As a part of our new “World at Home” series, we’re bringing you the world’s most incredible experiences, LIVE via Facebook and straight to your living room! It’s our way to help you live the joys of travel at a time when travel is on the back-burner.
If you missed our cooking class with Francesco, Florence-based chef, you can still take advantage of his know-how with this kid-friendly pizza recipe. Watch as Francesco — chef and guide of the wildly popular “cooking with kids” experience in Florence — teaches you how to make and stretch your own dough before loading it with anything you please. We guarantee it’ll please the kids (and let’s be honest, you too).
Watch the video on YouTube here (be sure to subscribe for more content!) or below. For exciting upcoming virtual tours and activities, check out our Livestream schedule here.
Recipe: Pizza with a red sauce base
The chef: Francesco from Cooking with Kids Experience in Florence
Serves: 2-4
Follow along on: Francesco’s Facebook page or visit their site
Good to know: The pizza dough base should be made a day in advance to let it rest and get light and crispy.
Ingredients
Pizza dough
- 1kg fine, all-purpose 00 flour (not self-raising)
- 500g lukewarm water
- 1g fresh or dehydrated yeast.
- 5g fine salt
- 10ml extra virgin olive oil
Tomato sauce
- Passata or tinned tomatoes (50g per person/serving)
- Salt to taste
- Fresh grated black pepper
- A few pinches of dried oregano or basil
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped (not pressed)
Instructions:
Pizza dough (24h in advance)
1. Combine the water and yeast in a large mixing bowl.
2. Slowly add flour, continue to combine
3. Once flour added, knead for approx 10 minutes.
4. Add salt and knead for 5 minutes until the dough becomes stretchy and elastic. There should be no lumps and it should be stretchy and smooth.
5. Fold in the extra virgin oil. Leave the dough in the bowl and cover with a clean, damp tea towel. Allow to rest for a minimum of 12-24 hours in the fridge.
To prepare the pizza base:
6. Remove from the fridge 1-2 hours beforehand and allow to come to room temperature.
7. Roll out to the shape of your oven tray or pizza stone. Spread thinly with the tomato sauce base (see below for recipe).
Classic tomato sauce pizza base (2h before baking)
1. Combine the tomato passata or blended tomatoes with the dried herbs, salt, pepper, and the minced garlic.
2. Remove to a bowl and place in the fridge to allow the flavors to infuse for a minimum of 2 hours.
Preparing your pizza
1. Preheat oven to 250C° (450/500F°).
2. See steps 6 & 7 in the pizza dough instructions. You should have a flat pizza spread thinly with sauce.
3. Bake for 7 minutes, then remove and add your chosen toppings.
4. Bake for a further 7 mins
5. Remove from oven, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, and enjoy!
Watch the step-by-step video
Let us know how you went in the comments!
Be sure to check out our schedule of upcoming virtual tours and experiences! We’ve already done a fresh pasta-making workshop with an Italian chef, a private tour of the Vatican and Sistine Chapel, and an up-close-and-personal with a Berlin drag queen. Plus, we’re adding new content every week.
