Fourth and last message
Statistics
In this party, where 35 persons eating and drinking (and thanks God, smiling) during more than four hours, were consumed
Eighteen 35 cm (14‘) pizzas plus a 50x37x4 cm (20’x15’x11/2’) foccacia (nearly, a half pizza/invitee)
Three kilograms (106 oz) of mozzarella (200g – 7oz /pizza)
5 kg (176 oz) of flour (250g – 8.8 oz/pizza)
2 lt of sauce (110g – 4oz/pizza)
700 ml of beer/invitee (quantity of beer divided by quantity of invitees, no division)
400 ml of soda/invitee (quantity of beer divided by quantity of invitees, no division), meaning 1100 ml of liquid by invitee (was a rainy night with 22°C – 71°F)
4 lt of ice cream (220 ml/invitee)
10/12 eucalyptus stems with 60/80 cm (2.5 ft) and 10/15 cm (four/five) inches in diameter
The pizzas were baked at 410/450°C (770/840°F) by something around 1 ½ minutes.
Normal time to reach this temperature in this oven 11/2, 2 hours (did not happen this time)
Lessons learned
Always be positive (truly positive and do not so far optimistic).
Be prepared to little plan deviations.
Anticipate your needs and prepare your equipment (clean the oven, verify the firewood, take a look at your fire tools)
Prepare the dough as normal. Calculate the necessary quantity. Go to the safe side.
Divide and organize the toppings.
All the toppings will be at ambient temperature when being used.
Prepare something special or any activity to the children.
Know your oven.
Prepare and maintain the fire going on. Do not over charge it. Give space to the flux/flow follow the natural path.
A lot of little embers will do a better job than few coarse ones.
Have something/same place to discard the unnecessary coals.
Take out the dough from the refrigerator just when necessary to slightly reach the ambient temperature.
Have a list with the pizza type, topping and order to be baked.
The peel/peels will be clean and maintained in place.
Verify that the semolina/cornmeal/flour or any that you will use to slip the pizza on the peel is near of this last.
Be sure that the unbaked pizza runs free on the peel (by shaking the peel)
Transfer the pizza from peel to the oven hearth with little movements of the peel to front and rear (this will maintain the pizza shape).
Know where the baked pizza is going when coming out of the oven.
Prepare several wood/cardboard pizza containers.
Identify who, when and where is going to slice/serve the pizza.
Show your invitees where the drinks are. Or ask to somebody to serve them.
Somebody will need open the main door to receipt the invitees, specially the last ones.
Remember that will be not easy to have a pair of seconds to eat some slice. May be you could give a bit at your wife´s slice.
Will be easy to spend a second drinking some beer. Beer is never too much or too cold.
Many single seconds without none pair of seconds equal oven movement and pizza dropping. Be carefully.
Do not worry, be happy
Luis |