How to Make Pizza Dough for Kids

When Miss T was three, we’d bake up pizzas together after preschool. It’s surprisingly easy to make pizza dough for kids if you have a food processor and a simple recipe.

Pizza dough requires only five basic ingredients. Just let the food processor do the mixing and kneading. (If you don’t have a food processor, or if you prefer it, you can do this by hand). After the dough rests, make small balls of dough for the child to roll out, and then top with her favorite pizza fixings.

Cautionary Notes

• Always ensure that young children are nowhere near the food processor blade and be careful, yourself, when removing the blade from the pizza dough.
• The best way to ensure kids aren’t around the blade is to make the pizza dough in advance. Freeze the dough and thaw it on the countertop for 4 to 9 hours, depending on the temperature of the room and the thickness of the dough. 
• Also be watchful around the oven, which will be cranked up to a very hot 400 degrees F.

Another fun recipe to make with kids is Grandma’s Peanut Butter Cookies.

I like to make the pizza dough in the morning, put it in a gallon-size, zip-top bag, and keep it in the fridge.  It will continue to rise, so, simply punch out all the air from the dough and you’re good to go when your child returns from school.

Let the dough rest on a floured surface for 10 minutes, then follow the instructions for shaping the balls, rolling the dough, and baking.

The recipe below is adapted from Fleischmann’s Yeast, and comes from the cookbook, Best-Ever Breads. I spearheaded its production and edited this book when I worked for the company years ago.

How to Make Pizza Dough

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 package Fleischmann’s RapidRise Yeast
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
• ¾ to 1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F.)
• Additional olive oil or vegetable oil to grease the pans
• Cornmeal

Insert metal blade in food processor bowl. Add flour, undissolved yeast, and salt; process 5 to 10 seconds to combine. Add oil. Begin processing, then slowly pour water through feed tube just until ball forms, about 10 to 15 seconds (all water may not be needed). Continue processing 60 second to knead dough.

Carefully remove dough and blade from processor bowl. Shape dough into a ball.  Cover; let rest on floured surface 10 minutes.

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.

Lightly oil 2 baking sheets. Sprinkle with cornmeal. Shape dough into 6 or 8 smooth balls. Roll dough to about 7-inch rounds and place on baking sheets.

Top pizza as desired and bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until crust edges brown and the underside looks baked and firm.  Baking time depends on size and thickness of crust and selected toppings.

Notes

• The only challenge for first-time yeast bakers is getting the water temperature right. Too hot and you may kill the yeast; too cold and the dough may not rise sufficiently. If you don’t have an instant-read thermometer, try this tip.
• Instead of using baking sheets, I baked the pizzas on parchment paper on a pizza stone.

Pizza for Bento Lunches

You can even use these pizzas in bento lunches. Just wrap well individually, freeze. Frozen pizzas will defrost by lunchtime. Before baking, we added small balls for ears and raisins to make the eyes and nose for this Cheddar Cheese Apple Pizza Bear.

For lunch, your kids may prefer a more traditional pizza with typical savory toppings. For sauces, consider tomato, pesto, or barbecue sauce. Cheeses might include shredded mozzarella, Cheddar, Swiss, or Jack. Meat choices: pepperoni, salami, ham, bacon, sausage, or roasted chicken. For vegetables, sliced tomatoes, zucchini, mushrooms, or sweet bell pepper.