The choice not to go to school. "Can you bake a pizza in a cardboard box?!"

Things always start moving suddenly.

A sudden remark from the "Prince of Ideas" the day before yesterday. The time was 9:00 PM.

"I want to bake a pizza in a cardboard oven."

Umm... what?

Apparently, this is where that statement came from.

Anyway, my eldest son loves the outdoors. Just the other day, he suddenly said, "I feel like sleeping in a tent, so I'm going to set one up," and he set up a tent in the vacant lot next door and slept there.

My husband said, "If you want to do it, look it up yourself. It's late today, so let's do it tomorrow."

From there, my eldest son seems to have looked up how to make a cardboard oven online himself, and secured a large apple cardboard box from the outer entrance, and by the next morning, he had started building the cardboard oven.

My eldest son loves crafts, so he's quite handy at it.

He cuts open the cardboard and carefully sticks aluminum foil onto it. My eldest son was using a glue stick.

When I asked if some people use wood glue or something, he said,

"It seems like there are all sorts of people, but since it just bakes using the radiant heat from the aluminum foil, I don't think the adhesive will have any effect."

He explained that the cardboard oven doesn't use an open flame, but rather bakes using the radiant heat from the charcoal and the aluminum foil lined inside the cardboard, so there's no worry about the cardboard catching fire.

Once he finished sticking on the aluminum foil, he reassembled it back into the original cardboard shape.

He consulted with my husband, saying he wanted to make the cardboard oven a three-tier structure, and they used wire and wire mesh to create three levels inside the cardboard. They are discussing whether the positions where the wire passes through or the size of the holes they make will affect the heat escaping from inside.

Science-minded.

As a mother, I'm just happy if I can eat something delicious. I don't understand the theory. But I do think that to make delicious things or recreate them, such theories are actually important. I think that, but the moment I see numbers, my thinking stops.

"It seems I should have made the dough before building the cardboard oven. It takes time for the dough to rest."

I see. That's true. My eldest son starts looking up pizza dough recipes. Anyway, it's a convenient era.

Pizza dough recipe

If you search for that, you'll find endless recipes. It's none of my business, but I find myself worrying about the sales of recipe books these days.

My eldest son seemed to have chosen a sugar-free recipe from a former pizza shop employee.

He measured the flour and made notes, calculating whether to double or triple the amount since they eat so much. However, when I suggested that might be too much and make kneading the dough difficult, he agreed and decided to halve it.

When it came time to knead the dough, my second son helped out, and they went at it, slamming and kneading the dough with a loud thudding sound.

"Someday, I want to try spinning the pizza dough on my finger."

My eldest son balanced a small piece of pizza dough on his index finger and spun it around, and then,

Splat.

I heard the sound of it landing on the floor.

"Don't worry, don't worry!"

Are you Ikkyu-san?

He said the dough needed to rest for about an hour and a half. I love bread, but since I don't bake, I know absolutely nothing about bread dough, let alone pizza dough. I'm strictly a professional at eating it.

When I opened the fridge, I realized we were slightly short on ingredients. I decided to head to the nearest shopping center with my youngest daughter before the dough was ready.

What do you want me to buy?

When I asked my eldest son,

"Hmm, let's see... anchovies, olives, and bacon. I'd be happy if you could find some basil too."

That's sophisticated for a 13-year-old. Anchovies and olives. I like them too, though.

My husband requested, "Green peppers!"

Since we were going to bake the pizza in a proper pizza oven, I splurged on some delicious bacon. I thought about how anchovy jars are always deceptive with their false bottoms, or wondered if I could make pickled olives myself. I didn't forget the green peppers and paprika. I also saw some delicious-looking mushrooms, so I put those in the shopping basket too.

I already had some tomato sauce prepared, and we had shredded cheese. This should turn out pretty well.

When I got home, the boys were already making charcoal in the BBQ grill. All that was left was to stretch the dough, add the toppings, and bake it.

My second son and youngest daughter also started adding their favorite toppings themselves.

My second son balanced the colors well, adding onions, mushrooms, and bell peppers.

My youngest daughter didn't add any vegetables at all, just sausages, ham, bacon, tuna, and corn. And a mountain of cheese. As expected of a carnivore girl.

Well, that's fine too.

They apparently divided the dough into 12 pieces at first, but decided that was too big, so they halved them again into 24 pieces. Then, in the second half, they thought, "Maybe thinner is better," and divided them even further, so in the end, we had 36 small, cute pizza doughs.

The cardboard oven was built in three tiers. It could bake three at a time.

Um, there are 36 of them in total, you know.

The ideal preheating temperature for the oven is said to be 200°C, but wouldn't it be fine even if it doesn't reach that high?
We figured it would be difficult to get the inside of a cardboard box to 200°C anyway, so we started baking once the temperature had risen to a reasonable level.

We watched them as they baked, but opening and closing the box too often would lower the temperature inside, so we kept it to a minimum. They were done in about 20 minutes!

The bottom tier was closest to the charcoal and seemed prone to burning, so the first pizza had a slightly charred black bottom, but that's part of the charm. We decided to rotate them, thinking the top two tiers might not get enough heat. (My husband was in charge of that.)

Meanwhile, my eldest son kept stretching and spreading the dough.
I spread the tomato sauce and added the toppings.
My second son and youngest daughter carefully carried the dough with toppings to the wooden deck.

A cottage industry assembly line.

As expected, it would take too long to bake all 36 in the cardboard oven, so we baked half in the oven. Then we compared them!

"The ones baked over charcoal are definitely the best!!!!!"
They stuffed their cheeks with them, and the pizzas disappeared into the children's stomachs.

I love seeing this sight.
The sight of children stuffing their cheeks with something delicious might be a "symbol of happiness" to me.

My eldest son is already finding his next challenge.

"Since three tiers vertically causes uneven baking, I'll make a horizontally long cardboard oven."
"Also, I might make a few of them so we can bake a lot at once. And the amount of dough..."

In this way, figuring things out for themselves is learning in itself.

When I suggested, "It might be fun to hold a cardboard pizza oven workshop. Don't you think the kids would enjoy that?" he replied, "I don't like charging high participation fees for things like that, so I'd just want them to pay for the materials and labor." He also added, "I'd want to target people who aren't just acquaintances."

Thinking that he might be unconsciously seeking new encounters, I thought to myself that I, as his mother, quite like that way of thinking that doesn't prioritize money.

"Also, I want to try spinning the dough around with my fingertips like a pizza chef."

He said this while seriously watching a video of the world's best pizza chef.

"Just watching it doesn't tell me anything at all!!!!" my eldest son shouted.

Haha.

Learning is also about experiencing things firsthand.
Perhaps one day, the day will come when he can learn directly from a pizza chef.

Until then, wouldn't it be great to aim to become a pro at the cottage-industry cardboard pizza oven?

"If it's this easy to make, maybe we don't even need to eat out anymore."

The children looked satisfied.
For the first time in a while, Mom and Dad were also full from just pizza.

I'm looking forward to how the next pizza turns out.
I'm sure there will be new discoveries again.

Conclusion: You can bake pizza in a cardboard oven!

This is the article my eldest son used as a reference this time♪
Thank you very much!