Recipe video above. A quick to make pizza bread, made for tucking into lunchboxes or a great savoury snack for morning tea. It's something I created as an economical alternative to pizza bread from Bakers' Delight, a popular Australian bakery chain. Use store-bought pizza sauce and pre-shredded cheese for convenience (true to name!), and whatever toppings your heart desires. Sour cream and olive oil keeps the crumb moist so it will stay fresh for 4 days in an airtight container.
Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan). Oil spray a 23 x 33 cm (9 x 13") metal pan then line with baking / parchment paper (Note 3).
Whisk Dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Whisk Wet ingredients in a separate bowl until combined.
Combine Wet & Dry - Pour Wet into the Dry ingredients. Mix with a rubber spatula until the flour is mostly mixed in but you can still see a bit of flour. Add cheese then stir until you can no longer see flour. Some small lumps is fine, they will bake out.
Assemble - Scrape into the baking pan and evenly spread - it's not that thick, remember it rises! Spread the surface with pizza sauce. Sprinkle with cheese, then (in this order) onion, capsicum, olives then pepperoni.
Bake 40 min - Bake 25 minutes uncovered. Cover with a baking tray (or foil) then bake for a further 15 minutes.
Cool 10 minutes in the pan then use the paper overhang to lift or slide out onto a cooling rack. Cool for a further 10 minutes before slicing to serve.
Serving - Great at room temp though for VIP's, sometimes I warm it in the oven, drizzle with a swish of olive oil and sprinkle with a pinch of oregano.
Notes
1. Baking soda can be substituted with an extra 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder though the bread is not quite as soft and springy. (Notes in post for more info)2. Cheese choices - Any cheese that melts nicely and has flavour works best here. I use Devondale "3 cheese blend" (mozzarella, colby, parmesan). Monterey Jack, cheddar, colby, pepper jack, tasty cheese will all work fine here.Pre-shredded ok - Normally I am a stickler for shredding your own cheese but in the spirt of today's recipe being a quick one, store bought shredded is fine.Mozzarella is a little plain so if that’s all you’ve got add an extra 1/2 teaspoon of salt into your batter.3. Lining pan - single sheet covering long sides + base is enough, no need to line the short sides (as demo'd in the video).Ceramic & glass pans will work but add 3 minutes to the bake time and they will rise a smidge less as they do not conduct heat as quickly.4. Keeps 4 days in an airtight container in the fridge, though best to eat at room temp. Freeze once cooked for up to 3 months. Unless it's a really, hot day, it will be fine in a lunchbox from morning until lunch as the meat is cooked. Otherwise, use an insulated lunchbox!5. Nutrition per slice assuming 12 servings.