The latest in our cooking with kids series looks at kneading, rolling and sauce skills- then let your child build their own pizza from their favourite toppings
Prep:30 mins
Makes 6 x 20cm, or 10-12 smaller pizzas
For the dough500g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dustingsmall pinch of sugar7g sachet fast-action dried yeast2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for greasing300ml warm water
STEP 1KIDS: The writing in bold is for you. GROWN-UPS: The rest is for you. Mix a sticky dough. Put the flour, sugar and yeast in a bowl and get the child to make a hole in the middle. Measure 300ml water – that isn’t cold and isn’t hot but just right (like the little bear’s porridge in Goldie Locks). Add the oil and water; point out that the two don’t mix well. Stir with a wooden spoon until you have a sticky dough. Add a splash more water if needed.STEP 2Now you need to do something called kneading. Scatter a bit more flour over the surface and tip the dough onto it. You now want to ‘stretch’ the dough and bring it back into a ball shape. This will need to be done for about 10 mins. I usually give children a few minutes bashing the dough about, then take over to make sure that the dough is smooth and elastic enough.STEP 3Leave the dough to grow. Brush a clean bowl with a little olive oil, put the dough in it and cover with cling film. Leave it somewhere warm for it to grow until doubled in size. Now is a good time to tidy up and wipe down surfaces a little before you start again.STEP 4Make a tasty tomato sauce. Crush the garlic by using a garlic crusher or by grating it on the fine edge of a box grater. Tip into a bowl and mix with the other sauce ingredients. Stir well until everything is combined, then set aside.STEP 5Roll out the dough. Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 8. Show your child how the dough has grown, then divide into the amount of pizzas you want to make. Brush the baking trays with extra oil. Divide the dough and roll out, then lift onto the baking trays.STEP 6Spoon on the tomato sauce. You need to be a bit more careful with this task than you think. If the dough is thin, a child can easily tear it, so make sure that they use the back of the spoon to spread the sauce over. You can now freeze the pizzas – see tip, below.STEP 7Build your own pizza. Put all the toppings out in different bowls and let the child ‘build’ their own pizza. Little ones will need to be handed the ingredients as they will try to just pile up as much as they can or not be able to scatter things evenly.STEP 8Get cooking. You can get older kids to carefully place the tray in the oven using oven gloves (see safety first, opposite). Bake pizzas for 12-15 mins until puffed up and golden around the edges, then carefully lift out of the oven. Leave to cool slightly, then slip onto a board or plate. Serve cut into pieces with houmous and a simple green salad.
