Sunday 8 April 2012

Pizza from scratch


Pizza making can be a really fun activity for kids. They will enjoy decorating the pizza with their favourite topping. The usual suspects are sweet corn, red capsicum, honey baked ham, sausages.

First we have to make the pizza base. It is really tough to make pizza base from scratch. I have been getting ready made pizza bases from the supermarket for years. These are convenient, however for little budding little chefs, I have discovered a really fast method that is really fool proof, and not only that, only 10 minutes is needed! Here's the secret ingredient:

Betty Crocker Pizza Crust



This is really convenient. Just add warm water and wait for 5 minutes. After everything binds together into a smooth ball, let it rest for 5 minutes. This helps the yeast to work on the dough. If a more bread like dough is desired, more time is needed to rest the dough. If a very thin dough is desired, like a biscuit, press and stretch the dough to the shape you fancy. A neat trick to do is to stretch the whole thing out on parchment paper. That way the pizza base will turn out crispy.



The next bit is the easy and fun bit for children participation. Spread the tomato puree using the back of a spoon.



The next step is very interesting for kids. They love shapes like stars and hearts and have their own idea of how they would like to decorate their pizza.




I simply love kids ideas. Here are some ideas my little girl came up with.






When its done, spinkle grated cheese on the pizza and bake it in the oven for 20 minutes.


Voila!!! The finished product!

OK, I burnt one of the pizza. Lesson learnt, the grated cheese for pizza tends not to burn as compared to the cheese slices for sandwiches.