Paint night, date night

Paint night, date night

Date nights do not always have to be big fancy meals out or hotel trips — instead, they can be cosy nights in. Recently, my partner and I decided to have a date night with a twist. We had both had a busy week at work, and getting all dressed up to go out was not on my agenda. Instead, we spent the evening making homemade pizza and painting portraits of one another. A simple, joy-filled way to connect and unwind. If that sounds like something you’d love to try, then this Branch blog might be the one for you.

How to make pizza dough – (Enough for two pizzas)

Ingredients:

• 2¼ tsp yeast

• 1½ cups warm water

• 3½ cups flour

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 1 tsp sugar

• 1 tsp salt

1. Activate Yeast -Mix warm water and sugar. Add your yeast. Set it aside to sit for 5–10 minutes until foamy.

2. Make the dough – Add olive oil, salt, and flour. Mix until it forms a dough.

3. Knead – Knead on a floured surface for 8–10 minutes until smooth.

4. Let it rise – Put the dough in an oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour.

5. Shape – Punch down, divide, and roll out into pizza shapes.

6. Toppings – Add your toppings. Of course, the first thing for your base is a fresh, healthy tomato purée, so here is a quick recipe:

Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 can of chopped tomatoes

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 1 clove garlic

• 1 tsp dried oregano

• ½ tsp salt

• ½ tsp sugar

• Fresh basil

1. In a bowl, mix the tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, oregano, salt, and sugar. Make sure to stir well. 

Quick Tip – If the tomatoes are too thick, place them in a blender to ensure a smooth sauce.

2. Taste & tweak – If you’re not tasting and tweaking, then what are you doing? Adjust seasoning to your liking. Add fresh basil. Use right away – No need to cook, just spread directly on pizza dough before baking.

3. Now add the rest of your toppings. Our current go-to is cheese, ham, pepperoni, ’nduja, chicken, and mozzarella.

   
   

4. Finally, bake at around 245°C for 12–15 minutes, and then serve. Parmesan is a must, of course!

Painting

For the paint, we bought a pack of four small canvases, two different coloured tubes of paint, and two water paint tins. We decided to draw portraits of each other. If we hadn't had such a good time, I may have taken offence at the picture D had drawn for me!

With the two leftover canvases, we covered each of our hands in paint and pressed them over the canvas, overlapping each other. This is such a wonderful idea, as we each have a keepsake from the lovely night we shared.

Setting the Scene

To further set the scene, you can play some music in the background — perhaps your favourite songs, or maybe even have a movie on while you paint.

For a little snack, we bought a big punnet of strawberries from my favourite place to buy fruit (M&S, of course), and a large bar of Cadbury’s chocolate. We melted it over the stove and placed it in a bowl to dip the strawberries into while painting.

As always, thank you for reading.

With Love Anaiá Xx