Make Mini Pizzas with Your Kids
Making mini pizzas with your kids can be a lot of fun. It also gives you a good opportunity to teach your children how to make their own food. Making mini pizzas is especially a good idea if you have been having a hard time getting your children to eat their meals. Children are more prone to eat something that they made themselves, with their own hands, like mini pizzas. The first thing you will need to do is get all of your ingredients together to make your mini pizza dough. Have your child help gather everything to the table.
To make mini pizzas, you will need about 1 pack of dry yeast, 1 cup of warm water, three cups of flour, two teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil, and two teaspoons of sugar. You will also need the following utensils, two forks (one for your child and one for you), a large mixing bowl, measuring cups, and saran wrap.
Once you have gathered all of your ingredients and utensils you are now ready to make your dough for the mini pizzas. Make sure your water is warm at least 110 degrees, before you add it to the bowl with the other ingredients. Fist mix the water, salt, and yeast in your large mixing bowl. It should look a little foamy. Now you can begin adding your flour one cup at a time. This is where kids tend to have the most fun. You need to use your hands to mix the dough with the liquid mixture. Gradually continue to add the flour as you continue to mix with your hand. It may be a good idea for you to gradually add the dough while your child mixes it. They just love to get their hand’s nice and messy.
Once you have finished adding all of the flour your can then take your dough out and place it on the table. Divide the dough into two sections. You will have to kneed the dough for about ten minutes. Have your child kneed one and you can do the other.
The next step is to add the olive oil to the large mixing bowl. Then place your two dough bowls back in the bowl and mix it with the olive oil. Now place the saran wrap over the bowl until it is completely covered. Place the bowl in the oven but do not turn the oven on. The oven works well because it is constantly a dry and warm environment and will help your dough to rise quickly. You will want to leave it in there to rise for about two hours.
Once your dough has risen and two hours have passed you can then begin making your pizza’s. In order to make your mini pizza you will need the following; a pizza baking pan (or you can use a flat cookie sheet), tomato sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese, and some oregano. If there are additional toppings like pepperoni or chicken that you and your child would like to add then make sure you get those together as well.
Next you will want to separate your dough into about four little sections. This would be a good time to pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees. Then using a rolling pin (or if you do not have a rolling pin you can use a cup), roll out each section of dough until you have a little round circle. Try to make it as even as possible.
Then you can begin adding your toppings. First apply the sauce evenly over the mini pizza. Next put a little oregano over the sauce. Just sprinkle as much as you would like to add. Once that is complete you can then add your shredded mozzarella cheese, and top it off with the rest of your toppings. This can be done for the rest of your little pizza’s. Then once have made them place them on your pizza pan or baking sheet. Try to make sure you place them in the center of the pan. Then place them in the oven to bake.
It should only take about ten to fifteen minutes for your mini pizzas to cook. You will know it is done when your cheese is a little brown. Making mini pizza’s with your kids is a great family activity. Another hint to make it as educational as possible, is to allow your kids to do all of the measuring of ingredients. This is a great way for them to see what a cup is and what a teaspoon is. I am sure that you will not have any problem getting your child to eat their own homemade mini pizzas.
