Making pizza from scratch with my son

I was never much of a cook and I hated home economics lessons at school. I can still remember the disgusting vegetable soup I made at Middle School.  It wasn’t good.  There are still a million and one things I’d rather be doing than cooking, but I have progressed from the vegetable soup (soup in the 1970’s is like no soup you taste today).  I was lucky that my ex really enjoyed cooking and I took it for granted really.  My son’s father cooks nothing, in fact I really don’t think he actually knows where to begin. I think his Mum did everything for him, I’m determined not to make that mistake with my son.  I told him last year, that when he starts Secondary school, I want him to cook one meal a week at home.  It doesn’t need to be fancy, but he needs to be able to fend for himself by the time he leaves home.  I mentioned it again last week and my son asked if he could try something at the weekend.  Of course, what would you like to make I asked?  I should have known that I’d be making pizza from scratch with my son.

We had no real plans for Saturday so I suggested that we walked into town to buy the ingredients we didn’t have in the cupboard.  He’d wanted me to get everything ready in the week, but I told him that part of cooking was buying the ingredients that you’d need.  He’d have to come shopping too.

So with our shopping list in hand we walked into town, picked up the items we needed and headed back home.  Making pizza from scratch with my son was going to be a really fun, fairly mess free activity and hopefully the results would be far better than the veggie soup I’d made as a child.

We used the BBC Good Food recipe, which is very easy to follow and shows each step clearly, making it perfect for kids to follow.  He started by mixing the strong plain flour, yeast and salt together to make the dough base.

Whilst the dough rested, he moved on to the tomato passata sauce base, adding in garlic and fresh basil.

Then it was back to the pizza base dough which needed rolling out. We’d decided to divide the dough in three, as my son and I would eat together, and then I’d make up the final pizza once Daddy P got home from work later. He did have a little help rolling out the dough step as he hadn’t floured the rolling-pin enough.  But it was a good learning process for him.

Adding the sauce and mozzarella pizza was good fun.

The downside to making pizza from scratch with my son was that I couldn’t hide the basil he often eats without knowing it.  He was in charge, so his sauce was remarkable basil free.  He also learned that less is more with regards to mozzarella, but it was just lovely to see him enjoying being in the kitchen.

We popped his creation in the oven and ten minutes later it was ready for him to eat.

Making pizza from scratch with my son was the first step on his learning to make meals journey.  The verdict, delicious.  I added different toppings to mine and Daddy P’s pizzas, and hopefully one day my son will decide to be a bit more adventurous with his topping options.  But he made his own pizza from scratch and he was so proud of himself.  It’s a start.

What have you been cooking up in the kitchen with your kids?  Any suggestions of what my son can try next?