Revealed! How YOU can recreate restaurant favourite pizzas at home

Price of Margherita frying pan pizza kit (for two people): £13.95 (£6.90 per person) 

Total cost of Holly’s pizza (per person): £3.82

Total saving compared to buying DIY kit: £3.08 

Pizza Pilgrims have launched Frying Pan Pizza Kits, so Brits can create top-notch, restaurant quality pizzas while at home. Pictured, Margherita frying pan pizza

Pizza kit ingredients: 

– 2 x Pizza Pilgrims Neapolitan 48 hour proved dough balls with Caputo Flour from Naples

– Marinara sauce for 2 pizzas

– Fresh Fior Di Latte for 2 pizzas

– Fresh Basil

– Parmesan

– Pesto Crust Dipper for dipping your crusts! 

Price of Margherita frying pan pizza kit (pictured) for two people will cost you £13.95

Breakdown of Holly’s supermarket ingredient costs: 

· ½ tsp fast action easy yeast (3p)

· 130mls cold water

· 145g 00 flour, plus 25g to work the dough into a pizza with (26p)

· 1 tsp table salt (1p)

· 2 tbsp olive oil (17p) 

· 2 tbsp Italian chopped tomatoes (3p)

· 150g Fresh Fior Di Latte Mozzarella, drained weight (or similar if you can’t get hold of this) (£3)

· 1 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese (22p)

· 5 fresh basil leaves (10p) 

Method:

1. Mix the yeast into the cold water until it dissolves.

2. Weigh the flour into a bowl, make a well in the middle and add the yeast mixture. 

Stir with a spoon until it comes together, then add the salt and stir again. It will be very wet, the Pizza Pilgrims say we are looking for the consistency of custard.

3. Lightly oil your work-surface and hands with 1 tbsp of the oil, then scrape the dough out onto the work surface. Knead the very wet dough by pushing it backwards and forwards for 10 minutes. 

Leave to rest for 10 minutes, then repeat the kneading for a further 10 minutes. Place back into the bowl, cover with clingfilm and set aside for a minimum of 8 hours, 24 if you have planned ahead.

4. To make the tomato sauce, take the tinned tomatoes and hand mill (push!) them through a wide sieve as the Pizza Pilgrims do. 

Don’t forget to place a bowl under the sieve to catch the tomato sauce and discard any skin or seeds left in the sieve. Drain your mozzarella well and cut roughly using scissors.

5. When you are ready to make your pizza, preheat the grill to the hottest setting and place a non stick frying pan onto the hob, again on the hottest setting.

6. Use half the extra 00 flour to sprinkle on your work surface, tip the dough out and sprinkle the rest of the flour onto the dough. 

Use your fingertips to push the dough into a circle about 10 inches across. Carefully transfer to the very hot frying pan.

7. Add a thin layer of the sieved tomatoes, leaving a couple of centimetres around the edges for the crust to puff up.

8. Add the Parmesan, basil leaves and mozzarella, in that order.

9. Drizzle with olive oil.

10. Return to the hob for 1 – 2 minutes, until the base has browned (you can lift it carefully to check).

11. Place the frying pan under the very hot grill until the crust has taken on some colour – this can take 1 minute or 5 depending on your grill – be careful the oil doesn’t catch fire! Then serve.

Verdict: This was a nightmare from start to finish. The dough was supposed to be the consistency of custard, but this is a really vague reference point. 

The dough I made was very wet; you really need a dough scraper to work with it. It also transferred badly to the pan. 

I couldn’t find the cheese in my local supermarket or their Caputo flour, so used their premium mozzarella which may have been a mistake as it pooled around the base once I put it under the grill. 

Then the oil on the pizza set on fire under the grill! I think this recipe is for experienced bakers only really who have a lot of time on their hands (I rarely anticipate I want pizza 24 hours in advance) and frankly it’s so messy and hard to source the ingredients I’d rather order the kit. 

Despite all this, taste wise it was pretty good, if a little salty.

Ease: 1/10

Sourcing ingredients: 0/10 (especially in lockdown)

Taste: 7/10 

Holly's finished version of the Pizza Pilgrims Margherita frying pan pizza

Holly’s finished version of the Pizza Pilgrims Margherita frying pan pizza