The Calm Before the Swarm

Pizza Night meets Cross Country Team, once again.


2 years ago, Hubby, who is one of the assistant coaches for the high school cross-country team, called when the bus full of kids was on its way back from previewing the district championship course, and asked if it was OK that he'd (already) invited the team home for pizza...  It was just the kids who had made it to districts, so I think there was about 16 of them.


That night was a big hit, so last year, the decision was made to do Pizza Night earlier in the season, so the whole team could come.  I quickly learned that 12 pizzas for 40 kids is NOT enough.  (1/4 pizza per person had seemed reasonable... Ha!)  I made new batches of dough twice, and with much needed and much appreciated help from Princess Sassy and her best friend,  we ran, and worked, and made it happen... Usually with team members at our elbow, awaiting the next pizza.  (We finally decided Hubby's assigned task was to keep the team entertained away from the work area.  It's a good thing I let him live after the prior year's stunt.)


2 big lessons learned from last year... 

1)  Pizza Night will always be the evening after district course preview, so we're hosting a smaller batch of kids.  (With something like 64 kids on the team this year, I was especially glad of that decision!)  

2)  Since I need to plan more pizza per person for the hungry, carb-loading athletes, pre-baking the crusts for quick-loading and baking would likely work MUCH better.

So, here I am... with my two 6-Quart buckets of dough and the meat provided by one of the parents.  
Today, hopefully with help of the royal crew, I will be shaping and baking crusts, cooking the meats, mixing the sauce, and chopping the other toppings.  I plan to be making about 18 pizzas, which I hope will be enough for the approximately 35 people I expect to feed tonight.


1 lesson learned already this year:  I am not strong enough to mix a double batch of dough with my beloved Danish Dough Whisk (Large).  I ended up dumping it onto the counter to mix with my hands. My Bosch Universal Mixer, that I use for mixing bread dough, would've been a better choice.