27 pizzas in a nights

[fhausback]

Last night I made 27 pizzas for a party. In the end it took about 3 hours of near constant hustle.

even with most people applying their own toppings, it took too long. I just couldn’t stretch the dough fast enough to get them done quicker. At most, I’d have 3 pizzas cooking at once, most often it was singles. and there is room for 7.

Is pre stretching a bunch of dough rounds doable? If they sit for a couple hours stacked in parchment paper, will that hurt the crust quality?

[Sixto]

Last night I made 27 pizzas for a party. In the end it took about 3 hours of near constant hustle.

even with most people applying their own toppings, it took too long. I just couldn’t stretch the dough fast enough to get them done quicker. At most, I’d have 3 pizzas cooking at once, most often it was singles. and there is room for 7.

Is pre stretching a bunch of dough rounds doable? If they sit for a couple hours stacked in parchment paper, will that hurt the crust quality?

I just did a party for 17 people, intended as a dry run for a 35 people pot-luck party. Here’s how we planned it:

• I had bulk fermented the dough, divided into 300 gram balls wrapped in cling wrap two days ago, and kept refrigerated till noon of the day of.
• At noon I removed the expanded dough balls from fridge, degassed, lightly kneaded, floured and flattened each ball into 5”-6” disks. (1 hr)
• I rewrapped the disks individually and also wrapped pairs together to keep at room temperature without drying or getting a crust till the party started.
• Then we had two people stretching dough into 12” pies and adding toppings for 5 different pre-set pizza toppings (two pizzas at a time).
• The pizza makers brought them out to me and they cooked between 4-5 minutes, with the floor temp averaging 650f…then they were taken away, cut and placed on the food table by another helper.
• While the prior two cooked pizzas were being cooked and taken away, the next two pizzas had been stretched, topped, and brought out to me to cook,
• We could have baked 10 pizzas in 30 mins, baking two every 5 minutes max…. In fact, it actually got quite relaxed ‘cause people were talking and eating, so there was a slight amount of time between each pair, particularly towards the end of the baking period.
• After all the pizzas were cooked - I ate, drank and socialized with the guests for the rest of the night.

Over-all it was quite enjoyable, not frantic at all. So, yes pre-stretching is doable if you keep the dough from drying-out, but for me having a pre-set menu, and three or four trusted and knowledgeable assistants made it that much more enjoyable.

[david s]

Last night I made 27 pizzas for a party. In the end it took about 3 hours of near constant hustle.

even with most people applying their own toppings, it took too long. I just couldn’t stretch the dough fast enough to get them done quicker. At most, I’d have 3 pizzas cooking at once, most often it was singles. and there is room for 7.

Is pre stretching a bunch of dough rounds doable? If they sit for a couple hours stacked in parchment paper, will that hurt the crust quality?

From my experience they just stick, although a customer who hired my oven prepared a whole lot like that and then froze them, They reported that this technique worked pretty well. I prefer to buy frozen par baked bases (shock/horror), if doing a big crowd. You do need to get bases that are suitable for wood fired ovens, ie no sugar or oil in the dough. Don't get cheap supermarket ones, they're like cardboard. This halves the prep time so a single operator (me) can prep, cook and cut 2 min pizzas continually. I have done parties of over 50 guests this way on my own, so long as most guests are prepared to share whatever comes out of the oven.

Allowing guests to add their own toppings is a health hazard and asking for food contamination, apart from nearly all guests being unaware that 2 min pizzas need to have nothing overlapping on top or stuff doesn't get a proper roasting. The same reason that cheese should go on the bottom, not the top.

[MarkJerling]

Last night I made 27 pizzas for a party. In the end it took about 3 hours of near constant hustle.

even with most people applying their own toppings, it took too long. I just couldn’t stretch the dough fast enough to get them done quicker. At most, I’d have 3 pizzas cooking at once, most often it was singles. and there is room for 7.

Is pre stretching a bunch of dough rounds doable? If they sit for a couple hours stacked in parchment paper, will that hurt the crust quality?

Like David, I've found that pre-stretching does not work. Most we've done at one time has been pizzas for 50 people with 3x 12" pizzas in the oven at one time. How we did it is I did nothing but cook pizzas and managed my oven. My wife and a friend stretched bases (more correctly rolled out bases from pre-formed 225g dough balls I got ready beforehand) and did toppings to order. Basically, pizzas took 90 second to 2 minutes to cook each, and we made about 45 pizzas in all, so had everyone fed in about an hour and a half.

[fhausback]

Thanks all, that gives me some ideas to streamline. At a minimum I’ll reduce the topping options to speed that task. And it sounds like I need a dough helper.

I do like the idea of dropping pizzas on a buffet. That way people can try multiple pizzas and gradually fill up rather than waiting for their whole pizza.

[Giovanni Rossi]

Thanks all, that gives me some ideas to streamline. At a minimum I’ll reduce the topping options to speed that task. And it sounds like I need a dough helper.

I do like the idea of dropping pizzas on a buffet. That way people can try multiple pizzas and gradually fill up rather than waiting for their whole pizza.

Still building my oven but we have done multiple large parties baking 1-2 pies at a time on my grill. As others have stated, you can hand stretch each dough on demand but you need at least one assistant. We start with appetizer pies cut into cheesy bread sticks, then make 4 different standard pies. If anyone is still hungry after that they can design their own. This is when some find out they like something they would never have tried on their own. Finally anyone can design a pie for takeaway. The scheme has worked well without unnecessary stress.