Pizza for Kids

My kids eat a lot of pizza, but they are also excited about a "make your own" pizza night.  I help them make the dough from scratch using the typical dry yeast, salt, sugar, flour, and water (you can look up bread basics easily).

We spread on jarred pizza sauce such as Boboli's brand (I'm not making everything from scratch here!), and then I present a mix of ingredients for them to pick.  Typical ones include sauteed mushrooms, chopped garlic, carmelized onion, pepperoni, shredded Italian cheese blends,  black olives, and less conventional options such as browned ground beef and pickles. 

You can see from the photo that my daughter shaped her pizza like a heart and had cheese, black olives, pepperoni (like eyes), and pickles.  My son loves to do the same but include mushrooms, a lot of hamburger and a lot of pickles.  Mine is not pictured, but simply did garlic, cheese, mushrooms, and red pepper flakes.

Baking the pizza is by instinct--maybe 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes depending on the thickness of the dough.

If you have kids, this is a real fun project and they tend to eat more when it's their own creation!