personal pizza party

Dinner for a bunch of friends of mixed ages, and with varying eating preferences, can be a challenge. We always seem to have success with a make your own personal pizza party. This past Saturday night was another good one, and I realized that there's a hidden bonus: you don't have to prep much before your guests arrive... dinner becomes a cooperative endeavor. Community cooking is always more festive! The act of rolling out dough and decorating their own little pizza is entertaining for even the smallest guests... who, inevitably just like "plain pizza". Grown-ups will have an inordinate amount of fun getting creative with toppings while drinking a good bottle of wine. If you haven't had a pizza party... please, do! If you already are a pizza party giver... go make plans for another one soon... so delicious!

Personal Pizzas

1. Double any pizza dough recipe and divide into small fist sized balls. Cover with a cloth and let rest until you're ready to roll.
2. Pre-heat oven to 500 degrees.
   
3. Roll (with a pin) until very thin, no more than 1/4 of an inch and place on baking sheet. I love the pizza pans with holes to achieve a nice crispy crust.
   
4. Brush with olive oil. This creates a barrier between the sauce and dough to prevent soggy pizza.
   
5. Add your toppings and then slightly roll over all of the edges.
6. Lower heat to 475 degrees and bake until golden and bubbly. This won't take long, so keep an eye on your pizzas!

Topping suggestions:
The Basic: tomato sauce and grated mozzarella.
The sky's the limit for getting wild or sophisticated with extra toppings. Try The Basic with any of the following: pesto, garlic, mushrooms, bell peppers, olives, feta, spinach, red onions,tepenade, goat cheese etc.
One of our Saturday night chefs made a scrumptious white garlic pizza. No tomatoes, just mozzarella, feta, and lots of fresh pressed garlic. Or go in the opposite direction for a vegan pizza by just adding fresh tomatoes, pesto (w/o cheese) and kalamata olives. I'm getting hungry just thinking about the possibilities.

A few notes:

• Optional: open the wine before you begin!
• Set up two different stations: rolling and toppings.
  
• Partner up with someone and collaborate.
• Have children make several at a time, so that their pizza is in a quick rotation for the oven... they can't wait as long as we can.
• Relax about all sitting down together for the whole meal... this is supposed to be casual. Someone will be topping a second or third sometime during the meal.
  

What's your favorite pizza topping combo?