Pizza parties are fantastic social gatherings that scream casual and relaxed.
It seems casual enough that it’s easy to assume that not much preparation is needed. This relaxed attitude can make for a less-than-wow party. It’s easy to think that there is less work for you to do –that you only need to prepare the basics and then let your guests do the rest themselves!
However, if you want to elevate your pizza party, there are some ideas that you can consider, no matter how
1. Hire a professional pizza chef
Not only will a dedicated pizza chef handle the preparation and serving, but you will also be free to host your party. Hiring a professional pizza chef takes the stress out of the planning. You can be sure that everything will be as you hoped on the day of your party,
Depending on your hired pizza chef, you can choose traditional or modern pizza menus. Pizza chefs are in charge of prepping all ingredients down to making pizza dough from scratch, whether thin, thick or filled crusts.
In addition to the pizza-making skills, hiring a professional pizza chef will ensure that they can maintain a clean cooking station and practice food hygiene.
Because they have hands-on experience in preparing and baking pizza, they will have an understanding of good time management skills. This will ensure that your guests will be served on time or within an acceptable waiting time.
2. Let your guests be hands-on.
But what if you want your guests to be hands-on with prepping and baking? It sure will display their creativity with the ingredients you have available.
Can you elevate the experience for everyone?
Here are some tips for hosting an epic pizza party with your guests::
Ensure you have enough fresh and quality ingredients
As with every party, you want to ensure you will have enough food to serve. In this case, you want to ensure that you have ingredients for different varieties and a creative menu.
A. Dough:
Depending on the pizza-making skills of everyone at the party, have premade dough available for every skill level:
- For beginners, you can use bread. Good examples will be french bread, bagel or English muffin.
- Next step up: Use premade pizza dough in your supermarket or from the local pizzeria. Those doughs generally contain conditioners that make them nearly foolproof, stretch without tearing or sticking, and taste just fine.
- Knowledgeable: Make your dough. But to minimise stress, prepare them at least one day ahead. It will be easier to knead and roll when the dough has rested for about 3-5 days in the fridge. On the day of the party, portion the dough and let them rest on a floured surface covered with plastic wrap. Do this at least two hours before the party.
B. Pizza sauce
Prepare your pizza sauce or opt to purchase them. You can choose from store-bought or those that are artisanally made.
C. Toppings
- Have a variety of topping options to encourage creativity. Encourage your guests to experiment! But remind them that a pizza bursting with toppings does not always come out the best. Overflowing toppings can result in a messy outcome.
- The cheese you choose can be grated, broken into chunks, or spread on top. Your cheeses can range from intense to mild and hard to soft. No cheese is unsuitable for pizza!
- Assorted meats can be used, although cured meats work best.
- Vegetables can be sauteed or roasted ahead of time, especially if they take some time to cook. If you are going to use watery vegetables, ensure they are adequately drained, sliced thinly and used sparingly to avoid a soggy pizza.
- Try additional crunch and spice by having assorted spices, pickles, nuts or chilli oil.
D. Post Bake Toppers
Make your pizza fancier by adding toppings AFTER the pizza is baked. These ingredients add a touch of extra flavour and texture, which are retained because they don’t undergo the cooking process.
Try:
- Grated parmesan or romano
- Prosciutto
- Serrano
- Lemon juice
- Scallions
- Fresh herbs
- Arugula or any salad greens
- Intensely flavoured oils
- Honey
Tend to the oven
There are different varieties of home pizza ovens, but the foremost important thing during the whole baking step is to do your best to retain the heat. If you need to open it, do so quickly. Grab the pizza using a pizza board, and then let it reheat for the next one.
Let toppings stand only a short time atop the uncooked pizza.
Make sure you only have a topped pizza sit for a short time while waiting to be put in the oven. This prevents your pizza from coming out soggy and not crunchy!
In Summary:
Throwing a pizza party is one of the excellent ways to get people together. Whether you hire a pizza chef or let your guest prepare the pizza, do your best as a host to ensure or check that you have enough quality ingredients, equipment and supplies on hand so that you can all focus on the fun!
And if you are looking for skilled pizza chefs based in Perth and Western Australia for your staffing needs, give us a call at Anytime Staff. Our pizza chefs are mainly from Italy and are real pizza chefs, not chefs that improvise a pizza chef service. We do the work, so you won’t have to.
That’s it for this week.
As always, professional staff are on call at Anytime Staff!
That’s it for this week.
As always, professional chefs are on call at Anytime Staff!
Ciao for now,
Thomas
