Pizza Fun

I have never made my own pizza dough before.  Everyone tells me how easy it is but for some reason, I have baker's block when it comes to yeast.  I've used it in my bread machine and have bought envelopes of it to make different things with but have never actually mixed it up, patiently let it rise, then baked it.  I think the whole 'add to 113.14159265 degree water' intimidates me a bit.  I'm pretty sure I'm capable SO, as an ice-breaker, I bought some frozen pizza dough.

What?

It counts.

Kinda.

Ok.  Maybe not.

Either way, I patiently let the dough thaw.  Then got creative with my toddlers.

I split the dough in half and stretched one half out into a traditional pie.  I had half of a jar of spaghetti sauce (a go-to in our house for tot dinners) and a bag of shredded mozzarella that I bought after I slaved in the freezer aisle looking for pizza dough.  I put some sauce on the pie and let KD spread it out. He gladly took handfuls of cheese and put them into his mouth, while I made sure there was some for the pizza.  I brushed the exposed crust with an olive oil and garlic powder slurry and baked at 450 degrees for 14 minutes.  I was surprised with how pretty it was!

While the pizza baked, we worked on the other half of dough.  I spread it out thinly then used a pizza cutter to make little squares.  The remaining sauce and cheese were mixed together and we made mini calzones, mini pizzas, and just had fun playing with the dough.

To summarize:

All that's required for this ACTIVITY (I won't call it a recipe) are:

Pizza dough

Marinara sauce

Shredded cheese

a little flour for dusting

Bake at 450 degrees until the crust is golden.

Have fun and make a meal at the same time!

I will be attempting yeast, possibly in a pizza dough, soon!  I may even try to put some toppings out for even more fun.  It should be noted that both of my boys love black olives.  That's how KD learned he had five fingers.  My mom ('Bachan' to the boys) and I couldn't be prouder:)