If you don’t mind a (bit) of mess, then getting the kids making their own pizzas is a great way to keep them entertained during the half term. It’s not just kids either, all ages can get involved, turning dinner into family time.
Pizzas, like homemade chips or chicken mini fillets, are crowd pleasers and keep even the pickiest of kids happy. For this pizza night, we used Jamie Oliver’s flatbread recipe to make our bases – simpler, easier, and just as tasty as pizza dough.
For this, and future pizza nights, we decided to purchase a pizza oven for our BBQ from The Range. We nabbed it £30 (it was on special). If you have one of these, we recommend not precooking the bases (step 5), but advise you to make sure the bottom is floury to prevent it sticking.
In this article, we run through the ingredients you’ll need, with prices, the method, and give you some ideas on what to do with your leftovers.
Shopping list (with prices)
The quantities below will make four reasonably sized flatbreads.
Pizza base ingredients
- Greek yoghurt 500g – £0.95, from Tesco
- Self raising flour 500g – £0.70 for 1.5kg
- 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder – £0.57
Total cost for the bases is £2.22. If you’re making your bases to suit different dietary requirements, the price will go up as free-from products are pricey.
You can make these gluten-free by switching to Freee Gluten Free Self Raising Flour for £1.85 and Alpro Yoghurt Alternative for £2.50.
If you’re just after making vegan or dairy-free flatbreads, then switch the Greek yoghurt to the Alpro Yoghurt Alternative. To make the toppings dairy-free, you can switch the cheese to Violife Original (£2.15 for 175g) or Cathedral City Plant Based (£2 for 150g). We used a mix of both, and as you can see in the picture below, both melted fine, which was a worry as vegan cheese isn’t known for its melting ability.
Toppings
- Tomato & Herb pizza topper 200g, £2.40 from Tesco
- Grated mozzarella 250g, £2.55
- Cheddar (if you’ve got it in the fridge to make your pizzas extra cheesy)
To make the tomato sauce cheaper, you could use passata or blend a tin of tomatoes (£0.47) till smooth (add, if you’ve got any, dried basil, garlic, seasonings, chilli flakes for flavour).
When it comes to pizza toppings, it’s up to you. Anything goes. We used things we already had in the fridge to finish off half-empty packets of ham and chorizo. Planning your pizza night for a Friday will help you clear the fridge of any meats that didn’t make it into sandwiches that week.
But, seeing as the bases will cost you less per person than buying supermarket pizzas for your night-in, you might have budget left to treat yourself to whichever toppings take your fancy. This, of course, is completely dependent on your shopping budget.
You could also buy a bag of potatoes and make a side of homemade chips.
Method
Step 1
Put all of the pizza base ingredients into a bowl and squish them all together into a ball.
Step 2
Dust a clean surface with some flour, then take your dough ball out of the bowl and place on the floured surface. Knead the dough for around five minutes, dusting the surface whenever the dough begins to stick.
Step 3
Cut the dough into four equal parts. If you’re a family of five, you might get five smaller pizzas out of it.
Step 4
Flour your surface again and roll each ball of dough out to your desired thickness. The thicker they are, the longer they’ll take to cook.
As you can see from our end result, your bases won’t be perfectly round – that’s ok, that’s the beauty of homemade.
Step 5
I normally heat up a frying pan (without oil) and, with both sides lightly floured, fry both sides for a couple of minutes so they don’t stick to the pizza tray. At this point, turn the oven on to 180C to preheat.
Step 6
Once each base is fried off, it’s time to call the kids over and get creative. Let them cover their pizzas in their favourite toppings and place in the oven for about 15 minutes at 180C.
Step 7
Fill ya boots!
What to do with your leftovers
- Leftover pizza can be stored in the fridge and either eaten cold, or reheated, the next day.
- Any leftover toppings can be stored in the fridge and be used in your weekly meals. Make sure any raw meat is cooked before storing. You can use cooked meats or vegetables in sandwiches, salads, scrambled egg or omelettes, or stir it into any sauce-based dinners.
- Leftover tomato sauce can be stirred into pasta or rice. You can also add any leftover vegetables and meats and turn it into a meal.
