Pizza (the easy peasy kid-friendly way)
I find cooking to be an excellent distraction to keep children amused when babysitting. A friends wedding anniversary was my excuse to teach a 7 year old and 9 year old the finer art of pizza making. And what is really good about this recipe is the dough is relatively trouble free. No rolling. No stretching. No cursing when the damn dough springs back. This is tactile therapy at it’s best.
Pizza (the easy peasy kid-friendly way)
Crust
3/4 cup very warm water
1 tsp freeze dried yeast
1/2 teaspoon white sugar
1 and a 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon olive oil
Olive oil and a sprinkle of semolina for baking trays
Topping
1 cup of sugo / leftover bolognaise / passata / pizza sauce
1 cup grated cheese, mozzarella with a dash of parmesan is good
And your choice of whatever you want and whatever the kids will eat!
Put the water, yeast and sugar in a cup and mix to blend. Let stand for 10 minutes to get foamy.
In a large bowl mix the flour and salt. Add the yeast mixture and the teaspoon of oil and mix with a spoon until you have a smooth sticky dough. Note: This dough is not firm, hence the easy peasy factor. Have faith. Cover the bowl in clingfilm and set in a warm place to rise for half an hour.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius and line two trays with baking paper (or oil up some pizza trays). Sprinkle with the semolina flour to prevent sticking.
This recipe will make approximately two 20cm diameter pizzas.
Once the dough has risen, use a spoon to scoop out half the mixture and place it on the tray. Uh huh…goopy, eh? The next bit is fun. Oil up the kids hands and get them to press the dough into round shapes about 5mm thick. Don’t worry if they turn out misshapen. This just adds to their character.
Spread the pizza dough with sauce, and decorate / adorn / garnish with your choice of toppings.
Bake in the oven for around 20 minutes.
Written by mellie on
August 12th, 2006 | Tags: Uncategorized | Category: Uncategorized
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August 14th, 2006 at 1:54 pm
Oh dear god, those hunks of mushroom have me craving a big, mushroomy, cheesy pizza so badly right now! Glad the kids had fun
August 15th, 2006 at 11:23 am
What a great idea, now I know what to do next time I have to babysit or keep kids amused!
August 15th, 2006 at 2:02 pm
Hey there Ellie - uh huh, I can’t go past big chunky mushrooms on a pizza either. And throw in a handful of olives (in this case, big green ones) and I’m in pizza heaven.
Hi Belinda - cooking is the best with kids. I tend to be a little take-overish “sometimes”. But I try to resist the temptation of jumping in with the cry “Nooooo…you do it this way!” ;-). BTW, my next blog entry is also a cooking project the kids that I did the day after the pizza episode. Stay tuned, cause this one is chocolatey!
August 16th, 2006 at 9:15 pm
My girl would never eat a pizza with toppings like that *sigh*. Just a straight up margarita sans basil.
August 18th, 2006 at 10:50 pm
Hey Neil - nothing wrong with a straight up pizza! I often sway to a margartita - just for its simpleness. But good crust, sugo, cheese and herbs is a must!