14 Pizzas in a row (home oven)

[kling]

Placing two stones in a home oven, preheating to 500F, do you fine people think it would be possible to churn out 7 sets (of 2) of pizza? Or would the heat dissipation be too great after the first, second, third, etc batch? Particularly the top stone, I think, would end up providing a rather poor excuse for pizza. Do you suppose a recharge preheat midway would be very beneficial?

This is going to be attempted later today regardless, but any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated. If nothing else, the mass quantity of spirits as an accompaniment will make the pizza quality of substantially less concern.

Thanks.

[November]

kling,

What is the size of the pizzas?  In your best estimation, or if you know precisely, how much does one of these pizzas weigh in total (i.e. dough, sauce, cheese, added toppings).

- red.november

[canadave]

I did a pizza party last weekend, and served five 16" pies in all.  I let the oven preheat for at least an hour at 555 (my oven's top temperature).  I used a stone (four 8" square quarry tiles actually) on the lowest rack.

The first pizza came out just as I'd hoped.  The second one went in about ten minutes later, and wasn't quite the same.  The third and fourth pizzas, this time at 15-minute intervals, still looked good, but didn't turn out as good as the first or second pies.  The fifth pizza struggled to make it.

In other words, the opening/closing of the oven each time, and the heat transfer from the "stone" to the pizzas, did have a noticeable effect on the quality of each successive pizza.  The longer you can let the oven "recharge" between pizzas, the better.  I'd say I would've had to wait about 20 or more minutes to have at least a fighting chance of regaining the first pie's look and feel.

--Dave

[enchant]

The second one went in about ten minutes later, and wasn't quite the same.  The third and fourth pizzas, this time at 15-minute intervals, still looked good, but didn't turn out as good as the first or second pies.

Dave,

Are you saying that those 10/15 minute intervals means 15 minutes from when you took the previous pizza out until you put the next one in?  i.e., "re-pre-heating" time?

I wonder how much re-pre-heating is required to return the oven and stone to their original hot state.

[kling]

The pizzas will be ~14-15" diameter. The topping weight will be something like average for a NY style pizza. I really don't know. I'm drunk right now and we start baking in a few hours. I can't wait 20min per batch. Maybe every other. I will report back afterwards (maybe a couple days, it will be a long couple days). AN EXPERIMENT FOR THE AGES.

[AKSteve]

I don't know if I've made quite that many pizzas in one evening, but it's pretty close. The results have always been great. It's also funny to hear how some people like their pizza. I've been told to let them cook extra long sometimes just because some people prefer the crust almost burnt.

Something you can do to let the pizza stones recharge is to make some garlic knots.  Use one dough ball and spread it out and cut it into strips. Then tie the strips into a small knot and cook them in a pan. After they come out of the oven, brush them with garlic butter and sprinkle them with parmesan cheese mixed with kosher salt. If you cook these on separate rack, it'll give the pizza stone time to soak up some heat and it'll also give your guests something to munch on.

Steve

[itsinthesauce]

Making 10 pizzas tomorrow. 8 thin crust and 2 deep dish. One thing I've tried in the past is par-baking a few and it's worked well to cut down the baking time. Remember, "One of us is not as smart as all of us.".

[canadave]

Dave,

Are you saying that those 10/15 minute intervals means 15 minutes from when you took the previous pizza out until you put the next one in?  i.e., "re-pre-heating" time?

I wonder how much re-pre-heating is required to return the oven and stone to their original hot state.

Yes, thank you for forcing a clarification on that point--I wasn't clear enough.  The 10/15 minute intervals were indeed "re-pre-heating" (my new favourite word!) time.

[kling]

Only ~10 pizzas ended up being made (and one remarkably good calzone). Also, the original plan of using both stones at the same time was not followed as religiously as planned, and the pizzas were not churned out as rapidly as expected, resulting in a fairly good deal of sporadic reheats. So while this was a complete failure as a scientific experiment, the pizza was really good. Interestingly, the top stone cooked much more quickly (particularly the top of the pizza). The broiler element was not on, as far as I know. Thanks for the advice.