Making Pizza With Children | Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

I've yet to meet a child who doesn't love pizza.

And I've yet to make a child who doesn't enjoy making play dough.

Which is pretty handy as once they've made play dough, they're nine tenths of the way there to making their own super scrummy - and pretty healthy - pizza.

Admittedly pizza making is a bit more drawn out.

But I've found it's fine as long as you explain very clearly right at the beginning that there will be a big break whilst the dough rises and plan to go off and do something else for an hour or so.

Or that you're pretty relaxed about which bits of the pizza making they get involved with and happily let different children do different bits.

We had loads of fun making pizzas the other weekend with our neighbours' children and they all just opted in and out as it took their fancy - some made dough, some did rolling and some spread puree and decorated.

Our fave dough recipe is a bread dough recipe from the fabulous River Cottage Toddler Cookbook - you can use the same basic recipe to make bread, pizzas, bread sticks the lot.

For the pizza we make it with about 25% wholemeal bread flour which obviously makes it a lot healthier but also really tasty. And if you use the recipe for bread or pittas you can up the wholemeal further.

Ingredients
250g / 1.056 cups strong white bread flour
125g / 0.528 cups wholemeal bread flour
125g / 0.528 cups plain white flour
2 tsp easy-blend yeast
2 tsp sugar
1.5 tsp salt
2 tbsp oil

1 tube of tomato puree
250g / 1.056 cups mozarella
Whatever toppings you have / fancy

Recipe

Mix up the flours, yeast, sugar & salt in a big bowl
Pour the oil & about 300 ml / 9 fl oz of warm water into a well in the dry ingredients
Combine into a dough in the bowl
Knead the dough on floured surface for 15 minutes
Pour a little oil into a bowl and roll the dough round in the oil
Cover the bowl with cling film & leave in warmish spot for at least an hour
Pre-heat the oven to its maximum temperature
Knock the dough back - puncture it - and then roll on floured service
Purists say you need to get it about 5mm / a fifth of an inch thick but this is quite tricky for small children so just help them to roll it to whatever thickness you're happy with
Fit onto a couple of greased baking sheets
Spread with puree & decorate with toppings and mozarella

And voila in just 10-12 minutes fab home made pizza that the children made themselves!

If you're looking for more great ideas for baking with children do check out the totally brilliant River Cottage Baby & Toddler Cookbook - it's chock full of fab ideas from first solids onwards and all the recipes are genuinely great for grown ups as well.

I also recommend if you're doing much baking with children that you get a small proper rolling pin like this one as full size ones are too big for them and children's ones a waste of time.