Pizza recipe for children and bread with jam

It has been busy, carbohydrate-heavy day today, inspired by having an additional male child in our midst. Whenever my son brings his friends over there is always a lot of running around, tree climbing and toy gun warfare and today was no exception. With Cousin T to feed as well as the others, I decided to make large quantities of bread dough; some for lunchtime pizzas and some for a rustic loaf to accompany the apricot jam.

Fortunately only one of my brood dislikes olives, so he has to pick them off. The others love them. We keep a gigantic catering jar of black Crespo olives in the refrigerator at all times; very useful for making all food a bit more Mediterranean.

When money is tight and you have many mouths to feed, homemade pizza can be very economical, particularly if you can find a cheap source of strong white bread flour. The baker in the next village from us sells a variety of bread flours for fifty pence per pound. Wholemeal, spelt and more specialist flours I prefer to buy from the Letheringsett Watermill, but this basic white bread flour is perfect for pizza and large batches of bread rolls.

For the pizza base you will need:

2lb Strong white bread flour
1 Level tablespoon of fine sea salt
2x 7g Sachets dried bread yeast
1 Tablespoon sugar
4 Tablespoons olive oil
650ml Lukewarm water

For simple, child-friendly toppings you can include:

Ham, salami, 1 tin sweetcorn, 1 red pepper, 3 tomatoes, 1 thinly sliced courgettes, 1 tin tuna, olives and finely chopped onion.

You will also need a large block of supermarket value medium Cheddar (Mozzarella and/or Gorgonzola if making for grown-ups) and a tube of tomato puree and some mixed Italian herbs.

To make the dough, place the salt and flour in a large mixing bowl. In a separate jug mix the warm water, sugar, oil and yeast. Pour the liquid into the flour and mix well with a wooden spoon. Once it's all incorporated, tip it onto a floured surface and knead well for 5-10 minutes. (If you have a bread maker, you can get it to make the dough for you. Personally I think making the dough by hand is the most therapeutic part of bread making!) The dough should be smooth and springy.
Clean out your mixing bowl, oil it slightly and place the dough inside. Cover with a damp tea towel or some oiled clingfilm for at least one hour or until it has nearly doubled in size.
Turn the oven to approx 200C and flour some baking trays
Take the dough out of the bowl and knock it back down.
From now on you are a human pizza factory.
Pull a fist-sized lump off the dough and put the rest back in the bowl under cover. Roll out the dough until it is a thin, rustic shape and place it on your floured tray. Spread on a thin layer of tomato puree and then place any combination of your toppings on the pizza, followed by a scattering of Italian herbs and a generous grating of cheese.
Place in a hot oven for about 10 minutes and then start your next pizza. You will have to keep a close eye on what's in the oven and not get too carried away designing toppings because pizzas can cook very quickly. Finished pizzas can be taken out to rest. I usually find that the children have appeared by then and are helping themselves to the first batch. In total, I made five pizzas which served four children with two spare grown-up pizzas for supper later (and breakfast the next day). There was also enough dough to make the cheese and onion rolls pictured below.

I served this with a cucumber and and vinaigrette salad.

The children went round for second helpings and then outside to fly their remote controlled aeroplane. Pizzas gave them the energy they needed for liberating the plane from the many trees it became stuck in over the course of the afternoon. Whilst I wouldn't serve this at a dinner party, the total cost of feeding the children was around £1.50 per head if you discount my hoard of olives! It doesn't pretend any Italian authenticity, it's just cheap, scrummy food for hungry, active children.

Cheese and onion stuffed rolls topped with poppy seeds

I had enough dough and grated cheese spare from the pizzas to make eight cheese-stuffed bread rolls. These are dreadful for the waistline but my husband is rather partial to these after several hours in the garden or as a 'soak' to a pint of real ale. You don't need a filling for them, however if feeling indulgent, a spoonful of homemade chutney makes a good match.

You will need:

One quantity of bread dough (see above)
Grated cheese (any type)
Chopped onions soften in a little olive oil
Floured baking sheet

Once the dough has risen and been knocked back, pull off a golf ball-sized lump. Flatten it in the palm of your hand and shove in some of the cheese and some of the onion. See below left.

Gradually mould together the disc of dough around the cheese and onion. (See above right)

Bring together the edges of the disc around the filling and nip together to form a seal (below).

Place on a floured baking tray with the sealed side down leaving one centimetre between each roll. Brush with water, scatter with poppy seeds and allow to rise again for 30 minutes.

A productive morning. Recipe for the rustic country loaf below.

The rustic loaf of bread above is very simple to make. The main thing is to remember is to start it the day before by mixing up a handful of stoneground flour with 7g dried yeast, 1 tablespoon sugar and enough warm water to make a thin paste. After 24 hours under cover it should be bubbly and smell a bit like beer.

In a separate mixing bowl add 1 lb strong white bread flour and 1 tablespoon fine sea salt. In a large jug add 325 ml warm water and the starter dough you made the day before. Whisk it into a sloppy mix and add it to the flour and salt. Stir well with a wooden spoon until you can turn it out onto a floured surface for kneading. Knead for 10 minutes until smooth, springy and pliable. Put into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a damp cloth for up to 2 hours or until doubled in size.

Once risen, knock back the dough and form into a roundish, smooth lump. (At this point, if you want a very savoury bread, you can knead in some herbs.) Slash the top with a bread knife in a pretty pattern, dust with flour and leave to rise for another hour. See below:

Once the bread has risen to a good size, place in a hot oven (200C) for 30-40 mins. The bread should have browned and if turned over and tapped, the base should sound hollow.



Very pleased with this loaf. It is bigger in life than it looks on the photo and is full of airy holes. It slices really well and is perfect with salted butter and the apricot jam. The jam recipe is soon to be found on the 'Vintage recipe books' post.