Recipe: Basic Pizza Dough
4 cups flour
2 cups water
1 oz yeast (compressed)
1 1/2 teaspoon malt or sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
tomato sauce
shredded cheese (mozzarella or cheddar)
- Read the book How Pizza Came to Queens to children. Engage
children in a conversation about pizza. What type of pizza do they
like? Do they like toppings on their pizza?
- Tell children that they will learn how to make a pizza. Ask children
to think about what they would need to make a pizza. Record their
responses. Show children the pizza dough recipe and compare their
responses.
- Children can assist in gathering the needed cooking utensils: measuring
cup, measuring spoons, mixing bowl, rolling pin, and pizza baking
pan. Assist all of the children in washing their hands so they can
participate in the kneading of the dough. Remind children that it
is very important to keep their hands clean until they have had their
turn.
- Recipe: Begin by mixing the yeast and water. Then add 1/3
of the flour and malt. Mix together. Let the dough stand until it
starts to bubble. Encourage children to notice all of the changes
that the ingredients are going through as the recipe is being prepared.
Add olive oil and salt and gradually add more flour, kneading it into
a smooth dough. Knead for 10 minutes and then turn in a slightly oiled
bowl. Let the dough rise until doubled. Assist children in using a
plastic knife or wooden spoon handle to measure the dough before and
after it rises. Roll the pizza out into a 12" circle. Add toppings
and bake at 450°F for about 13 minutes.
- Hooray! Pizza for everyone!
Curriculum Connection
Math: Pizza Pie Math.
Give all of the children a circular sheet of paper about the size of
the pizza and provide a variety of art materials including markers,
crayons, safety scissors, and collage paper. Ask children to use the
art materials to design their own pizza. Encourage them to use their
imaginations to create realistic or silly toppings for their pizza.
Older children can use their pizzas to begin easy fraction activities.
When they have finished, ask everyone to draw a line down and across
the middle, dividing their pizza into four equal slices. Then ask children
to divide each slice in half. Now how many slices of pizza do they have?
Provide children with scissors to cut their pizza into sections.
BOOKS
"Hi, Pizza Man" by Virginia Walter
(Orchard Books, 1998; $6.95)
Pete's a Pizza
by William Steig
(HarperCollins Juvenile, 1998; $14.95)
Pizza Party (Hello Reader! Series) by Grace Maccarone
(Scholastic Inc.; $3.99)
