Pizza Party Poolside

[Richie]

We are having a pizza party for 40 people on May 12th. Does anyone have pictures of how they have snazzed up their yards/pools/kitchens for such an event? We're going for an Italian Trattoria look in the backyard.

Maybe we need a new Sub-Heading devoted to this topic???

We'll take pics to get it started.

thanks

[arevalo53anos]

Re: Pizza Party Poolside

Richie:

There are no pictures but a lot of tips in 'Pizza party for 35 persons...'.
Do search in this site.

Luis

[james]

Re: Pizza Party Poolside

Use lots of terracotta. Geraniums in pots, lemon trees in pots, azaleas, olive trees, roses, etc. There are also some very nice Tuscan motif cotton tableclothes that might look nice. In a pinch, you could use Provence cotton -- it's close. They are decorated with olive branches, lemons, olives, etc.

What about wrought iron candle holders?

Nice glass bottles for olive oil with cork pourers? Definitely use the good stuff.

Balsamic vinegar in glass bottles for dressing salads? Get the good stuff -- 1+ year old. :-)

Chianti Classico and Vernaccia di San Gimignano.

Good luck. I'm looking forward to hearing more.
James

[james]

Re: Pizza Party Poolside

These are a little over the top, but here are a couple of photos from the Boboli Gardens at the Pitti Palace in Florence. Serious terracotta pottery.

Of course, their limonaia (the greenhouse) is about three times bigger than our house.
James

[DrakeRemoray]

Re: Pizza Party Poolside

When we have a big outdoor party, I string white small christmas lights from a second story window out to the fence in sort of a fan pattern. I plug them all in inside upstairs and connect them to a board that is wider than the window. Then I drop them out the window and attach them to the fence using cup hooks screwed into the wooden fence. Then I go back upstairs and make the wires tight and attach them to eye hooks on that board. The tension holds the board against the window. No pictures, but a great effect...
Drake

[Richie]

The Party is on!

We donated a party to an auction, 15 couples paid $125 a piece, went to local school where the kids go. Seven couples helped us fund it and put the party on.

We went through 50 pies, everyone built their own then we added desert pizzas at the end. Here are a few pics from the night:

[Richie]

More Party pics

Sorry, I had to post more, it was a great party!

[RTflorida]

Re: Pizza Party Poolside

WOW! 50 pizzas in one night??? What an incredible undertaking. Just the preperation is mind blowing; then you have working the oven, heat management, etc.
I'm very curious as to the heat management aspect. how did the oven perform? How long did the whole cooking process take? How many "extra" logs were thrown in over the course of the evening? I'm sure I have more to ask....still amazed by the 50. GREAT WORK!!!

Sorry for all of the questions, my wife is planning on a party in a few weeks. Will probably involve 20-25 pizzas.....I gotta say, I'm a bit worried. so far I've only done 5 in one evening; just getting a good 'feel' for my oven. Any tips on pulling it off are greatly appreciated.

RT

[DrakeRemoray]

Re: Pizza Party Poolside

Looks great. You used the Christmas lights I see ...Nice under cover patio setup you have there!

How did you mix enough dough? Ready to spring for the big mixer yet?

Drake

[Richard]

Re: Pizza Party Poolside

With everyone making thr own pies did you have problems with pies sticking to peels? my experience with only making a few at a time, is even when peel floured if people take too long in deciding what to put on, expecially aftre adding the sauce, pies then to stick and make a mess in oven.

Would really like to know how you solved this

[RTflorida]

Re: Pizza Party Poolside

Richard, I experienced the same thing last weekend in doing 5 pies, my daughter and her boyfriend were a bit slow.....they seemed to listen about using plenty of flour on the peel, I think they just took too long - the flour absorbing moisture from the crust or the moisture in the crust making the flour damp (however you care to explain it). needless to say, I had 'goo' to burn off after their pies.

[Richard]

Re: Pizza Party Poolside

Ditto

While you can move coals over the goo to burn it off, it does slow down production. Find it difficult to 'spped peopleup" and yet still have it be a party. Do not want to tune this into a day at the office - wood burning oven is designed to make my life a bit slower and less stessful.

[Richie]

Re: Pizza Party Poolside

You guys are right on the pies sticking on the peels.

The first time it happened, like on the 3rd pizza, that guest ended up with a new style calzone. He said it was great but I think he was being polite.

What I did after that is I took the short 3 foot peels from the guests, stuck it in the oven as far as I could, then I used a longer 5 foot peel, slide the lip under the pizza and slid it off the lower (shorter) peel onto the floor of the oven (slowly). This worked fine, but it did slow it up and it didn't look as flash as sliding them straight in.

[RTflorida]

Re: Pizza Party Poolside

nice trick, I will certainly give that a try.

[Richard]

Re: Pizza Party Poolside

Are these wooden peels that you are using or metal?

I only have wooden peels and with the thickness of the lip do not see how I could get on to get under the pizza and slide off

anyone else have possible solutions?