5 Star Makeover: Margherita Pizza the Chinese Way

This month's 5 Star Makeover theme is... pizza! Loved the theme because pizza allows so much room for creativity. For my pizza, I chose to make Margherita pizza, with a Chinese twist.

Chinese Margherita Pizza

I wrapped the typical Margherita flavors in a Chinese pastry bun. The slight tinge of sweetness in the dough made the classic Margherita pizza that much more interesting. Although the taste of this pizza bun resembles that of a Calzone, the key difference lies in the multiple layers of a Chinese pastry dough. The texture is light and buttery as opposed to heavy and chewy.

Chinese Margherita Pizza served with a Mozzarella, Carrot, and Arugula "stirfry"

Margherita Pizza the Chinese Way
makes 12 buns
Ingredients
Outer Pastry Layer

• 1.5 tbsp of butter
• 2 tbsp of sugar
• 1 cup of all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup of cold water

Inner Pastry Layer

• 1 cup of cake flour
• 4 tbsp of butter
• 1 tomato, juice drained and chopped

Filling

• 1/4 cup of basil leaves
• a handful of toasted pine nuts
• 1 tbsp of shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 tbsp of butter
• 1 tsp of olive oil
• 1 clove of garlic
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 oz of mozzarella cheese, cut into 1" x 2" rectangles

Other

• 1 egg, beaten
• Oregano, sea salt, and pepper for topping

Recipe

1. Mix outer layer ingredients and roll it into a dough. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes.
2. Mix inner layer ingredients and roll it into a dough.
3. Separate dough for each of the two layers into 12 balls. You now have 12 outer layer balls and 12 inner layer balls.
4. Roll an outer layer dough ball into a flat circle, envelope the inner layer ball and wrap the outer layer around it. Use a rolling pin and roll the combined dough ball into a flat oval shape. From the short side, roll it up and have the opening face downward on a surface. Let it rest for 15 minutes. Repeat this for all dough balls.
5. Preheat oven to 350F.
6. Flatten the rolls with rolling pin. Then, roll the flat dough up again into a roll. Roll it out into a flat circle. Repeat this for all dough balls.
7. Puree basil, cheddar cheese, pine nuts, garlic, butter in a food processor and season with salt and pepper to taste.
8. On the flat dough circle, put a small piece of tomato, a small piece of mozzarella, and some basil mixture. Enclose the dough around the filling and shape it into a round ball. Brush with egg mixture and sprinkle dough ball with oregano, salt and pepper. Bake the 12 dough balls for about 25-30 minutes until top is golden brown.

As always, thank you to Natasha from 5 Star Foodie and Laz from Lazaro Cooks! for hosting this month's challenge. Looking forward to September!

hosted by 5 Star Foodie & Lazaro Cooks!