People often say that the best way to a person’s heart is through their stomach.
Through personal experience, I have found this to be true (give me good food and I’ll be your best buddy, perhaps not forever, but at least for an extended period of time). But you have to figure that each person has their own special meal or specific type of food that effectively communicates this, right? For example, I wouldn’t offer my older sister the best PB&J I’ve ever made or a 5-year old a fancy classical French dish and expect to receive immediate and unbounded gratitude. The PB&J and the fancy French meal would both remain untouched – switch who’s getting what, though, and then you might just have a happier ending to this scenario.
In college, I think that the one-and-only/always eye-catching/most special type of food might just be pizza. So what better way to show my roommates how much I (kind of) love them (sometimes) this Galentine’s Day (yes, it is an official holiday and comes around every February 13th) than with the best homemade pizza dough I’ve come across shaped adorably into INDIVIDUAL HEART-SHAPED PIZZAS?
And let me tell you, the pizza dough couldn’t come together any easier. It only took be about 15-20 minutes to make the dough, and from then it’s only a matter of letting it sit around to rise. Plus, this recipe is (thankfully) very forgiving. I somehow managed to add an extra 1/4 cup of water and a full 1/4 cup of olive oil into the dough (no oil was supposed to go into the dough… that one’s a goof-up I’m still having trouble understanding) and ended up with an easy-to-work-with dough and quite possibly the tastiest pizza I’ve made from scratch once baked up.
I should warn you, though. Depending on the toppings you choose to throw on this pizza crust, unsuspected dangers may be abound… this was a lesson learned through the tears of one of my roommates, who made the mistake of putting her fingers all over her eye after placing sliced jalapeños on her pizza masterpiece. As I said, lesson learned.
To those of you who completely forgot about this Galentine’s Day, don’t fret! These perfectly thick and chewy heart-shaped pizzas would also be the perfect meal of choice to make for/with your Valentine tomorrow 😉
Easy, Make-Ahead Pizzas
Makes: 4 small pizzas, 2 medium pizzas, or 1 large pizza
For the garlic-herb oil:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Pinch red pepper flakes, optional
1/2 teaspoon italian seasoning or dried herbs
For the pizza dough:
1/2 cup warm water (100º-110ºF)
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
Pinch of granulated sugar
4 1/4 cups bread flour, plus more for kneading and shaping
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups water, room temperature (or warm)
1/4 cup olive oil
Pizza sauce and toppings of your choice
Directions:
In a small saucepan, add the oil, crushed garlic, red pepper flakes (if using), and herbs. Heat over low heat until the garlic begins to sizzle (you don’t want to brown it!), then remove from the heat and allow to cool. This can be made in advance and stored in a sealed glass jar, left at room temperature.
In a small bowl or glass measuring cup, combine the 1/2 cup warm water, yeast, and sugar; cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm sport for 5 minutes to proof, about 5 minutes (it will look foamy).
In a large bowl, mix together the flour and salt. To this, add the yeast mixture, the 1 1/2 cups room temperature water, and the olive oil. Using a rubber spatula, mix until a shaggy dough is formed; it will be tacky but will not stick terribly to the bowl at this point. Knead the dough for about 8 minutes until it’s smooth and elastic, adding more flour as needed one Tablespoon at a time. Shape into a smooth ball and place in a lightly greased bowl; cover with plastic wrap and place in in a warm spot until doubled in size, which will take 1-2 hours.
Once the dough has risen, deflate it by gently punching it down in the bowl. Move the dough to a lightly floured surface and cut into 4 equal pieces (or 2 pieces to make 2 medium pizzas or leave as is for one large pizza). Shape each piece of dough into a smooth ball (unless you want to create the heart shaped crusts, in which case leaving them in triangular form will be best!), cover with a damp towel, and allow to rest for about 10 minutes.
*At this point, the individual pieces of dough can be wrapped in plastic wrap and placed in freezer bags to be stored in the freezer until you’re ready to use them. Just be sure to take the dough out of the freezer and transfer into the fridge to thaw out the morning you plan on baking your pizzas. Before working with the dough, take it out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature by sitting on the counter or in a warm spot in your kitchen for about 30 to 60 minutes.
Preheat oven to 500ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly sprinkle with cornmeal.
Shape each ball of dough into a 1/2-inch thick crust on a lightly-floured work surface and move to the prepared baking sheet. Brush each crust with the flavored oil, then top with sauce, cheese, and any other toppings of your choice. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is bubbly.
Recipe for the pizza dough adapted from Annie’s Eats
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