The Pizza Therapy Forum and Pasta Therapy Forum

[songbird]

Does anyone have experience making (or calculating for making) pizzas for groups of people?

I'm researching cost and logistics for feeding approximately 60 people. Figuring on 3 slices per person x 60 people / 8 slices per pizza, which equals 22.5 pizzas. I plan on making 24 thin crust pizzas.

Need info on how much sauce we might need. Same for toppings (looking for suggestions of toppings as well). Tips on making dough in large batches, in advance, and refrigerating or freezing would also be greatly appreciated. Somebody asked if pizza dough can be made in a bread machine. I have no idea, as I have no bread machine.

Anyone have an opinion on sliced cheese vs shredded?

Note: this is a low budget event.

It's in October, so there's not a huge rush, but I would appreciate if anyone can respond quickly. If the pizza feast idea isn't going to work it's better to know sooner rather than later.

Thanks.

[GOOMBA]

SONGBIRD:
Good afternoon. Songbird, going with your thinking my calculations to get 8 slices from a thin-crust pizza pie (N.Y. Style pizza) you will need to bake a 12 inch round pie 3/32 of an inch thick (.093). Thin crust pizza varyies from approx .080 to .100 thick. I put you in the middle.
Songbread, just to answer your question about bread machines.... YES !!! you can use them to make pizza dough.
Songbird, I will now address the toppings for you. You can safely assume the following, you will require 2 5/8 oz of tomato sauce per pie.
You will need 78, oz total. If you plan to employ canned mushrooms a 4, oz can of sliced mushrooms will suffice nicely for 2 pies. I believe you should use shredded cheese that you can either purchase at a great expense or grate it yourself. WHY !!! because it will melt faster than sliced. Your option. You will need 2 5/8, oz per pie. I would consider 1/2 to 3/4 inch diced green & red peppers. as well. You will need also 2 5/8 oz per pie. A word about this ingredient. In as much you have expressed you are on a limited budget I would buy these peppers when on sale & then dice them. Place same in your freezer... they last for more than a year.
If doing that when you are getting ready to do your pies about 3 or 4 hours before get the peppers out & let them defrost just to get the water out of them. Otherwise this water retention will seep into the pie dough & make it soggy. You can apply chopped onions if you like about 4 TBLS per pie. I might add Songbird, a good price for canned mushrooms on sale is .50 cents per can, sometimes I can get it for .39 cents per. Watch those sales every week.
If you need anymore info. post back or you can ~E~ mail your ??? to me. Good luck & have a nice day.

~ GOOMBA

[songbird]

Wow! Thank you Goomba. You've been a great help to me.

Do you happen to know anything about preparing large quantities of dough in advance?

[GOOMBA]

SONGBIRD:
Good afternoon. First thank-you for your quick response. Now then Songbird, I errored on the 2 5/8 oz for the tomato sauce. It should read 3 5/8 oz. Also 4 Tbls of chopped onions should read "Up to that amount. Please make note of that.
SONGBIRD, I will assume you will be employing the regular KITCHEN AID mixing machine. For each 12 inch pie that we spoke about each ball must weigh exactly 10.5 oz or best we make them 10.75 oz each. So you can mix 3 safely maybe 4 pizza balls. Then when finished weigh them out & wrap them loosely in plastic wrap then into 1, larger plastic bag & place into the fridge for 2 hours. Then remove & place in the frezzer. till needed. Remove from freezer about 5 or 6 hours to defrost & to get to room temp. & then roll-out into the 12 inch disc.You will have to do this about 7 or 8 times. I hope you have more than 1 freezer in your digs. If you need more info post back Songbird. Good day my friend.

~GOOMBA.

[songbird]

Thank you very much, Goomba! If I have any more questions, I will be sure to post them.

[pizzaprices]

This is a very interesting discussion between Songbird and Goomba because the preliminary discussion is based on songbirds reference to thin crust slices per person which is then interpreted by Goomba to be a thin-crust Italian style 12" pie. Goomba goes into great detail, even so far as to designate the thickness of the crust in thousandths of an inch and the amount of toppings to eighths of an ounce. I must read the other posts by Goomba, as Goomba seems well steeped in the scientific method. I bet we'd all like to take a look into that laboratory/kitchen just to see the thermometers, distillers, gram scales, etc..
Just by chance for the last month I have been working on a printing layout for menus and cost/price analysis worksheets for small pizza business owners. The price/cost worksheets for round pizzas include the Diameter, Circumference, and area of pizzas from 5 to 42" in diameter. I will build some experimental recipe pages for those that would like to tweak their recipes that can be easily and cheaply copied from the screen for personal use. I saw some 5 lb/one gram increment scales at staples last night, just right for someone interested in controlling a few inputs of their recipes. It's time for a pizza nap.
_________________
http://www.geocities.com/pizzaprices/pizzaprices.html