Finally! You’ve made it through the week and Friday is upon you. If you’re anything like me, you’ve got this lingering feeling that Friday is for letting loose, even if you have little ones underfoot. And even though I hit Happy Hour on Friday with about as much energy left in me asa old mop, I still want to make it fun. And what, at this stage in my life, is more fun than pizza? Sadly, nothing!
Now we’ve started to make Friday night “pizza night” but with a twist. We don’t just order it from the nearest pizzeria, we make it with the kids involved. Wanna try? Check out our easy pizza recipe below:
The dough:
You’ll need about 300g of flour (that’s 2 cups), 200ml of warm water (that’s about 2/3 cup), 1 tsp of instant yeast, 1 tsp of salt and 1 tbsp of olive oil. In a large bowl, mix the flour, yeast and salt
together. Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour the water and oil in. Mix gently with a wooden spoon until you’ve got a nice wet dough. Take the dough out of the bowl and start to kneed it on a clean, floured surface. This is a great time to get the kids involved in making the dough! After kneeding for a few minutes, place the dough back in the bowl and cover it with aclean dishcloth. Let it rise for as long as you’d like (max 30 mins). The more it rises, the thicker the crust.
The sauce:
While your dough is rising, start to make the sauce. Your pizza can have a tomato base or a pesto base depending on your family’s preference. For tomato sauce, bring to simmer some crushed tomatoes, garlic, a little tiny drop of olive oil and maybe some salt. If this part seems unnecessary, store bought pizza sauce is great too!
Roll out the dough
Divide the dough into as many pizzas as you want to make (at least two). Punch down the dough and roll it out on a clean, floured workspace. You’ll want to roll it out quite thin as it will rise as it cooks. If you make individual pizzas, you can let your kids do whatever they’d like with their pizza while preserving the sanctity of your own! Place each pizza on a flat baking tray.
The Toppings:
Basically here, anything goes. If you pre-chop the vegetables, meats and cheeses that you like, you can
place them in shallow plastic bowls that are perfect for little kids to handle. When the dough is ready, spread the sauce all over and allow the kids to add the toppings they want!
Bake at at 220 degrees Celsius (420F) for about 8-10 minutes or until the crust is a nice golden brown. Remove from oven, serve and ENJOY!
