Pizza Party Management....

[dunnes2002]

Had a test night the other week with Pizzas so i know the oven works well but i wonder how people cope with having a party for people.

As some of the quests will be very young and I'll be letting them make their own pizzas how do people manage the time it can take a child to make a pizza and making sure it doesnt stick to either the peel or some other material?

As quite a few may not be too interested in making their own base i was thinking of pre making a few but if i leave them too long they will stick to the worktop. I think i have seen a picture of someone using curtain netting or something similar. By folding it over and flouring before putting the base on, once ready put on the peel and pull one half of the netting out which should leave perfectly on the peel. Does anyone know what im talking about and has anyone tried it?

As i will be running around like a blu arsed fly any tips and suggestions will come in handy.

I do have a fireman coming though so im not too worried about that side of things!!

[Gaelceltic]

Can't help you in this one Dunnes, but look forward to getting some advice too.

[moonhead]

We had a party of 20 a few weeks back. Everyone was more than keen to get in on the act of shaping and topping their own creations, you might be surprised. My 80 year old mum had the best shaping technique of us all.
A wood peel dusted with semolina flour tends to stick less than the aluminium one, and if your bases are thin to much tomato sauce will make the base soggy and stick.
I think this is the type of peel your referring to
bakerybits.co.uk/the-super-peel.html
Never used one though!
But good luck just remember to relax and enjoy yourself, there'll be more than enough eager volunteers on hand.
Rick

[bookemdanno]

and you'll get a few road kills if you let them try to load the pizza in the oven too!

[rivergirl]

Wish that I could help but I can wish you luck and fun!!

[tonyb]

There are several things you could do. What about initially, while people are hungry, just having them put the toppings on, once everyone has had something to eat, then you have more time for people to experiment with the dough. You could also pre-bake some bases or use pizza tins. You might also try using a slightly drier dough to help prevent sticking or use more flour when shaping. What about 1/2 balls for the kids to work with. Whatever you choose go light on toppings and keep theem away from the edges.

I always use a sharing rather than individual approach when having a pizza party ie I cut the pizza into slices and everyone shares rather than having a pizza each, its much easier to manage that way. I also find that people seem to get fuller eating pizza slices over an hour or so, (or maybe its the booze) so I find it helps planning as I can work on 1 250g pizza per person which seems to be plenty.

I always 'train' someone to look after the cooking and turn the pizzas in the oven, while I do the prep, this sometimes leads to a pizza pushed into the coals but they learn quickly. Never short of volunteers

Good luck

[dunnes2002]

train and share it is then. i think the fireman will be very happy to play with the oven and do the pizzas while i prepare everything. The others will be more interested in the liquid refreshment i think!!!

It's a good idea of having a round of made pizzas, let the floor heat up again and then let people make their own creations if they wish. Lets them taste the traditional pizzas and then be a bit more creative.

At least the weather looks dry for the weekend, thanks for you input

[cannyfradock]

Dunnes

I've found from experience that hosting or helping at a pizza party, you will need 1 person on the oven all the time. If you think that you won,t be able to stay with the oven 100% of the time.....do a trial run with one of your friends and introduce him or her...in the deep end to oven management and peel control. Trial and error is a brilliant tool for learning.

I've found that nearly everyone....from kids to grandma's want to have a go a prepping and baking their own pizza. If you are holding an extra large party you can always buy in frozen pizza balls (I'll give you the contact if you want). They range from 190gms to 240 gms and cost about 50p a ball. The trick is to keep your pizza dough quite cool....at or below 5 degrees c, ....any warmer and the dough will form big air bubbles when in the oven (if this happens I dock them with the side of my pizza peel when baking)

Weigh out your dough into balls. I use about a 160/ 180gm ball for a large thin Neopolitan pizza....keep them chilled. Kids love using a rolling pin and the more adventurous adults try to hand stretch or even throw the pizza dough into shape....it really doesn't matter as long as everybody is having fun.

Tip...make sure before the topping go on there is semolina (I use rye flour) under the pizza base. Sprinkle your peel also with semolina/flour when picking up the pizza with your peel. It'll be trial and error but don't place your pizza too close to the fire. Buy a seconds/minute timer (about £3 from asda) and set it for 50 seconds. After this time the bottom crust will have formed and you can start turning the pizza with the peel. The easiest way I've found is to slide the peel under the right hand side of the pizza then pull it towards you.....continue to do this until the pizza has turned 180 degrees.....By the time you have turned the pizza it will probably be ready to take out. You can always then slide the peel underneath and slightly lift up the front end to check if those characteristic leoparding circles have formed on the bottom. You will only ever see this on a wood-fired oven and as good as the commercial boys are...there is a "sacre-difference" between a wood-fired oven pizza and the the commercial counterpart. If anybody has overdone the quantity topping (as they often do) you can offer the pizza up to about 9 inches from the top of the dome....6 seconds will do.

Great to see the forum members comments (I'm always learning) and along with my comments hope you have a successful "bash".

hope you have your camera handy for the party as although pics are not obligatory........we'll only moan if you don't post any (you know what we're like)

Terry

[adm]

Just one thing to add.....rice flour is incredibly slippery, so if you dust your wooden placing peel with a very thin layer of it, the dough will almost never stick. You really don't need much.

If you get a new wooden peel, then just rub some into the surface quite well with your fingers, knock off any excess and you should be good to go!

It's also perfect for dusting bannettons with if you are proofing bread. Never sticks. Wish I had discovered it years ago.

[rivergirl]

Terry's idea of buying the balls in is really good , but if you think it's cheating could you not let everyone make a first pizza each and then the next load you could have premade and frozen...........
Cannot wait to try Adm,s rice flour tip!

[muddy4x4]

The tomato sauce makes the base stick to the worktop or peel if left for more than a few mins. Couple of tips that work for me. I don't like too much tomato sauce, so if the pizza is for me, I put the cheese on first, then a few blobs of sauce.
If you have people making up their own, get a few aluminium pizza screens and put the base on the screen. when their pizza is ready for the oven, put it in the oven on the screen, after about 50 secs, lift it of the screen and put it on the oven floor and finish as normal. This also helps keep the oven clean as your not using lots of flour that burns on the oven floor.
Hope that helps
Muddy

[minesamojito]

Great tips here, I man the oven and do toppings, and have a sous chef stretching dough balls and saucing, I only let guests get involved once everyone has pizza on their plate, and let folk have a play then, it usually has a few mess ups, but people like to get involved.
Agree with all the others here.
Cheers
Marcus

[mattyb]

When feeding the masses, I found that it is best to make Pizza and let people eat by the slice. This not only keeps the food as a main focus of the evening (people keep dipping their hand in for another slice for hours) but it also means your not feeding one by one, leaving people hungry and unhappy.

[dunnes2002]

some very good advice from everyone, will try to make sure everyone has a pizza before we start experimenting with kids pizzas etc. I may drain the tomatoes aswell, never really dont that before but they do contain some tomato sauce (Tesco finest san marzano). This may help extend the peel time.

[spinal]

Late to the party, but here's my technique...

If I have time:
The night before I'll make a small batch of dough, with a little fresh yeast and a little sourdough. This becomes my "mother-dough".

The morning, I'll dump the ingredients into the mixer, along with the mother dough - this gives the final dough a slightly more full bodied flavour.

If I don't have time:
I just dump the ingredients into the bread mixer.

A few hours before the guests arrive, I cut the dough, which has now risen, into portions. These portions are then flattened into round disks with a rolling pin until they are about 1cm thick. For my oven, 6" diameter at this stage works well as these end up being about 12-18" in diameter. These disks are then oiled and let to rest while I welcome light the fire, set up starters and things and welcome guests.

Depending on how much I trust the guests, I'll get them to make their own toppings... if not, I'll ask them. I find that some people tend to put so many toppings on the pizza that you end up with a mess in the oven that slows everything down.

Once ready to bake, I take the 1cm disks and pull/stretch them until they are thin enough and get them ready. It takes less than a minute to do this final stretching, so I can cope with a few guests before being overwhelmed.

I've been "training" swmbo and a friend to do this stage so I can man the oven full time; but tbh as manning the oven is easier I just tend to do the bases myself and let swmbo man the oven with the occasional guest trying....

M.