Take Your Sandwiches to the Next Level and Nix Sogginess by Making This Bread Swap

How often have you put together a sandwich only to watch your bread get all soggy and then fall apart before you can even take a bite? The answer to your woes may be a little unconventional, but it totally works: Pizza dough.

I originally came across this tip courtesy of Danielle LaPierre at America’s Test Kitchen, who suggests that instead of using whatever run-of-the-mill bread you have on hand for sandwich, substitute it with slices of pizza dough! LaPierre makes a compelling argument: She says that unlike many types of traditional sandwich loaves, pizza dough is made to be thicker, more durable, and able to maintain its shape and structure without getting all soggy and bogged down by your fillings. Interesting, right?

If you’re reading this and thinking, I don’t have time to make pizza dough from scratch, the good news is, you don’t have to. Instead, you can buy any store-bought pizza dough, cut it into seven-inch squares, and bake at least two squares of it at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 13 to 15 minutes. If you want to go the extra mile, you can even brush a fine layer of oil on it before baking. (And if you do want to try your hand at making your own dough, there’s a two-ingredient recipe for that!)

I love an interesting food swap, so I was immediately intrigued by this one given how many sandwiches I eat every week. I feel like I’ve tried out all sorts of different combos for my filling, but I’ve never given to much thought to my bread choices or the fact that they often get so mushy after a while. A few days ago, I was making a classic BLT with some avocado and a sunny-side up egg, and I thought it’d be a perfect sandwich to test out this pizza dough bread idea since it’s a meal highly susceptible to sogginess. I bought dough at a grocery store nearby, baked two squares in my convection oven for about 13 minutes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit, and presto, I had sandwich bread!

Personally, I like my bread on the chewier side, so I might bake it for a minute or two less in my particular oven next time around, but overall, I loved how this bread turned out! It absorbed the sandwich filling so much better than other types I’ve tried, and it held firm the entire time I was eating. It also tasted delicious without overpowering what was inside of my sandwich. Plus, this could be the perfect fix for keeping sandwiches intact on a beach or picnic day when your food is sitting for a while before you dig in.

I call this experiment a success!