Cooking multiple pizzas in a WFO

[weemis]

I'm curious if anyone has any helpful advice on cooking multiple pizzas at a time in a high-heat WFO. I'm still doing one at a time, and building directly on the peel and it's very limiting as to how many pizzas an hour I can make. I've got a 16x20 marble cutting board that I just picked up and am practicing the build/transfer, but am still learning. For all of you who crank 'em out, what are some ways you've learned to improve production?

[dellavecchia]

Mu suggestion would be to expand your marble prep area to accommodate multiple pies. Your hydration and mixing workflow will directly affect the ability to build on the marble, top, and then drag onto the peel. The marble prep should have space just in front to rest the lip of the peel, about an inch lower than the marble surface. The end of the peel should rest on something stable so you can easily pull the dough disc without the peel moving out from under you (which is heartbreaking when it happens - I have pictures).

As for oven management, this article has some very useful tips on how to rotate through the baking of up to four pies at once:

http://www.woodstone-corp.com/cooking_naples_style_oven.htm

John

[andreguidon]

another helpful tip is the GiMetal peels, you can slide them directly under the pizza wen they are on the marble.

[weemis]

Awesome stuff, John! That link is some very good info! Thank you very much. I was having some super stretched pizzas when playing with the transfer, so thanks for pointing out the hydration/mixing point. Maybe I'll cut back the hydration a bit to correct the problem.

And thanks for the metal peel suggestion. I'll look into it.


Any other advice is appreciated!

[andreguidon]

this video made @ cane rosso shows multiple pizzas made in one marble counter (as John said) and the peel that i told you about...

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdv5lnkhAts" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdv5lnkhAts</a>

[JAG]

Hello Nick,

John here, we met at Slice of Columbus this year. Baking multiple pizza's is when it starts to get fun. When I do simultaneous bakes I have family/friends get involved. The wife and kids do the making and bring them to me where I do the stick work. I am trying to get everyone involved with all aspects of the build/bake but right now they are still a little intimidated with the rotating and moving multiple pies to different temp zones. If you are busy enough at a gig to be baking multiple pies a full time prepper or stick man may help, but having increased payroll sucks, plus finding someone with the same passion is difficult. So i guess what I am thinking is maybe at personal events let everyone get involved making and you man the peel, and for pro gigs add a body or two, assuming like others have said you have enough equipment to handle multiple preps.

JG

[Skee]

Can you build a pie faster than you can cook one?

[JConk007]

Can slap a marg out fater than it cooks yes quality will sufffer a bit
 like craig says slap or show, slow for ?.... but
I say " slap for speed when people are in need! "
I agree to put best I can out , but when 30 people are standing in line last thing they want to see is how gentle and perfect he Neapolitan techique is meant to be.
When I cook at home I do focus on nice gentle, slow, stretch  and there is a slight diffence I do notice.
 
Nick Let me know I will send you the peel !
John

[TXCraig1]

You can open my dough gently as fast or faster than slapping a tighter dough. As Bill/SFNM noted when he tried my method - "this dough was the easiest dough ever for stretching. Almost no stretching required, just a stern look from me and it responded immediately."

[weemis]

this video made @ cane rosso shows multiple pizzas made in one marble counter (as John said) and the peel that i told you about...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdv5lnkhAts

Damn! that scoop is awesome! true professionals, there! thanks for sharing, andre!

[weemis]

Hello Nick,

John here, we met at Slice of Columbus this year. Baking multiple pizza's is when it starts to get fun. When I do simultaneous bakes I have family/friends get involved. The wife and kids do the making and bring them to me where I do the stick work. I am trying to get everyone involved with all aspects of the build/bake but right now they are still a little intimidated with the rotating and moving multiple pies to different temp zones. If you are busy enough at a gig to be baking multiple pies a full time prepper or stick man may help, but having increased payroll sucks, plus finding someone with the same passion is difficult. So i guess what I am thinking is maybe at personal events let everyone get involved making and you man the peel, and for pro gigs add a body or two, assuming like others have said you have enough equipment to handle multiple preps.

JG

Thanks for the suggestion, John. I'll have to start recruiting!


@JohnC, after seeing that scoop with the GI metal peel (on andre's youtube link), I might have to get one. Feelin like a winter bike ride out to Ohio 
If I decide to get one, you'll be the first to know!

@ skee, not sure. Maybe. I'm trying to step up my game, so whatever it takes, I gotta get there.

@Craig, you can just look at your dough hard and it's open. A valuable tool when speed is of the essence.

[RobynB]

So you guys are referring to "scoop" as a verb, right?  Maybe I'm being dumb, but I thought you meant some wonderful "scoop" tool that they were using, and I watched the whole video waiting to see this wonderful scoop thing, and all I saw was guys using the same GI tools I have.  So I'm guessing you're talking about how they pick up the pizza with the peel?  It's easy with a GI peel, especially on a nice stone surface.  Once you get the hang of it, you never go back to any other way. 

Or did I miss something?

[weemis]

So you guys are referring to "scoop" as a verb, right?  Maybe I'm being dumb, but I thought you meant some wonderful "scoop" tool that they were using, and I watched the whole video waiting to see this wonderful scoop thing, and all I saw was guys using the same GI tools I have.  So I'm guessing you're talking about how they pick up the pizza with the peel?  It's easy with a GI peel, especially on a nice stone surface.  Once you get the hang of it, you never go back to any other way. 

Or did I miss something?

The verb is what we speak of, ma'am. Now I have more damn things to buy. Does it ever stop?
Oh, and Robyn. How do you like your granite surface for pizza making?

[RobynB]

I'm happy with it.  I wanted marble, but got talked into granite for durability.  I did a lot of research, both online and talking to stone people, and nobody could come up with a single reason marble was more commonly used for prep than granite except tradition and appearance.  So I went with the granite and it's been great.  I've used both marble and granite and I don't notice a difference.  I still think marble is better looking, but I know the granite is far more durable.   

[weemis]

thanks!

[thezaman]

 when we are doing a event such as a buffet and they need a lot of pies for the first wave we build the pies on 12 inch wooden cutting boards then stack the pies on what i call a pizza tree. it is a wire rack that holds 15 pans. we slide from the peel to the metal gi peel that get the excess flour off and cook.we do do three at a time. and the oven and dough need to be right on. the other thing that helps a lot is a shelf in front of the oven that you can use if a pie is cooking uneven because of placement pull it and finish it when o spot opens. i do not care what anyone says when you get hit and need to crank out pies you use every advantage you can to get the job done. heck with the 70 second pie. you will be surprised at how you can move when you have to,that is what makes wood oven cooking so much fun.
 if you notice in the video they booted one of the pies and had to go into the orders to remake.
 if you need information on a pizza tree or wood peels american metalcraft has both. you can probably get both a wastersrtom's well below the srp.

[thezaman]

one more tip that helps with keeping the pie from sticking i using fine ground semolina called grana tenura or something close. it is ground fine like flour and it falls off of the dough easier than flour. keste,and don antonio uses this.caputo makes a ultra fine semolina.

[thezaman]

last, shelf and turning peel

[weemis]

So lemme get this straight. You stretch, top with (sauce, cheese & toppings) and slot a bunch of pizzas before the beginning of a buffet style event, or are you just stretching and slotting them, then top them as necessary? And the fine ground semolina is so that the pizzas don't stick given the length of time they're slotted before being launched? Do you also use this kind of prep for large events like the fair you took part in last year?

I'd have to invest in a bunch of peels and the rack (plus the GI metal peel), but this sounds like a better traveling solution than a large slab of stone, as that can get heavy, awkward and is susceptible to breakage given the amount of travel it will see. Thanks Larry! I'll look into this for sure.

[thezaman]

 i try not to slot more than ten minutes.dough during the hot months is 58 percent.we also use 7 inch stacking pizza pans to hold some of our dough in we go vertical to save space. it is floured and upon use we slap the pan dough falls out and we stretch.picture shows pizza tree left pans right.