Homemade pizza lunchables

My kids are fascinated by Lunchables. I cannot stand them and refuse to buy them but I do like the concept. So I set out to make my own version of a pizza “lunchable”. We use Laptop lunchboxes which inherently lend themselves to the lunchable concept by providing multiple containers to attractively package this. Most of it is easy – shredded cheese, homemade or store-bought pizza sauce, olives and other toppings, and of course, a treat. It was the crust for the pizza that presented a challenge.

I experimented with my basic pizza crust recipe – rolled it out, cut in it about 3” circles using a steel bowl, and baked them. The result however wasn’t satisfactory. Pizza crust baked without any topping on it came out too hard, and tough to bite into. Little pita breads might have worked but I haven’t found them in local stores where I usually shop. Then a friend suggested I use the flat bread served in Olga’s Kitchen restaurents and provided the recipe. I made a batch - some large ones for dinner, and many little ones for my lunchable experiment. This worked wonderfully! The crust had a soft, chewy texture. Kids loved it, and have been taking “pizza lunchables” to school once a week. I made about 30 little crusts, and froze them. Along with homemade pizza sauce that I freeze in cubes in ice cube trays, lunch is very easily put together.

I will make a few adjustments to the bread recipe the next time around. For one, I will omit the honey because I found the sweetness out of place in a pizza crust. Secondly, I will probably replace some of the white flour with a combination of soy and teff flours.