#2 invited her friends over for a study date and she made pizza for lunch. This recipe is take from “Cooking for Kids made easy” and the chef used to cook for Her Majesty the Queen! It is not hard to do but takes a lot of effort. It’s best you make this with your child on a nice relaxing weekend. Or if you are game for a bit of a mess (read: a big mess, you can have a DIY pizza birthday party for your child! It won’t cost much and they’ll have lots of fun) Do allocate about 4 hours before you can eat your pizza as you have to wait a long time for the yeast to rise. It usually takes #2 about 3-4 hours to make this pizza, depending on how many helpers she has!
Ingredients (serves 5 people)
Pizza dough
200ml warm water
1/2 teaspoon salt
7g dried yeast (baking section of supermarket)
1 teaspoon caster sugar
375g plain flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
Tomato sauce
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
4 ripe tomatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
20g caster sugar
50g tomato puree
(we doubled the above ingredients as we had 10 people eating)
Toppings (of your choice)
We used:
200g sliced ham
4 sausages
1 packet bacon
1 packet salami
1 can of button mushroom
1) Put the warm water in a jug and add the salt, dried yeast and sugar
2) Crush the garlic and remove the skin. Chop it finely
3) Peel the onion and chop it finely
7) Carefully pour in the yeast mixture
8) Add the olive oil
9) Mix it with your hands until it comes together
10) Turn the dough onto a clean work surface
11) Knead the dough continuously for about 5 minutes until it is smooth and firm
12) It may be a little tiring but keep going! You are doing great!
13) The dough should be firm and smooth.
14) Make it into a ball shape
15) Sprinkle a bit of flour into a large, clean mixing bowl
16) Put the dough into the bowl and press it down gently
17) Cover the bowl with cling wrap and leave it in a warm place to prove for an hour
18) It should rise and double in size
19) Drizzle the olive oil in a saucepan on medium heat
20) Add the garlic and onion and fry for a couple of minutes until translucent
21) Add the caster sugar
22) Add the chopped tomatoes
23) Add the tomato puree and stir well
24) Put the lid on and let the tomatoes simmer for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally until the sauce thickens
25) Turn off the heat and pour the sauce into a blender
29) After an hour, remove the dough from the warm place and take off the cling wrap
30) Sprinkle the top of the dough with flour and press it down to get some of the air out
31) Turn it out onto a floured work surface
32) Knead the dough for 30 seconds to knock the air out
33) Cut into a few pieces and roll them out separately into large circles
34) Sprinkle more flour if your dough is sticking onto the work surface
35) Roll it out as thin as you can
(this time, her dough didn’t turn out very well as she did not have enough time to wait and she proved the yeast in the oven at 115C which is too hot)
36) Put each pizza base on a baking paper and add toppings of your choice. Finish off with mozzarella cheese
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| Her friends arrived in time to help roll out the dough |
37) Cook the pizza in a pre-heated oven at 200C for about 15 minutes
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| Looks ugly but it’s really yummy! |
By the time lunch was ready, everyone was starving and every time a piping hot pizza came out of the oven it was gobbled up in minutes!
Sane tip: Depending on how many people the child is cooking for (and the age of the child), they may run out of steam half way through. Do anticipate this and be prepared to help out or take over. Most of the time and effort actually comes from making the dough. For a simpler alternative (which is what I do if it was a weekday meal) I will use those ready made bases like Pita base or other alternatives which you can find at the bread section and just add the toppings.
Save tip: It is cheaper than eating at a pizza restaurant.. and it definitely tastes better!
~ mummywee – parenting 6 kids without going mad or broke ~