomorrow, I’ll give you a little time.)
Of course, you can use store-bought french bread as the base, but c’mon, make some homemade french bread with Grandmother Bread. You won’t be sorry! To make french bread with Grandmother Bread, you add a bit less sugar and a tablespoon of olive oil per loaf in the recipe–you don’t want the bread to be sweet, and the oil gives a tenderness inside and a crispiness outside. A bit of a higher temperature also adds to the nice, crusty french bread style.
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How to make French Bread with Grandmother Bread:
How much pizza do you want to make? Choose the one-loaf or two-loaf recipe.
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One-loaf French Bread with Grandmother Bread recipe–
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 teaspoon yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 1/2 cups flour
Two-loaf French Bread with Grandmother Bread recipe–
3 cups warm water
1 tablespoon (1 packet) yeast
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
7 cups flour
In a large bowl, combine water, yeast, salt, sugar, and oil. Let sit five minutes. Begin stirring in flour with a heavy spoon, a cup at a time, stirring until dough becomes too stiff to continue with a spoon. Add a little more flour and begin kneading. The amount of flour is approximate–your mileage may vary! Continue adding flour and kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic. Let dough rise in a greased, covered bowl until doubled. (Usually 30-60 minutes.) Uncover bowl; sprinkle in a little more flour and knead again before dividing, in two pieces if using the two-loaf recipe. Shape into french bread loaves. Sprinkle a large greased baking sheet with cornmeal if desired. (Sometimes I do this, sometimes I’m lazy. It adds a nice, traditional crunch to the bottom of french bread loaves.)
Place shaped loaves on pan and slide immediately into the oven, setting the heat at 375-degrees. Do not preheat. (The time while the oven is heating up is all the second rise time you need.) Bake for approximately 30-40 minutes. (How long your oven takes to heat up will vary your baking time as preheating is included in the 30-40 minutes–keep an eye on it.)
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How to make Chicken, Bacon, and Ranch French Bread Pizza:
(The following are the recipe amounts for one loaf, sliced open, to make two french bread pizzas. If you use two loaves–which makes four pizzas–double the quantities below.)
olive oil
garlic powder
1 cup ranch dressing
1 pint of canned tomatoes, cut up
1-1/2 cups of mozzarella, shredded
1 cup chicken, cooked and shredded
(season chicken as desired with salt, pepper, garlic, cayenne pepper, etc)
6 slices bacon, fried and crumbled
parsley
Slice french bread in half and place on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic powder.
Spread ranch dressing over loaves then top with tomatoes.
Lay on the mozzarella then the shredded chicken….
….and the crumbled bacon.
Scatter the top with a bit of parsley to make it pretty.
Bake at 400-degrees for about 15 minutes, until the cheese is melted. Cut into slices.
Try to not burn your fingers slicing it into pieces right away because the children are so eager.
Note: This is also a really great make-ahead dish. You can cook and shred the chicken, fry and crumble the bacon, and bake the bread ahead of time and assemble it at the last minute, or even go ahead and assemble it then freeze the pizzas to bake whenever you’re ready.
Try it! You’ll like it!
See this recipe at Farm Bell Recipes and save it to your recipe box.
Box Call says:
Oh now you’ve went and done it. I got up this morning saying I have to, absolutely have to, lose five pounds. Wow that looks sooo good. Umh. Me likes!
On June 3, 2009 at 4:35 am
Bev says:
That does it…some of us are trying to loose some weight ya know. That looks absolutely delicious!
On June 3, 2009 at 5:59 am
monica says:
Anything with bacon, chicken, and cheese is good. but put it on bread and make it into a pizza: DIVINE!
I have heard that you can make mozzarella cheese. do you have recipes for goat milk?
On June 3, 2009 at 6:26 am
Mary says:
:purpleflower: Yumalicious!!!!!! You really know how to give someone hunger pangs!!!!! I guess I’ll be having pizza for lunch now! Have a great day!! :shroom:
On June 3, 2009 at 6:58 am
Kari says:
OMG – I love anything chicken bacon ranch too! I am so making this recipe this week! Thanks for sharing! :sun:
On June 3, 2009 at 7:06 am
Lisa D says:
OMG whenever you post food stuff, i always want to run out and buy the ingredients and try it. I am sure it will not come out as well though!!
On June 3, 2009 at 7:10 am
Susan says:
This looks wonderful! Thanks for sharing. Must try that fantastic bread!!
On June 3, 2009 at 7:16 am
Mollster says:
Oh yum…the “girls” and I will be having this for dinner!! You rock!!
On June 3, 2009 at 7:21 am
Suzanne, the Farmer's Wife says:
My family is going to love this one! It’s a good thing I’m heading out to the store in a few minutes and it’s Grandmother Bread day around here anyway.
Thanks Suzanne.
– the Other Suzanne
On June 3, 2009 at 7:22 am
Stacia says:
Now I’m starving and it’s only 9:40am. I can’t wait to try this recipe!
On June 3, 2009 at 7:42 am
cgReno says:
So very “not thoughtful” of you to post an incredible receipe with PICTURES, on the first day of my new NO CARB 4 weeks…….well, now I have something wonderful to look forward to! WHOW!!!!!
On June 3, 2009 at 8:44 am
Claudia says:
Yum! That looks awesome…I love cooking from scratch and can’t wait to try it! :woof:
On June 3, 2009 at 10:17 am
wilcoxjj says:
Suzanne, that pizza looks fabulous, however, I keep waiting for ya to make some goat cheese. I just watched this YouTube and want to try it, but you go first. 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=goat+cheese&aq=f
On June 3, 2009 at 10:24 am
Kacey says:
Oh, this is our favorite pizza topping too! Love it!
On June 3, 2009 at 11:12 am
Lola-Dawn says:
oh my! I shouldn’t be looking at this … I’ve already ate my lunch for the work day, and it’s only 10:15 am! And i don’t think our staff fridge has the necessary ingredients for this yummy pizza …
On June 3, 2009 at 11:16 am
Linda says:
This looks good and I really love your shrimp french bread pizza.
On June 3, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Debbie in PA says:
Well that’s a combo I would never think of! Looks good! When shall we show up for a sample? :hungry:
Ok a serious question..how do you eat all this wonderful stuff and still stay so trim? You must be blessed with a wonderful metabolism!
On June 3, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Vera says:
:hungry: You always have the best looking food…..
On June 3, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Amber says:
Yummy! That looks fantastic. My family would be so happy if I made that! I really hope you plan on publishing a cookbook with all your fabulous pictures and step by step instructions. No pressure or anything!
On June 3, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Lavon says:
Am I the only person on this great earth that can’t stand ANYTHING with ranch dressing? UGH!!!
On June 3, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Margaret says:
Wow! You hooked me on this chicken, bacon, and ranch pizza!! Your page is WONDERFUL….What a delightful stop to read your life on this cloudy Oregon morning! Will return soon , and good luck on the pregger goat, from my farm upbringing, I vote yes…
On June 4, 2009 at 8:37 am
Laura says:
The Oscar Meyer chicken strips (already cooked and cut) work very well with this dish too! You can find them in the deli section of Walmart. If I don’t have time to grill chicken, I just pull the chicken strips out of the fridge and add them to bread. This dish is great! :yes:
On July 13, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Melissa says:
This one is getting made this weekend, my mouth is watering at the photos.
On November 4, 2009 at 8:34 am
Steve says:
Oh Boy… Looks so good! I feel guilty so I will add a little fresh spinach with the chicken and bacon and get my veggie in..hehe. Thanks for this mouth watering recipe!
On August 16, 2010 at 12:59 am
Maudie says:
Suzanne,
Your recipe is one of my family’s favorites! I baked two loaves of French Bread ala Grandmother this morning and fixed the pizzas for dinner. It feeds all seven of us with leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Yum! I’ve also added chopped baby spinach for color and flavor.
Take Care,
Maudie
On November 18, 2010 at 8:27 pm