A familiar picture: mom is preparing dinner in the kitchen, the kid is sitting nearby at the table with pencils or plasticine. The young artist (or sculptor) every minute offers mom to look at his future masterpiece. Mom, trying not to lose sight of the running milk, tries to praise the kid for his work. And since this fuss does not end, mom can very well put salt in the compote, and sugar in the cutlets. Sweet cutlets may be liked by the kids, but salty compote is unlikely. In this case, irritation and bad mood are difficult to avoid.
Cooking has become almost the main job of our women in the endless series of worries about children. Of course, in our time, getting any food at any time of the day is not a problem. However, when it comes to health and proper nutrition of children, many parents prefer home-cooked meals. Despite this, many children simply adore the same nuggets, French fries or pizza. It is worth only once for a child to try such food, and he becomes a fan of fast food. And we, adults (of course, there are exceptions), are not against enjoying such products.
Let’s try to combine cooking your favorite food with a fun activity that will surely captivate your child. Of all the “harmful” foods, pizza is the best option. You won’t need a lot of skills to prepare this dish, it won’t take much time, and most importantly, it will allow the kids to participate in the real process of creating their favorite dish.
Preparing pizza dough
First, you need to buy all the necessary products. It is great that now you can order home delivery from any store. You can also combine a walk with your child and buying the necessary ingredients. It has been noted that children are happy to help choose the right product and take this very seriously.
For the test we will need:
- 400 g of flour,
- 2,5 teaspoons of fast-acting yeast,
- 1 teaspoon of salt,
- 250 ml of warm water
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons olive or sunflower oil without smell
Tools:
- Measuring cup
- A 5 liter bowl, maybe larger.
- Kitchen towel
First, pour 250 ml of warm water into a measuring cup, add a teaspoon of sugar, stir until it dissolves in the water. Then add dry yeast – 2,5 teaspoons, stir a little. You can completely trust your child to pour in the sugar and yeast, as well as stir the ingredients. Then leave it on the table for 10-15 minutes. The yeast will start working and soon you will see a cap of foam in the measuring cup. Children will especially like this transformation.
Now we need a large bowl, into which we pour all the flour 400 g and salt 1 teaspoon. In the center of the hill of flour we make a depression and pour yeast with water there. We begin to knead the dough. You can immediately with your hands, you can first use a tablespoon. As it is more convenient.
At this stage, the dough will stick to your hands and it will be uncomfortable for the baby to work with it, so let the kids be observers for now. When the dough starts to gather into a lump, add 2 tablespoons of odorless olive or sunflower oil and continue kneading the dough. As soon as the dough becomes smooth and elastic, you can safely offer the baby to knead it a little.
Next, roll the dough into a ball, place it on the bottom of the bowl and cover it with a damp kitchen towel. The dough needs to sit in a warm place for at least an hour to rise and be ready for further work.
We choose a pizza recipe and start a funny competition
While the dough is rising, you can prepare the filling for our pizza. Since we will have a small competition, we will prepare two pizzas with different fillings. Naturally, one pizza will be prepared by the baby, and the other by you. We also trust the baby to choose the filling. In our case, it will be Margherita and Pepperoni.
For Margarita:
- Tomato sauce of your choice (ketchup is also possible),
- Mozzarella cheese for pizza,
- Cherry tomatoes,
- Pitted olives,
- A set of Italian herbs (you can use fresh or dried basil).
For the Pepperoni:
- Tomato sauce (you can use ketchup),
- Meat cuts (to your taste),
- Cherry tomatoes,
- Pitted olives,
- Mozzarella cheese for pizza,
- Pickles.
Prepare ingredients for each type of pizza. Cut cherry tomatoes in half, put olives on a sieve to dry a little if they were in a jar with liquid. Cut pickles into thin slices. Cut cheese (mozzarella for pizza) into bars or circles. Put all the ingredients on plates so that each pizza has its own set of fillings.
Let’s prepare a rolling pin, and for a child you can use a small rolling pin for plasticine or dough. (They are sold in sets with dough or plasticine). If there is no rolling pin, then we will roll out in turns, which is also useful for training patience. We have everything ready for our duel. We take the dough out of the bowl and divide it in half with a knife.
Prepare the work surface on the table by sprinkling it with a little flour. Give the baby a piece of dough, which he should knead in his hands. This activity is very pleasant and interesting, so the baby will be busy enough for you to roll out the base for your pizza. Now you can help the child roll out his pizza base. Take turns working with the rolling pin, not forgetting to praise the baby for his efforts. Even if the circle of dough is not very even, this will not affect the taste of the final product.
We move our pizza base directly to the baking sheet, which we sprinkle with a little flour. Carefully roll our circle of dough on the rolling pin, transfer it to the baking sheet and roll out the dough, distribute it on the baking sheet. At this stage, you can turn on the oven to 200-250 degrees. A high temperature is needed to bake pizza. Make sure that the child is not too interested in the oven, because little ones are very inquisitive.
Next, we fill the pizza with the filling. At this stage, the children will be able to show more independence. We pour a little tomato sauce on each circle of dough, give the child a tablespoon, and he successfully spreads it on the dough. Next, we arrange the products according to the types of pizza. We remind the child of the sequence of actions, i.e. if it is a Margherita pizza, then we sprinkle some Provencal herbs on the sauce, then put in the halves of cherry tomatoes, then olives and finally we spread the mozzarella cheese on top for the pizza.
If the baby has chosen Pepperoni, then first put the cold meats, then some cherry tomato halves, then some pickled cucumber slices, don’t forget the olives, and finally put some mozzarella cheese for the pizza.
The oven is preheated, put the baking sheet with pizza in the oven for 7-10 minutes. As soon as you see a golden color on the edges of the pizza, take it out of the oven and send the second pizza to bake.
While the pizza is baking, it is better to occupy your child with another activity, for example, ask him to make certificates of honor or medals for your competition.
As soon as both pizzas are ready, you can start tasting, after which you can arrange a symbolic vote on whose pizza is tastier. It will not be difficult to guess that the first place in your duel will be taken by the young chef.
