Homemade Pizza Crust with Heart Pepperoni

This is one of my favorite Valentine's meals I have ever made. For many years our tradition was to make spaghetti and meatballs and watch the Lady and the Tramp... aka the most romantical movie of all time. But this year I decided to change it up, and I must say, I met with great results. Now, a homemade crust is important, but it does take time to rise, so be patient, or make it the night before and put it in the fridge. This is a mixture/adaption from both Mario Batali's recipe and Bobby Flay's recipe. For the toppings, we made three, a pepperoni pizza pictured above, a margarita with tomatoes, fresh moz, and basil, and a Mexican pizza with taco meat, salsa, guac, sour cream and other toppings. 

What you need: 

1 cup of warm water

1 teaspoon of sugar

1 Tablespoon of yeast (1 package)

4 cups of flour

3 Tablespoons of olive oil 

Pizza Sauce and Toppings 

What you do:

1. Mix the warm water, sugar, and yeast. Let sit and get bubbly to make sure that your yeast is still alive. 
2. Add to your standing mixer fitted with the paddle. Add flour one cup at a time until incorporated.  Add the oil until achieve a dough that pulls away from the sides. Switch your paddle to the dough hook and let the dough be kneaded for 5 minutes. Cover with olive oil and plastic wrap to rest until doubled in size about an hour. 
3. Preheat your oven to 500. If you have a pizza stone let it heat up as well inside the oven. 
4. Divide the dough and roll out to the desired size. This dough will make 3 medium size pizzas or 2 large pizzas. You can also store half in the freezer if you like. 
5. Roll to your desired thickness, my family likes a thin crust. 
6. Top, and cook in your oven for 10 minutes or until the bottom is cooked and toppings are warmed through and the cheese is melted. 

Enjoy. 

All the best, Happy Valentine's Day, many blessings, much love, and Happy Pizza Making!