Easy Peasy Pizza

I spend most of my time in the kitchen, cooking and baking, so naturally my children enjoy getting creative in the kitchen every now and again. If you normally don't cook with your children I'd urge you to give it a try. If you're able to handle a little extra flour on your worktop then cooking with children is a lot less stressful than you might think. It's an activity that can be enjoyed together without leaving your house and children are so proud to show what they have made with their own little hands. I have suggested some recipe on my Cooking with Kids page that my children enjoy to make. The rolling and cutting out of dough is ever popular with children, so whether it's a biscuit mixture or a dough for scones the children could spend a good hour working hard, constructing their own little masterpiece. So a pizza base made out of a scone mixture is a good introduction for children to baking.

 Most children adore pizzas but often the shop bought variety can be less than desirable. When rustling up your own pizza at home there are many options for a base. French bread, pitta breads and tortillas can all be used and my boys absolute favourite quick pizza is made using a naan bread as the base. If you have a little bit of time for preparing your pizza, and would like the children to help, this Easy Peasy Pizza is a perfect choice. It's a lot healthier than many alternatives and the dough can be easily managed by little hands. It can be topped by this quick to make tomato sauce but alternatively a shop bought jar of pasta sauce would also be ideal. Any toppings such as ham, pepperoni, cooked chicken, peppers, onion or mushrooms could be used or just cheese would make a very tasty pizza.

Easy Peasy Pizza

Ingredients

Pizza Dough

225g (8oz) Self-raising flour

½ teaspoon salt

55g (2oz) butter

100mls milk

Tomato Sauce

1 tin of tomatoes

1 teasp tomato purée

1 teasp sugar

1 teasp mixed herbs (dried/fresh)

1 clove of garlic  (crushed)

Toppings

Mozzarella cheese, sliced

Mature cheddar cheese, grated

Method

1.     Put all the ingredients for the sauce into a saucepan and simmer for 10mins. Allow to cool and then blend using a hand blender/liquidizer.

2.     Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°f/gas 6.

3.     Put the flour and salt into a mixing bowl, then rub in the butter.

4.     When the mixture is like breadcrumbs, pour in the milk. Stir together until you have a smooth ball of dough.

5.     Lightly flour your work surface. Divide your dough into four balls and roll out each one using a lightly floured rolling pin.

6.     Always place the dough onto the baking tray before putting on your sauce and toppings. Pinch up the edges to make a crust which will stop the cheese from spilling out when melted. 

7.     Cover the pizza dough with a layer of the tomato pizza.

8.     Sprinkle over the cheese. Try not to overload the pizza with toppings, as it won’t cook evenly.

9.     Bake in the oven for 10-12mins or until the base is golden brown and the cheese is bubbling.

The boys were especially giddy on this particular day and found my directions for  preparing the pizzas hilarious!!

In other news I've been invited to host a cookery demo at Ballyegan hall in Birr this Wednesday the 9th February at 8pm. If you are in the area do call in. 
This is not food related but I thought that I'd share it with you. There was an article in last Wednesday's Irish Independent where journalist Heidi Scrimgeour gave the pros and cons of married couples having a regular date night. Heidi contacted me a few weeks back for my opinion and she included some of our chat in her article. It's a light hearted but thought-provoking piece and here is the on-line edition if you'd like to have a read of it. http://j.mp/yB1ZSH