With Valentines Day only a few days away, I have been thinking about ways to bring those colors of love into the kitchen. When you walk into the valentines section of any store, you will most likely see cards, decorations and gifts in all shades of reds, pinks and purples, but you don’t often see foods containing these bright shades of love. Well, that changes today!
When I think about colorful ingredients, fruits and vegetables are at the top of the list. It is quite easy to come up with examples of greens, reds, oranges and yellows, but the list slims down a bit when you need pink and purple. Within that list though, one stands out as the most vibrant (and most delicious in my humble opinion) and that is the beet. Beets are not only quite beautiful, but are low in calories, help fight inflammation and are full of antioxidants. Brains and brawn does come in the same package after all!
This pizza is so beautiful! This bright purple crust is the absolute star and can be topped with anything. I went with bright colorful veggies to stay on the day of love theme, but the flavor of this crust would pair well with pretty much anything you’d like to use. It is hearty enough to stand up to lots of toppings as well, so pile them on! Let’s get this dough started!!
This first step of making this dough is preparing the beets. You will need 1 cup of pureed beets, which is about two large beets or three medium beets. Scrub them, rinse them and cut off the stems about two inches from the bulb. Place them on a parchment lined baking sheet and roast them in a 400 degree oven for about 50 minutes or until a knife easily pierces into each beet. Using gloves, peel the beets and puree them in a food processor until smooth.
Once the beets have been pureed, fill a one cup measuring scoop and set it aside. Next, whisk together one cup of warm water and one packet of active dry yeast. The water should be body temperature, not hot. If the water is too hot, it will kill the yeast, so dip your finger into the water and make sure that it is not too hot before adding your yeast. Whisk it until it looks well incorporated and milky.
In a large bowl, add 3 and 3/4 cups of all purpose flour and 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of salt. Making a well in the middle of the flour, pour your activated yeast, the honey and pureed beets into the bowl and mix with a silicone spatula until a dough begins to form. I use a silicone spatula for this dough, because the coloring of the beets is easily washed off, unlike a wooden spoon which will remain purple for a good long time! Flip the dough onto a floured surface and begin kneading.
You need to knead this dough until it starts to feel smooth and stretchy. This dough is bit more wet than most classic pizza doughs, but it should not be sticky. If it still feels sticky, add a bit more flour until you achieve a tacky, but not sticky feeling dough. Form a ball by tucking the dough under itself and then place it into a lightly oiled bowl. Rotate the dough over one time, so that the oil coats all sides of the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and a large towel.
Place the dough in a warm place for approximately two hours. It should be about doubled in size and absolutely brilliant in color. Look at that dough!! So brightly colored with little flecks of beet speckled throughout. I just love it…
Transfer it onto a lightly floured surface and divide the dough into half. Preheat oven to 475 degrees.
Once you divide the dough, if you aren’t planning on using both halves, you can wrap the dough in plastic wrap and freeze it until you are ready to use it. Today, I am making one savory beet pizza and one dessert style pizza, so I lined two baking sheets with parchment paper, lightly grease each sheet and place one half of the dough onto each sheet. You can set one aside and begin prepping the first dough…
This dough is very easy to form by hand. Begin stretching the dough by lightly pressing outward with your finger tips. Starting in the middle and working your way out. The shape is totally up to you! I am using a large rectangular baking sheet, so I formed my dough into a big oval. Brush the surface of the dough with melted butter and crushed garlic and place any toppings that will need baking.
Certain vegetables taste the best when roasted in advance. I wanted to use watermelon radish on this pizza for the color and delicious flavor, so I roasted them ahead of time, as the pizza would not be in the oven long enough to bring out their best flavor. You can caramelize onions, sweat down some mushrooms or soft boil a few eggs, so they are all ready to dress up your pizza.
While the dough was proofing, I gathered all of my toppings. Today, I used as much purple as possible! I have beautiful purple savoy cabbage, red onion, the beet stems, roasted watermelon radish, this sliced Italian sopressata (you can absolutely omit this for a vegetarian pizza), bocconcini (little mozzerella balls), yellow heirloom tomatoes and soft boiled eggs. You can add anything you want to this pizza though!
Bake the pizza at 475 degrees for 5 minutes and then gently remove the parchment paper, placing the dough directly on the baking sheet. Rotate the sheet and bake for another 5-7 minutes or until the crust begins to brown and get a little crispy on the edges. Top with the fresh toppings and dig in!!
Beet Artisan Pizza Dough
Ingredients
Beet Pizza Dough
- 1 cup water, warm (between 100-110 degrees)
- 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 3 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 1 cup beets, pureed
Optional Toppings
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon garlic, crushed
- mozzarella, shredded
- sopressata
- red onion, thinly sliced
- heirloom tomatoes, quartered
- peas
- watermelon radish, roasted
- purple savoy cabbage, steamed
- soft boiled eggs
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- Roast beets for 45-50 minutes
- Peel and puree the beets in a food processor
- Add one packet (1/4oz = 2 1/4 teaspoons) of active dry yeast to 1 cup of warm water and stir until combined
- Add the flour, salt, honey and pureed beets and combine until a dough begins to form
- Transfer the dough onto a floured surface and knead the dough until everything is fully incorporated. The dough should feel smooth and no longer sticky. If your dough still feels sticky, add a light dusting of flour and continue to knead
- Form the dough into a ball and place it into a large lightly oiled bowl. Turn the dough over so the oil lightly coats all sides of the dough
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a towel and place it in a warm area for about 2 hours
- Once the dough has doubled in size, flip it out onto a lightly greased sheet of parchment paper * This dough will be enough for either one large pizza or two "two person" pizzas. If you want to divide the dough, cut it in half at this point, wrap one half in plastic wrap and freeze until you are ready to use it
- Set oven to 475 degrees
- Begin shaping your dough by hand and then roll it to approximately 1/4 inch thickness
- Once the dough is rolled and shaped, place it on a baking sheet by picking up the parchment paper and shifting it onto the baking sheet
- Add toppings of your choice
- Bake for 5 minutes at 475 degrees
- Remove baking sheet from the oven and carefully remove the parchment paper from underneath the pizza
- Return to the oven for an additional 3-5 minutes until cheese is melted and the crust has become slightly browned at the edges
