Cooking Tips

Pizza Dough Makes Super Sandwich Bread

Pizza-dough sandwiches are the hero of summer.

By Published June 14, 2021

Having sandwiches at a picnic or at the beach seems like a great idea, until you take a bite and it’s stale, soggy, and not appetizing. But you don’t have to eat subpar beach sandwiches any longer.

Cook’s Country’s Morgan Bolling solved the mystery when developing her lineup of picnic sandwich recipes, which boast fillings from turkey with sun-dried tomato spread to ham with olive spread and capicola with spicy artichoke spread. They all had one thing in common: pizza-dough bread.

During her testing, Morgan tried different breads. The key was finding one that wasn’t too soft, which causes the sandwich to fall apart over time. But also one that wasn’t so tough that it feels like a workout to take a bite.

Eventually, she discovered that store-bought pizza dough worked perfectly. A baked loaf creates a bread that’s chewy, while also having enough structure and durability to stand strong against fillings and the elements.

Sign up for the Cook's Country Dinner Tonight newsletter

10 ingredients. 45 minutes. Quick, easy, and fresh weeknight recipes.

America's Test Kitchen will not sell, rent, or disclose your email address to third parties unless otherwise notified. Your email address is required to identify you for free access to content on the site. You will also receive free newsletters and notification of America's Test Kitchen specials.

What you need to do:

1. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and grease it. Place dough on sheet. Cover loosely with greased plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour.
2. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Keeping dough on sheet, use your hands to shape dough into rough 7-inch square (edges may be rounded; this is OK). Brush top with oil. Bake until light golden brown, 13 to 15 minutes. Let cool completely on sheet, about 1 hour.
3. Using a serrated knife, slice baked bread horizontally into 2 even halves. Add desired toppings, and cut into quarters.

This loaf provides four hefty sandwiches that will taste freshly made and will give you the midday boost you need during your summer adventures.

These six recipes are among our all-time favorites. Start a free trial to access all these, plus our other home kitchen–tested, foolproof recipes.