pizza Archives

It was our turn again in the kindergarten snack rotation. This time I talked Miss Priss into pizza bread. Our dear neighbor friend has a dear longtime friend who brings a batch of this stuff every time she visits. I love it, and it tastes great at room temperature. I thought it would be a good kindergarten snack that would appeal to all kinds of different eaters (that is code for picky).

If you missed the dill dip post, I will update you about our snack dilemmas. My daughter eats lunch at 10 am and has a snack each day at noon. Since the snack is at normal people lunchtime, I always feel obligated to send in something a little more substantial than a graham cracker when it is our turn to provide snack. My daughter disagrees. She wants me to send in a tiny bag of pretzels like all of the other kids. I don’t want to be like all of the other kids. Disregarding the damage I may be doing to my daughter’s school image, I moved ahead with the pizza bread.

Ingredients

Ready-Dough*, thawed only– not raised (available in the grocery store freezer section)
turkey pepperoni cut into slivers
shredded mozzarella or pizza cheese

* If you can’t locate Ready-Dough, use Pillsbury French Bread in the refrigerated section of the grocery store.

Directions

Flatten the thawed Ready-Dough out into a rectangle on a cookie sheet sprayed with Pam. Try to press it out as close to the edges as possible without ripping holes in the dough. If using Pillsbury French Bread, unroll and press out the same way.
Sprinkle a generous amount of cheese down the center of the dough. Top with the slivered pepperoni.
Fold the sides of the dough into the center like you are folding a business letter. Pinch the ends together.
Flip the loaf, so it is seam side down on the cookie sheet and bake according to the package directions for pizza (400 degrees about 15 minutes).
Let cool slightly and slice. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Notes

If you are sending pizza bread to school for snack, make up the loaves, put on cookie sheets, cover with Saran wrap and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, wake up 20 minutes early and put loaves in the oven. Get in the shower while the bread is cooking. Pull out of the oven and let cool. Slice and arrange in a large tupperware. Get as close to room temperature as possible before putting the lid on the tupperware. Send a note to the teachers letting them know to keep snack at room temperature until serving and to NOT refrigerate.
If you are taking to a tailgate, follow the school snack serving directions above.
If you are taking to a Super Bowl party at a friend’s house, bake the bread at your house, let cool, and wrap completely in tin foil. Re-heat in the tin foil at the friend’s house and serve hot. Set out a dish of marinara sauce for dipping!

What do you do when it is raining, and your husband is home for three days for a stay-cation? You make pizza from scratch with your children and consider going to therapy. If you are brave enough to undertake this little activity, I highly recommend including margaritas. I am including the Pizza and Margarita Recipes here.

As a teacher, I am obligated to tell you all of the good things that happen when you cook with your children.

Math Skills: They are all built into the recipe– adding, dividing, fractions, measuring, time…
Reading Skills: Often recipes have pictures with them, so it is easy for beginning readers to follow along. For older children, recipes introduce kids to technical writing (writing that provides instructions about how to do something). Recipes also include great sequencing words like first, next, then, and after. These are good words to know for paragraph writing.
Science Skills: You get to activate yeast and then watch dough rise.
Following Directions: This one is my favorite. You have to follow directions in the right order, so the recipe will work. You cannot skip from #1 to #5 just because you feel like it.

As a mom, I am obligated to tell you all of the sucky things that happen when you cook with your children.

Grocery Store: You might have to make an extra trip to the grocery store for unusual ingredients like yeast. Or even a second extra trip to the grocery store for not so unusual ingredients like all-purpose flour because your husband decided to make “Dad Pancakes” for breakfast that morning to kick off his stay-cation.
Time: It takes a lot of extra time. If the recipe says you can make the item in 45 minutes, double the time (then add 30 minutes).
Space: If the recipe says to clear a space on the counter, clear 3. If it says you will need one bowl, plan for two.
Mess: It is messy, and you get to clean up. On a happy note, I did not have to mop the floor because the dog licked up all of the flour and dough that fell to the ground.

I have to admit, homemade pizza crust is far superior to a Boboli crust, but you can always have a pizza night using pre-made crust and sauce. It would reduce your mom stress levels and still provide valuable family time. We have also made ice cream from scratch at our house (I usually leave my husband in the kitchen for that– I just can’t watch). I recently started making pasta from scratch, and my children love cranking the pasta machine, although, I usually have a margarita on hand for that too. Do you have any kitchen adventures from your house you can share, and if so, is alcohol required?