Frozen French Bread Pizza in an Air Fryer

Doneness

Cheese is fully melted and lightly browned at the edges with the classic frozen-pizza glossy surface; pepperoni has cupped and rendered fat into shallow grease pools on top of the cheese (the visible doneness cue for any meat-topping frozen pizza); bread underside is golden-brown and firm — picks up by one end without bending; centre of the bread is hot when split with a knife (no cold dough-crumb seam in the middle).

Technique

Place the frozen french-bread half directly on the basket grate, cheese-side up, no thaw, no preheat. The cold start gives the dense bread a few seconds to thaw before the convection starts crisping the crumb. No flip — flipping pours the toppings into the basket. For 2 pieces, leave at least ½ inch between them so airflow gets to the bread sides. Pull at 9 min; the cheese should be fully bubbling and the bread underside firm when picked up by tongs.

Oil & seasoning

None — the cheese, sauce and pepperoni provide more than enough fat. Extra oil pools in the bread crumb and turns the underside greasy-soft instead of bread-crisp.

Watch out for

• !Do not exceed 10 minutes. The bread base browns from gold to scorched-black in under 60 seconds past 9 min — the dense baguette holds heat and keeps cooking even with the basket open. Pull at the 9-min cue.
• !Single layer — never stack french bread pizzas. A second piece on top blocks airflow and the lower piece stays cold in the middle while the top piece scorches.
• !Do not cover with foil to 'protect' the cheese. The cheese is supposed to brown lightly; foil makes the crust stay pale and gummy. If the cheese is already darker than you like at 7 min, drop the temperature to 360 °F for the last 2 min instead of foiling.
• !If the bread is wider than your basket, cut it in half lengthwise (bread + topping intact on each half) — do NOT trim the bread and try to fit a too-wide piece on its side.