Ciabatta Roll Pizza

I bought some more of these pre-sliced Ciabatta rolls at Publix this morning. Not sure why, but the thought of making some pizza at home using one of these came to mind. I was going to several grocery stores this morning. I bought a 6 oz. can of tomato paste and some sliced pepperoni from IGA. I knew I had some grated mixed cheese (several Italian cheese blend) at home. I had used some of this cheese on the grit cakes that I had made earlier in the week. The cheese toasted with brown highlights on the polenta, and worked well.

I found an article online, “How to Easily Make Pizza Sauce with Tomato Paste,”

INGREDIENTS

Pizza Sauce (Basic) (Approximately 670 calories total, Makes about 1.5 cups)

12 oz tomato paste (organic if possible) (~360 calories)
½ tsp salt (negligible calories)
2 tsp oregano (~8 calories)
2 tsp thyme (~8 calories)
½ tsp garlic powder (~4 calories)
4 Tbs olive oil (~480 calories)¹
2 tsp white vinegar (negligible calories)

Notes:

Calorie counts are approximate and can vary slightly depending on brands.
The majority of the calories come from the olive oil.
This is the total calorie count for the entire recipe. To determine the calories per serving, divide the total by the number of servings.
The finished product of this recipe yeilds approximately 1 and 1/2 cups of pizza sauce.

With approximately 1.5 cups of pizza sauce, and needing about 1/4 to 1/3 cup per small pizza, you could cover roughly 4 to 6 small pizzas.

I had bought a 6 oz. can of tomato paste so I just “eye-balled” the rest of the ingredients and put them in a small glass jar and mixed it up with a dinner knife. The finished product tasted like the pizza sauce that I enjoyed at Pizza Hut/Inn in years past. I used about half of the homemade tomato sauce for the two Ciabatta slices, slathering the sauce fairly thickly on the bread from edge to edge. Spreading pizza sauce on Ciabatta slices may require more sauce than if you were spreading the sauce on a smooth pizza dough because of the craggy nature of Ciabatta (like an English Muffin has a craggy surface).

I diced up a little (very little) sweet yellow bell pepper, and some onion, and put this on each slice. I then put some grated cheese blend on each slice and then finally, I put about 7 or 8 of the pepperoni slices on each slice of bread.

I used Bake at 400 degrees for a while until I thought the cheese was browning. I then used Broil on Hi for a short time until I saw the pepperoni beginning to shine (oil). *In retrospect, it might be more useful to toast these pizzas first, without the pepperoni on top. That way the cheese and other toppings could melt and then add the pepperoni which would crisp up much quicker than the other items.

After I took the pizza out of the oven, I sliced each slice in half. The pizza looked good… the pizza tasted good. This would satisfy my hunger for pizza at home.

NOTE: I used another Ciabatta roll the next day to make another pizza, like the one above. The homemade pizza sauce that I had refrigerated may have been even better. It has a real good pizza sauce flavor. Bake 425 degrees for most of the time, and then a short time on Broil on HI. The pizza was good again!

I managed to make three pizzas (3 Ciabatta rolls, pre-sliced in two, and then each half cut in two after the pizzas were done) out of the homemade pizza sauce. That sauce has really good flavor. I want to find a pizza dough, or pre-cooked pizza base to make a larger pizza. But, the above Ciabatta Pizza is very satisfying and probably is enough for a meal.

I bought a Ciabatta Loaf at Publix and had them slice it. The loaf was a little more flat, compared to the one shown above, so the slices were more elongated. *I made another batch of pizza sauce, which turned out to be good again. I used four slices of bread, slathered with pizza sauce and added some red bell pepper and onion. Then sprinkled sparingly with the 6 cheese blend. The elongated slices took four slices of pepperoni. *I decided that I didn’t like the Ciabatta Loaf better than the Rolls.

NOTE [08/28/22]: Publix has had a problem, for more than a month, with getting ingredients for their baked breads. The dark Mountain Bread has been unavailable for about a month. I just noticed that the Ciabatta Rolls weren’t available either. But, I haven’t been trying to buy them to make homemade pizza, until recently. *I went to Fresh Market and found some Ciabatta Rolls. Not quite square in shape as are the ones from Publix, and the interior side is much more craggy (more craggy than the Publix Ciabatta Loaf pictured above), even some very large depressions, which makes spreading the pizza sauce more difficult. [end NOTE]

*Not something I want to do regularly, but there are other Publix, not nearby, but I went to a Cary Publix and had no problem getting the Ciabatta Rolls. And, I bought a couple of Ciabatta rolls from Wegman’s the other day too.

Ingredient Cost for 1 Ciabatta Roll (sliced with two halves & then quartered):

Ciabatta Roll [top & bottom halves/quartered] $.75
Homemade Pizza Sauce $.75
Yellow Bell Pepper $.35
Sweet Onion $.35
Shredded Italian Cheeses $.50
Sliced Pepperoni [16 slices/8 @ half] $.80

Total Cost for 4 slices of Ciabatta Roll Pizza: $3.50

Just had it again. Made some fresh pizza sauce, and the finished product doesn’t give me indigestion! I haven’t made 12 oz. of the pizza sauce yet, and I forget and add the other ingredients as if I were using 12 oz. of tomato paste, but it still has good flavor.

I think I can make about 3 Ciabatta Roll pizzas out of a 6 oz. can of tomato paste. I did have some left over pizza sauce that I did not use for a week, and I think it was starting to “go bad,” so use the sauce you make within a few days. *The note to myself about the quantity of sauce I want to make is, make only a half recipe (use only 1 6oz. can of tomato paste) of the pizza sauce. I only need enough sauce for 3 or 4 Ciabatta Roll Pizzas, and left over sauce will go bad.

This is an extremely satisfying homemade pizza. It is consistently good, and satisfies my “pizza craving.” But, I think I am locked into the basic ingredients: Ciabatta roll, homemade sauce, chopped bell pepper & sweet onion, shredded mozzarella (or an Italian cheese blend) and sliced pepperoni. *I tried a Hawaiian Pizza: chunk pineapple and sliced ham, and this wasn’t as satisfying. **Update: I’ve found a bread that is more satisfying, in a way, and that is the “Thomas Keto Bagel Mini.” It is very thin and pre-sliced (it would be extremely difficult to slice it by hand) but this makes it perfect as the mini-pizza bread.

Remember. No indigestion from this, and it is filling & satisfying.

I was looking online at the Pizza Sauce recipe and saw that they had a “books” section. The following “The Pizza Bible:…: had an excerpt on “After School Ciabatta Pizza”.

NOTE [07/05/22]: When I was in Whole Foods today, I noticed they had Ciabatta Rolls. There were four in a pack, and each roll was longer. I hope to remember to buy one of these to try out for the pizza, but didn’t today because I knew I already had some at home. The price was cheaper, for the 4 I think.

[NOTE 09/06/24]: I tried some different flavors for dinner tonight. I still had some sliced onion but I picked some fresh basil off my porch, and I opened a can of the Season Anchovies. *I put the anchovies and the chopped basil on top of the pizza sauce and then spread the shredded mixed Italian cheeses blend. I baked this for a while and set it to broil on low. After the cheese started to toast I put the pepperoni slices on top and put it back under Broil HI. It doesn’t take long to crisp up the sausage, so you have to pay attention or it definitely could burn.

I didn’t like the flavor because I had put too much anchovies on these slices. I do like anchovies on a pizza, but not on these homemade pizzas. I would put the chopped basil on again, with onion and the chopped bell pepper and pepperoni. That is satisfying.

If I could get the right fresh ham, I might like to try a Hawaiian Pizza. I like the ham and pineapple chunks. But, I would have to cut the chunks into really small pieces.

I like bacon and ground beef, and they might go well, but I would leave off the pepperoni. Still, I know that the Pepperoni, Onion & Sweet Bell Pepper pizza, with cheese is consistently satisfying. [end NOTE]

[NOTE]: I may have mentioned elsewhere that you could use this sauce for breakfast too. Maybe on English Muffin halves with melted cheese would go with a scrambled egg and bacon. *In fact, maybe coming up with a Ciabatta Roll Breakfast Pizza that includes tomatoes, bacon & egg. [end NOTE]

[NOTE 12/27/25]: The last time I made pizza at home, I used a Thomas Keto Bagel Thin instead of Ciabatta rolls. They have a hole but it is small enough to be filled with one or two slices of pepperoni. I’m wearing a Stelo CBGM and plan to test out whether the pizzas are diabetic friendly. *I don’t know how long I had the left over bagels in my fridge. I put the pizza sauce on the bagel, then a pepperoni to cover the hole, and then sweet bell pepper & diced onion, then the shredded cheese blend and finally a layer of pepperoni. Looking at the picture of it, I prefer to put the pepperoni layer on the pizza sauce layer. [end NOTE]

[NOTE 12/29/25]: I use three halves of the Thomas Keto Bagel Thins. They are very thin and are only 2 Net Carbs and 80 calories per bagel. What I did this time, and it worked very well, was to put the pizza sauce on each bagel half. I then layered pepperoni around each bagel. I had a small amount of ground beef that I browned in a small skillet along with some green bell pepper, onion & a miniscule amount of red jalapeno diced. I did add a little garlic powder and some red pepper flakes. *I normally wouldn’t use green bell pepper, but had some left over after trying to make chili last night and most of the ground beef was also used for the Wendy’s Chili.

[end NOTE]