Let’s Have a Pizza Party! At a dinner party one should eat wisely but not too well, and talk well but not too wisely.
... William Somerset Maugham
AN ANCHOVY LOVER'S PIZZA READY FOR THE OVEN
A do-it-yourself pizza party is an easy, fun way to feed a large group of hungry adults, teenagers, or kids a meal they’ll love, with a minimum of work and expense on your part.
The recipes below make eight generous individual-serving pizzas. Double the recipes and you’ll have enough food for sixteen people!
Most of the preparation can be done in advance, thus giving you more time to spend with your guests.
Perhaps best of all, everyone gets their pizza made exactly the way they like, for each person decorates a personal pizza with his or her favorite toppings.
HOW A PIZZA PARTY WORKS
SHARON JENKINS APPLYING SAUCE TO HER PERSONAL PIZZA
Make the pizza dough at least four hours before the pizza party.
The sauce may be made days ahead and kept in your refrigerator, or weeks ahead and stored in your freezer.
Next, prepare bowls of toppings—see the suggested list below.
Make a large mixed green salad with your choice of lettuces and spring greens; sliced mushrooms; quartered tomatoes; sliced radishes; sliced pepperoncini; garbanzo and kidney beans; halved black olives; grated parmesan cheese; and anything else you like in your salad.
TOPPINGS READY TO GO ON PIZZAS
Refrigerate the salad until you’re ready to serve it. Then, mix the salad with an Italian-style vinaigrette dressing.
Set out an assortment of beverages: iced tea, soft drinks, beer, and wine.
One-half hour before dinner time, turn on your oven, set to 550°. Place two (or more) half-size baking sheets in the oven to heat.
Set up a buffet-style row of pizza toppings. Give each guest a dinner plate with one pizza dough circle sitting on a piece of parchment paper.
Instruct your guests to apply a thin layer (about 1/4–1/3 cup) of pizza sauce onto the dough, spreading it around with the back of a ladle or serving spoon.
Next, tell them to add toppings of their choice, as much or as little as they want.
MEGAN, STEVE, AND MARSHA JOHNSON BUILDING THEIR PERSONAL PIZZAS
NOTE: Most people tend to put too much of too many different toppings on their pizza. Generally speaking, less is better than more, and you should so advise your guests.
About the shredded mozzarella cheese:
Some people prefer to put a generous layer of cheese directly on top of the pizza sauce, with the other toppings on top of the cheese. Others like the cheese to go on last, covering everything. And, there are those folk who want cheese both above and below the toppings.
Slide each assembled pizza (together with the parchment paper) off the plate and onto one of the hot baking sheets in your oven.
Invite your guests to help themselves to beverages and salad. They should start on their salad while their pizza is baking, which takes about ten minutes.
You’ll need to watch the oven carefully. As soon as the cheese on any pizza is melted and the crust has turned a light golden brown, remove it from the oven. Then, slide the pizza off the parchment paper onto the appropriate person’s plate.
4 cups bread flour
2 cups moderately hot tap water
2 packages (4-1/2 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
Corn meal
Additional flour and olive oil
PREPARATION
Place the yeast and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Slowly add the hot water and stir. Set in a warm place for 15 minutes to proof. The mixture will become quite bubbly.
STEVE JOHNSON APPLIES SAUCE TO A ROUND OF DOUGH WHILE DAUGHTER MEGAN WAITS IMPATIENTLY
Add the olive oil and salt.
Add the flour one cup at a time, and combine.
Transfer the dough to a floured breadboard. Knead until the dough is smooth, elastic, and no longer sticky—about ten minutes. Add more flour as needed. Form the dough into a ball.
Clean the bowl and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Place the ball of dough in the bowl and turn, to coat all sides with oil.
Cover and allow the dough to rise in a warm place for about two hours, or until it has doubled in size.
STEVE JOHNSON AND SHARON JENKINS ON THE PIZZA ASSEMBLY LINE
Return the dough to the floured breadboard.
Punch the dough down and knead it until it’s again smooth and elastic.
Cover the dough with the bowl and allow it to sit for 20 minutes.
Divide the dough into 8 equal portions. Form each portion into a ball.
JJ COWLES AND SHARON JENKINS BUILDING THEIR PERSONAL PIZZAS
One at a time, place each ball of dough on a lightly floured breadboard.
Using a rolling pin, form a circle about 9 inches in diameter and 1/4 inch thick.
Place each circle on a slightly-larger piece of parchment paper that you've sprinkled with a small amount of yellow corn meal.
HELPFUL TIP: Keep some corn meal in a recycled spice container with a shaker fitment.
Stack the circles of dough / parchment paper. Cover the stack with plastic wrap.
Refrigerate the circles of dough until just before they’re to be topped and baked.
MEGAN JOHNSON APPLIES PIZZA SAUCE TO A ROUND OF DOUGH
This incredible pizza sauce will fill your home with
the aroma of a fine Italian restaurant.
INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
4 cloves garlic, sliced
2 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
1 (12 ounce) can tomato paste
1 cup water
1/2 cup Chianti or other red wine
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 teaspoons anchovy paste
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne (red) pepper
PREPARATION
Over medium-low heat, sauté the onion in the olive oil. When the onion becomes translucent, add the garlic and sauté for two minutes more.
Place the diced tomatoes, fennel seeds, red pepper flakes, and the onion-garlic-oil mixture in a food processor. Run several minutes, until the mixture has a smooth consistency.
Place into a large saucepan. Add all of the other ingredients, except the Parmesan cheese.
Simmer to desired thickness, stirring frequently—thirty minutes to one hour.
Stir in the Parmesan cheese. Cool before using.
SUGGESTED PIZZA TOPPINGS
ERIN JENKINS AND STEVE JOHNSON BUILDING THEIR PERSONAL PIZZAS
Pizza sauce
Mozzarella cheese, grated
Pepperoni, sliced
Italian sausage, crumbled and precooked
Mushrooms, sliced
Anchovies, canned
Black or green olives, pitted and halved
Green or red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
Tomatoes, or sun-dried tomatoes
Fresh Basil
Red onions, finely sliced
Artichoke hearts or bottoms, canned
Ground beef, crumbled, cooked
Ground Italian sausage, crumbled, cooked
Pork sausage, crumbled, cooked
Barbecued chicken
Roasted duck breast
Shrimp
Ham
Bacon
Pineapple chunks, fresh or canned
Banana peppers
Jalapeño peppers
Caramelized onions
And here are even more suggestions: Roasted garlic, broccoli, fresh spinach, arugula, cilantro, feta cheese,
cheddar cheese, Parmesan cheese, bleu cheese, Swiss cheese, pepper jack cheese, ricotta cheese, and provolone.
Leftover pizza sauce and dough circles can be refrigerated for a few days, or frozen up to a year. Be sure to wrap the dough completely so that it will not dry out.
DINNER AT LAST! SHARON JENKINS, ERIN JENKINS, MEGAN JOHNSON
The photos in this chapter are courtesy of Marsha Johnson.
