You will need…
For the dough:
1 cup of warm water
3 ½ cups of plain flour
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of yeast
For the topping:
400g chopped tomatoes
200g cheddar cheese
A squeeze of tomato puree
1 teaspoon of oregano
2 tablespoons of crushed garlic
1 tablespoon of black pepper
2 teaspoons of dried basil
3 teaspoons of sugar
1 large tomato
1 pepper
1 flat mushroom
2 olives
Instructions
1) Wash your hands! It’s really important to always wash your hands before cooking so that they’re nice and clean, and ready to handle ingredients.
2) Put 1 cup of warm water into a medium sized bowl. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and mix it with a spoon.
3) Add the yeast to the bowl, mix it in and leave it to sit for about 10 minutes.
4) Meanwhile, start making the topping! Get a jug (this will make it easier to pour the sauce on the pizza at the end) and put in 400g of chopped tomatoes. You can chop or blend the tomatoes you’ve grown yourself, using the instructions in Roots magazine, or you can use a can of chopped tomatoes from the supermarket.
5) Add a squeeze of tomato puree, 1 teaspoon of oregano, 2 tablespoons of crushed garlic, 1 tablespoon of black pepper, 2 teaspoons of dried basil and 3 teaspoons of sugar.
6) Mix it all together!
7) Get an adult to help you grate 200g of cheese. Put this aside – you’ll need it later!
8) Now, back to the dough. The yeast should now have floated to the top of the bowl. If not, give it a few more minutes until it does.
9) Gradually add 3 ½ cups of flour and 2 tablespoons of olive oil, mixing in between.
10) When the mixture gets too heavy to mix, you’ll ‘knead’ to use your hands! Put some flour on a clean surface and put the blob of dough on top.
11) Press the dough into a big ball. If it’s too gloopy, add some more flour, a little at a time.
12) If the dough is cracking, add a few drops of water until it feels smooth.
13) Stretch the dough out using a rolling pin. Shape it into a circle with your hands.
14) Once the dough is in a pizza shape, put it onto a round baking tray and press it into the edges with your fingers! It should be the same thickness all the way across.
15) This is the fun part! Pour over the topping you made earlier, being sure to leave a little crust at the edge. Spread it out evenly with a blunt knife.
16) Sprinkle the grated cheese on top, covering the whole pizza. Yum!
17) Now, get an adult to help you wash and cut the tomato, pepper and mushroom to make the pig’s nose, mouth and ears! They will need to cut a slice out of the middle of the tomato for the snout, half a slice from the middle of the pepper for the mouth (be sure to take out the seeds first!) and two quarters of a flat mushroom for the ears.
18) Arrange the toppings on the pizza to look like a face!
19) Put the pizza into an oven, preheated to 200 degrees C. It will take 30 minutes to cook. After this, the crust should be golden brown and the pizza will be piping hot all the way through.
20) Get an adult to help you take the pizza out of the oven. Serve with a side salad, and enjoy!
