A Pizza the Action: Make Your own Pizzas at Home

To get you in the mood for the ongoing voting in the 2014 Pizza Cup (see our round-up of pizza meal deals here), we help you source ingredients so that you can try and make your own pizza at home.

Think you can’t make pizza in a small, oven-less Beijing kitchen? Think again. As the results below prove, it’s not only possible but also surprisingly easy and even marginally cheaper than reaching for the takeout menu. So easy in fact, that we had time to make two versions: one traditional Italian style with ingredients sourced from April Gourmet, and one with a local Beijing twist.

We used a recipe for skillet pizza from the ever-reliable Serious Eats’ The Food Lab series. The ingredients listed below will make at least two pizzas (more from the flour).

The Italian Standard
Annalisa peeled tinned tomatoes: Whip up a quick sauce from canned tomatoes, garlic and basil stalks, or cook down locally grown organic tomatoes (the tomatoes at your local xiaomaibu won’t pack enough of a flavor punch).

Mozzarella: There’s no substitute for mozza on a pizza – trust us, we’ve eaten the Beijing cheese below. If it’s just too expensive, try going for a cheese-less pie instead

Springfield all-purpose flour: You can also source perfectly good flour (ask for biaozhunfen 标准粉) from local shops such as Tongrisheng on Yonghegong Dajie for a fraction of the price.

How much?
Ingredients sourced from April Gourmet

2lb bag Springfield all purpose flour: RMB 31.9
1 sachet dried yeast: RMB 1
14oz can Annalisa peeled tinned tomatoes: RMB 10.9
Ji Kang brand mozzarella: RMB 11.8
Basil: RMB 9.1
Garlic: RMB 2
Total: RMB 66.7

The Beijing Flavor
Roast duck: What dish says Beijing more than Peking duck? Whether or not the flavors belong on a pizza is debatable, but the duck itself would be good in a more traditional recipe.

Beijing cheese 北京干酪: This cheese is made locally by dairy giant Sanyuan. If this is the only cheese available, we say avoid: the texture is disturbingly squeaky when melted.

Jiaozi or dumpling flour: The most widely available flour in Chinese supermarkets, dumpling flour has high gluten content, making it a good substitute for bread flour.

How much?
Ingredients sourced from a local Chinese supermarket chain

3lb bag dumpling flour: RMB 9.9
1 sachet dried yeast: RMB 1
Quanjude Peking Duck Sauce: RMB 7.5
Half a roast duck: RMB 12.5
1 pack Sanyuan Beijing cheese: RMB 21.5
Cucumber: RMB 3.2
Scallions: RMB 2.2
Cilantro: RMB 0.9
Total: RMB 58.7
 

Photos: Ken