Grilled French Bread Pizzas--Four Ways

Grilled French Bread Pizzas, Four Ways
Each pizza serves 2 or more, depending on if used as a meal or appetizer

French bread loaf, 12 inches (approximately)
Your choice of toppings (your options are infinite.) I used (from top to bottom):

Cheesy Garlic Bread
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large garlic clove, crushed and minced
1/4 cup (1 ounce) shredded mozzarella

Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza
1 tablespoon bacon grease (you can use olive oil if you prefer)
2 tablespoon tomato paste
4 ounces ground beef, cooked
2 strips bacon, cooked and chopped
2 slices cheddar cheese (sharp if possible) or 2 ounces shredded

Olive, Mushroom & Spinach Pizza
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large garlic clove, crushed and minced
1/2 can (4 ounce can) mushrooms (I use Pennsylvania Dutch brand, no added salt)
4 green olives, sliced thinly
4 Kalamata olive, sliced thinly
1 ounce fresh baby spinach, chopped finely
1 ounce (1/4 cup) shredded mozzarella

Mushroom & Swiss Pizza
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large garlic clove, crushed and minced
8 ounces fresh crimini mushrooms, sliced
1/2 medium onion, sliced
2 slices Swiss cheese (or 2 ounces)

The instructions are basically the same for each and only vary with the difference in toppings.

1. Preheat your grill in high, or set your oven's broiler on high.
2. Cut the loaf in half, lengthwise. 
3. Carefully remove as much the bread from the cut face of each half, creating a long bowl for the crust. When finished, each shell should weight about 2 or 2.5 ounces. (Save the removed bread to make bread crumbs, if you want.)
4. Evenly spread the oil (or bacon grease) over the cut surface (not the crust). Spread garlic if the recipe calls for it.
5. Prepare all fillings. If you didn't cook the ground beef specifically for this recipe, warm it in a microwave oven in a skillet on the stove. (Do the same for the bacon.) Slice and chop all ingredients, and pre-measure the cheeses if needed.
6. For the mushroom filling, preheat a nonstick skillet. Add a bit of cooking spray. Saute the onions and mushrooms until everything is softened the the mushrooms have released their water.
7. When all toppings are ready, take the bread to the grill. Turn the heat to low and lay them, cut side DOWN, on the grill. Don't walk away. The crusts go from raw to crispy to burned with very little time in between those stages. (Mine were getting close to burnt!)  This will take 1-2 minutes. If you are using your broiler, place them cut side UP, and give them the same 1-2 minutes. The idea is to crisp the crust, and help it resist absorbing any juices from the fillings and getting soggy.
8. Take the crusts back to your work area. Fill the crusts in the order that they are given.
9. Return the pizzas to the grill or broiler (in both cases, cut side UP.) 
   
10. Remove when the cheese is melted.
11. Let rest briefly, then cut and serve.

Nutritional data (per half of one pizza):

             Cheesy Bread    Bacon-Cheese  Olive & Spinach   Mush & Swiss

Calories       160                     322                    202                       245

Fat:             9.4g                     19g                 12.5g                    13.3g

Sat fat:        2.4g                    9.1g                   2.6g                      5.1g

Chol:        7.6mg                  54mg                7.5mg                    20mg

Sodium:   227mg                328mg                550mg                  209mg

Carbs:       14.4g                  17.9g                  16.9g                       22g

Fiber:          0.4g                    1.1g                   1.5g                      1.5g

Protein:       5.2g                  19.1g                    6.6g                    11.2g

Note: This is my first attempt at these recipes, and I liked the crispy crust. At Tammy's request, I will try these techniques again, but not toast the bread initially for a softer crust. I will also use some different fillings (yet to be decided.) I will post the results here, later this week.