Easy Cheesy Tomato Pizza
Cooking Time: 7-10 minutes
Prep Time: 20-30 minutes
Serves: 4 pizzas
Elsie’s Rating: “Oh, Tasty Dad!
This cheesy tomato pizza recipe is fun for the whole family, feel-good, and most of all, delicious! Perfect for working parents — or stay-at-home dads like me — and here’s the good news: it makes 4 small pizzas, so you can refrigerate the dough for 2–3 days or freeze it for up to 1 month.
Making it together is a great way to get kids involved — they can help stretch the dough, spread the tomato base, sprinkle the cheese, or add their favourite toppings.
Whether you’re cooking on a busy weekday or enjoying a relaxed weekend, this pizza comes together quickly and is sure to be a hit at the table. And homemade dough? It gives that extra soft, chewy texture that store-bought bases just can’t beat.
Ingredients
350 g Flour
1.5 g Yeast
225 g Water (room temperature)
9 g Fine Sea Salt
Calories: ≈ 450
Method
Mix like a mad scientist:
Throw your flour into a big bowl, pour in the water, sprinkle the yeast, add the salt, and stir like you mean it. Don’t worry about it being messy, that’s the point!Knead or wrestle:
Dump the shaggy blob onto a lightly floured surface and knead it for about 10 minutes . Think of it as a stress ball… that you can eat later. Bonus: kids love squishing dough, so let them join.Let it chill (well, rise):
Oil a large bowl, plop the dough in, cover it, and leave it to rise for 1 hour at room temp. This is your cue to have a cup of coffee, scroll instagram, or contemplate life while the yeast does its thing.Divide and conquer:
Slice the dough into portions — 4 if you want perfect smaller sized pizzas. Roll each into a ball.Rest before the stretch:
Let the dough balls sit for 4-6 hours at room temp or in the fridge for 8-9 hours. Think of it like giving them nap — this keeps them from snapping back when you try to stretch them.Stretch it, don’t smash it:
Dust the dough with flour, press from the center, then gently stretch it into a circle. No rolling pins unless you like your pizzas flat and sad. Air bubbles= flavour and texture bonus.Top it and throw in the oven:
Pre-heat the oven and put the empty pizza tray in to heat up, this gives you a super crispy pizza base, skip this step for a softer based pizza. Smear over the tomato passata base, sprinkle the cheese like a pro, toss on any other toppings you love, and bake in a hot oven (250°C) until it’s golden and bubbling approximately 7-10 minutes.
Dad’s Tips ✔️
Kid Recruitment:
Assign roles like “sauce spreader” or “cheese sprinkles supervisor.”Dough Management: If you think the dough is a little too wet, you can always add a little flour, alternatively you can kneed the dough longer using the “stretch and fold” method to make the dough more firm.
Pizza Management:
Place your stretched pizza dough on the pizza tray before adding toppings, it makes the transfer to the oven so much simpler.Toppings Freedom:
Everyone gets one “weird topping” choice. Pineapple, olives, leftover roast veggies — no judgment zone.Quick Freeze Hack:
Make extra dough? Wrap, freeze, and call it your “emergency dad dinner stash.” Pull it out on a weeknight and pretend you’ve got it all together.Bribery Works:
Promise a slice hot from the oven to anyone who helps. Works every time.