Pizza for 26

Phew.  Mission accomplished.  The turn-out was a little lighter than expected, but things went well.  The cross-country district meet competitors were filled, hopefully ready for tomorrow's big state-qualifying meet.  


For me, the advance prep payed off.  I kept busy, but had no reason to get harried, and there was plenty of pizza, which was the goal.  


I'll let the photos tell most of the story from here:


Some shots of my midday work crew, who washed beverage containers, helped chop toppings, mixed up sauce, got the table set up, and helped do clean-up:                                                                                                          

An hour before the team arrived:                                                                                                                  

Table set, making good use of the beverage dispensers we
got for the weddings.

Pre-baked crusts awaiting toppings

Not fancy, but a way to serve hot, sliced pizza without
the bottoms steaming and getting soggy

They're on their way!  We left one island-full of crusts unbaked, so we could cook the first several fresh, the way we're accustomed to:

During the busiest time:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

14 team members + 4 adults (coaches & parents),
+ 8 family = 26

Our kids waited for their chance at the food!

Finishing up the last of the ingredients, and, I thought, the last 2 crusts.  But then I turned around and there were still 2 more.  That's OK.  We can mix up more sauce tomorrow, or just be lazy and use pesto.

We have 3 pizzas and the 2 bare crusts remaining.  For Saturday, there is one answer to the question I am asked several times each day, "What should I eat?"  :-)


Things learned to remember or change for next year:

• Make 2 double batches of dough early in the week to shape into 18 to 20 pizza crusts early on Friday

• Things I did right:  Baking crusts for 4 to 5 minutes each and prepping toppings ahead.  The sauce as we did this year, starting with six 6-ounce cans of tomato paste and 24 ounces of water, should be just the right amount.

• Reconsider the baking method, as the pre-baked crusts were getting done before the cheese on top was bubbly and browning.  I need to choose a method with a higher percentage of top element heat, or put pizza stone on a rack at a higher position in the oven.

• We waited too long to start the first batch, so that only 2 pizzas were done by the time kids started streaming through the front door.  It would've been better to have 4 done (sliced in 10 pieces per pie) so that each athlete could've grabbed 2 pieces without waiting.  I think I'll go ahead and pre-bake all the crusts next year, so that they all bake faster once the team arrives.

Readying for Team Pizza Night, the Early Challenges

First of all, for whatever reason, my pizza dough does not turn out exactly the same every time.  --But close enough, and since I only use one batch at a time, for up to 6 pizzas, this is never an insurmountable problem.  A little wetter, a little more whole grain flour content, a little more elastic... I can adapt, and it always works.

However, this time, I had 2 buckets of dough with very different personalities.  The smaller batch was wetter dough, so was a little sticky, but fairly easy to work with.  The other bucket of dough... the double batch, of course, decided to give me a battle.  When divided into balls, placed on the parchment paper, and pushed out into a circle, it would pop back, wrinkling the paper underneath.  I let it rest, which usually makes elastic dough more cooperative, but not this one.  A 10-minute rest will usually do the trick, but after an hour, it was still stubborn.  Making 9 crusts of this dough was a physical workout.


I also decided that I was risking a shortage with the number of crusts I had.   I came to the obvious realization that it was unlikely I could ever have too many crusts, since any extras will be happily devoured by my own family, so I mixed up a couple more batches of dough.  They won't be as flavorful without the days to age, so I mixed in a couple crusts'-worth of the pre-made dough, hoping that would help.  


I discovered 3 more challenges, by this point...              

•  How long to let the crusts sit before baking?  They usually sit long enough for us to prepare toppings and top them all, but I had no idea what length of time would be best for 'naked crusts.'  So I decided to start this blog post.  That was just about long enough.  :-)  (It's not a perfect science... About 20-30 minutes is OK.  I've had them wait even longer when we're making pizzas the 'regular' way.)

•  How long to cook them?  I wanted to stop the rise and shorten the baking time later.  I didn't want them to get too brown later, though, either.  I decided on 4 minutes, since at 5 minutes they were starting to brown.  They also bubble up much more when 'naked.'  I decided the bubbles would relax as they cooled, so I didn't worry about it.

•  Where to cool this many crusts?  The grates on our Wolf rangetop were working well as cooling racks, then I added actual cooling racks on the counters beside for more.  Using the rangetop as cooling area prevented my cooking the meats, so the kitchen table and other perimeter counters needed to be utilized instead.  

 Warding off the bread-stealing-dogs then became a big consideration.  I couldn't get whole pizza crusts back far enough on the counter to where I felt they were safe.  I am thankful for doors on the kitchen... The kids did a pretty good job at remembering to re-close as they went in and out.

Poor doggy left pining through the glass.
The downside: Without the air flow it got a bit warm in the kitchen!

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.