Making meals a real family affair

This week TimDover, chef patron of The Roost restaurant in Bridge of Earn, discovers the benefits of eating together as a family

This summer, my wife Anna and I will have been running our restaurant for eight years. We are both very hands-on and it can be hard to have time for anything else.

There are occasions I feel a sense of guilt that I don’t have enough time to spend with our two young daughters but around four years ago, Anna suggested we all sit down for a family dinner every day.

My initial reaction was that I couldn’t promise to get finished in time but through Anna’s insistence, I have managed my work round this and now feel huge benefits from being able to spend priceless time with my girls.

The other bonus is that I know my children’s eating habits are developing well. Their tastes are different so we find it works for us to serve different foods in various serving dishes on the dinner table and everybody can help themselves.

My recipe this month will probably seem pretty obvious but please try it as it is very simple to prepare and delicious.

For the pizza dough you will need:

450g 00 pizza flour (available in most supermarkets) 300ml tepid water 10g dried yeast 10g table salt 30ml olive oil

What to do:

Place the flour in a food mixer bowl with a dough hook. If you don’t have one just use a large bowl.

Dissolve the yeast in a jug with the water and add to the bowl of flour. Mix slowly until a smooth dough has formed. If using your hands knead until you reach this stage.

Cover the top of the bowl with a damp, clean table cloth and leave in a warm room for one hour.

The dough should now have doubled in volume. Add the olive oil and salt and mix for a further five minutes. If doing it by hand, knead for a further three minutes as gently as possible.

Cover and leave for 30 minutes. Shape your pizza and leave to prove for a further 10 minutes.

Cover with a tomato sauce of your choice, followed by your toppings. Drizzle with olive oil and bake at 200C in a fan oven for approximately 15 minutes.

A home-made pizza is a great meal for a family and everybody can get involved in making it.

chef’stip Remember that the pizza is going to bake in the oven for at least 15 minutes so any vegetables you use as toppings can be cut nice and thin, meaning they don’t need to be pre-cooked and will hold more nutrients.