Pizza Party #4: Casual SUCCESS!

I know, I know ... I should really stop posting successful Pizza Party stories. But I've decided I am only going to post when we have reached a new goal. Sunday night we reached the goal of 'casually' lighting the oven, when we didn't have any plans that morning.

I was out of town when Scott sent a text to our friends, "Not many warm days remain. I've started the heater on the pool, come and join us." That afternoon we had a pool full (although the hot tub was equally busy due to the cooler temperatures). Scott said, "Should I start the pizza oven?" I don't do anything last minute. I am am organizer. I plan everything. This kind of question stressed me out. But I said "Yes!" because this was one of my goals ... could we crank up the oven last minute, and use dough from our party the week before to feed a few friends? I learned, yes we can!

Yummy S'More Calzone. Nutella, Graham Crackers and Marshmallows.

She looks miserable, doesn't she?

We set up all the toppings outside again. Nice night!

It only took us a couple hours to heat the oven, which was perfect as we were all hanging outside. Scott experimented with using less wood, which resulted in a cooler oven making the pizzas a little harder to cook. Why he did that neither of us really know. He learned from the guy that sold us our chimney (I will post on that later, once we get it installed) that we should start the fire slowly, and build over time. He did that all night. He was also anxious about using up the remaining four boxes of hardwood we have left. I didn't realize that until the end of the night, in which I told him my dad was bringing six more this weekend!

I was a little anxious we would run out of dough, but by the end of the night we were all stuffed! We even made an apple-mascarpone pizza. Yummy! The night was another success. Have I said yet that this oven rocks?

Things necessary to fire the oven at the last minute:

• Must have dough made. I'm still using Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day. It was still great after sitting in my fridge for one week.
• Must have basic ingredients on hand. Cheese (mozzarella), olives (can), pizza sauce (jar), pesto (frozen), onions, garlic and dessert ingredients.