Do you love pizza? Or sea animals? Or both?! Well, here’s a recipe that shows how to make an octopus shaped pizza that you get to enjoy after cooking! There’s also a fun fact somewhere in the recipe. Have some fun in the kitchen with pizza dough and your favorite toppings. You’ll need a safe adult nearby to help you and you can practice reading, following recipe directions, and other skills needed in the kitchen. Happy pizza making!
To watch a step-by-step video of this activity click here.
Ingredients:
1 store bought pizza dough (or homemade)
Pizza sauce
Shredded mozzarella cheese (or Italian blend)
Small toppings of choice (olives, green peppers, mushrooms, etc.)
Pepperoni (or another round ingredient to make eyes)
Instructions:
For this recipe, find a safe adult who can help you and watch you make this recipe. You will need to use the oven (which is really hot!) and a knife (which is really sharp!) for most of this recipe. Safety first!
Step 1: Preheat & preparation
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees farenheit and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, foil or an alternative.
Step 2: Cut the dough
Divide the dough into 4 pieces. 2 halves will be used to make the octopus heads and the other 2 halves will be used to make the tentacles. For now, let’s work on 1 octopus, so set 2 pieces of dough aside.
Step 3: Shape the dough
Shape 1 piece of dough into a rectangle and cut it into 8 pieces for the tentacles. Shape the other piece of dough into an oval for the octopus head.
Step 4: Put together your octopus
Place the dough head on one of the baking sheets. Arrange the tentacle dough pieces along the bottom of the head and press the edges into the head.
Step 5: Repeat
Take the other 2 pieces of dough that are set aside, and repeat steps 3 and 4.
Have you seen the movie Finding Nemo? The pink octopus, Pearl, is actually a flapjack octopus!
Step 6: Bake the crust
Place the octopuses in the oven and bake for 6 minutes.
Step 7: Sauce
Remove from the oven and spread pizza sauce to cover the head and tentacles. Some people may also like to spread pesto or a white cream sauce instead of pizza sauce!
Step 8: Cheese
Place as much cheese as you want on top of the sauce.
Step 9: Toppings
Place your toppings on top of the cheese. We used pepperonis for the eyes on our meat pizza and black olives for the eyes on our vegetarian pizza.
You can give your octopuses silly faces, smiles, and suction cups on their tentacles using whatever toppings you like.
Step 10: Bake again and enjoy
Bake the pizzas in the oven for another 6 minutes or so and remove it when your cheese is melted, and your dough is cooked however you like it! Some people like their pizza to be soft and doughy, and some people like it crispier. Enjoy!