Deep pan pizzas are easy to make when you have a non-stick oven-proof frying pan to hand. This pizza, prepared with a cheese-packed scone dough for simplicity - which soaks up the juicy flavours of the tomato pasta beautifully - when topped with fresh ingredients like olives and basil, is super easy to make, has panache, style and great taste.

Ingredients

Scone Dough Base

• 2 cups self raising flour
• 25 grams butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup grated or finley diced cheddar-style cheese
• 1 egg, lighly beaten
• 3/4 cup milk

Toppings

• 1/2 cup your favourite tomato pasta sauce (not tomato paste)
• 100-150 grams mozarella cheese, finley sliced
• 80-100 grams finely sliced salami
• handful fresh basil or majoram leaves
• 2 medium-sized tomatoes, diced or use halved cherry tomatoes
• olives; black or green, stuffed, stoned or plain
• a little extra grated or shredded parmesan or other cheddar-style cheese

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Grease the base of a 28cm non-stick, oven-proof frying pan. Greasing the pan will ensure the pizza base has a lovely golden crust when cooked.
2. Put the flour in a bowl and rub in the butter. Stir though the cheese and make a well in the centre. Add the egg and milk and use a knife to mix to a soft dough adding more milk if required. Press the dough evenly into the base of the prepared frying pan and about half way up the sides. The centre of the pan needs to look a little bit like a crater.
3. Spread the tomato pasta sauce over the centre of the pizza base, leaving about a 2cm wide rim around the outside uncovered. Scatter over the mozzarella cheese and salami.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until the pizza base is cooked. It will move freely in the pan once cooked and the centre will be risen and firm to the touch - do this with an spoon or spatula as the sauce will be hot.
5. Scatter over the remaining extra toppings and serve drizzled with olive oil.

Cooks Tips

Vary the flavour of the base with different cheeses; mozzarella, soft rind cheese, or even blue cheese.

Before serving, brush the cooked edges of the pizza base with olive oil to achieve a glossy look.

While you can add more pasta sauce, too much will make the centre of the pan pizza too hard to cook. Add extra sauce on the side, gently warmed if wished.