Red, White, and Blue Pizza for the Fourth of July
We stayed home this Fourth of July and wanted something that felt a little more festive without making a huge mess or spending all afternoon decorating cookies. So we turned dinner into the activity instead.
Everyone got their own ball of pizza dough to color, roll out, and decorate however they wanted. My six year old loved cutting little stars out of the pepperonis and my two year old particularly liked coloring the dough and eating handfuls of cheese between each task.
The best part is it solves two problems at once. It keeps the kids busy for a while and dinner still gets made. If you need a last minute Fourth of July activity that does not require a trip to the craft store, this one is worth adding to your summer traditions.
At A Glance
Ages: 2 and up
Time: About 30 minutes
Activity type: Holiday cooking activity
Mess level: Low to medium
Parent help needed: Medium
What You Need
Greek yogurt pizza dough (Makes about 4 personal pizzas)
5 cups all-purpose flour
5 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups plain Greek yogurt, whole milk or 2% works best
2 tablespoons olive oil, optional but recommended
Toppings
Red and blue food coloring
Pizza sauce
Shredded mozzarella
Pepperoni
How To Make It
Step 1: Make the dough
Mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the Greek yogurt and olive oil and stir until everything comes together, then knead for a few minutes until smooth. No yeast means no waiting around, which is exactly what we wanted for a last minute holiday activity.
Step 2: Color the dough
Divide the dough into four equal pieces so everyone gets their own. Add a few drops of red and blue food coloring to each piece and knead until the color spreads through. You end up with this tie dye effect that looks really cool going in. Fair warning though: you are not going to get every portion identical. One of ours ended up with a few extra blue drops and came out noticeably more vibrant. Both kids spotted it immediately and wanted that one. I convinced my older one that the less blue dough actually looked more Fourth of July and he bought it. Barely.
Step 3: Roll out the pizzas
Everyone rolls their own dough into whatever shape they can manage. My two year old mostly rolled hers into something between a circle and an oval and honestly it still turned out great. Don't worry about making them look perfect. Half the fun is seeing what everyone comes up with.
Step 4: Cut the star pepperonis
Stack a few pepperoni slices before cutting them with your star cookie cutter. It is much faster than cutting one at a time and you get cleaner stars. We 3D printed a cutter sized to fit a standard pepperoni perfectly, but any small star cutter from the craft store works fine.
Step 5: Top and bake
Spread on the sauce, add the cheese, and let everyone decorate with their stars. We cooked ours in the Camp Chef pizza oven, rotating them halfway through. A regular oven works too. One thing worth knowing: the Greek yogurt dough is denser than traditional pizza dough so do not be afraid to leave it in an extra minute or two if the middle still looks soft.
Pro Tips
Give everyone their own dough ball from the start. Sharing one piece between two kids is not worth it.
Stack your pepperoni slices before cutting. You will get cleaner stars and get through them much faster.
The colors mute when they bake and the cheese covers most of the dough anyway. The fun is in making them, not the finished photo.
This dough is denser than a yeast crust so give it a little longer in the oven than you think it needs.
Add a little garlic or spices like basil or hot peppers to the dough to give it a little more flavor
The Verdict
Overall we loved this little addition to our pizza nights. The dough did look prettier and more vibrant going in than coming out, but it was fun and the kids loved it. Everyone got exactly what they wanted for dinner and cleanup was surprisingly easy. We will definitely be making these again next Fourth of July. Already thinking about what other toppings we can do next time.
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