cooking lots of pizzas....

[pizzaohio]

I will be entertaining a large group of people and want to cook around 15-20 pies. I am looking for some advice regarding the preparation of the dough. Specifically any ideas on how to form the dough ahead of time so I can limit the preparation at the party to just topping the pies. I have considered forming the dough individually and cooking briefly in the oven ahead of time. Or perhaps forming the dough and stacking between wax paper with flour. Can anyone give me any tips. Thanks.

[nissanneill]

Re: cooking lots of pizzas....

pizzaohio
do what I do, let the guests make and build their own pizzas after I demonstrate how I do it.
They have a ball and that is what a home oven is all about.
Apart from that, it allows you to join in and eat rather than slave for them. They will thoroughly enjoy the whole experience rather than just tasting it.
Go on and let them get their hands messy.

Neill

[dmun]

Re: cooking lots of pizzas....

I think preforming fully pulled skins would be a prescription for disaster, but you may think about making hamburger shaped slugs, which is the first step before you begin stretching. I think you would have better luck stacking them. Even better might be putting these slugs on sprayed cookie sheets so you don't have to pry them apart.

I find that in the winter I have to pull my dough out of the fridge 45 minutes before I use it, but in the summer it warms up so fast that it's best to use the dough cold, so the Caputo dough doesn't turn into an over-extensible mess. If it's too cold to work, this time of year just setting it aside for a minute in mid stretch lets it warm up.

[pizzaohio]

Re: cooking lots of pizzas....

Thanks for the responses. The problem I have is that the event I am hosting is a fundraiser for around 75 people. The pizza will be served as an appetizer. I need to try to avoid the mess associated with forming the skins and it is not the type of event to have people work with their own dough. Maybe it is all wishful thinking....

[Chef]

Re: cooking lots of pizzas....

You can pre-stretch the dough up to 1 1/2 hours ahead of time. Put the dough on the backs of cookie sheets or any flat surface cover with parchment that has with tons of cornmeal or seimolina and transfer to the peel and dress the pizza.

Good Luck!!

[telehort]

Re: cooking lots of pizzas....

I won't tell you how I know..but trying to stretch out skins and put between floured pieces of wax paper doesn't work :-)
It sounds like for your event you may want to do a bit of par-baking. We have done that when I had an event that wasn't going to allow me much service time as they wanted about 100 pizzas as soon as possible. I par-baked all the skins the day before..just did like 45-60 seconds in the oven, just enough to hold shape and then cooled..I ran the oven about 600 for this. The next day we were able to top them a bit easier and they cooked quicker than from raw dough. It wasn't really exactly how I wanted my pizza going out as I would rather it be a bit more authentic/fresh, but for this event it worked just fine and the client was happy. We were able to get all the pizzas out in a bit over an hour.

[Richard]

Re: cooking lots of pizzas....

The idea of par-baking was one I have not considered. Will try it this weekend.
What was your final cooking time and at what temp.

[telehort]

Re: cooking lots of pizzas....

my final cooking time per pizza was probably a bit over a minute or so depending on the toppings. I like to cook around 750-800 degrees.

[FigliodiMariaeGiovanni]

Re: cooking lots of pizzas....

I had the same dilemma for my son's college graduation party. I needed to make about 15 pies. I use a pizza stone on my Charbroil propane grill.
PS- I know I know, it's not a forno a legna but I will have one some day!

What I did was proof the dough balls on floured parchment paper on a counter near my work surface and covered them with damp paper towels, that were then covered with cling wrap. They rose slowly and I had a very good result as I didn't need them all at once. Used some as appetizer pies at the beginning of the party. By the end of the evening all of my son's friends were begging for some more pizza. The dough balls stored at room temp in the house remained fresh for the entire evening into the night. Almost 6 hours.

Roberto