Pizza = FUN!
If you already have a pizza oven, or when you get one, I hope you have a blast and are building great memories with your family, friends and neighbors!
The problem is, not everyone is having fun.
You buy a pizza oven expecting it to be easy and fun – and it is…once you get the hang of it.
I’ve helped lots of people get over the learning curve, and we’ll help you with the learning in these emails, on this website, and in the Fun with PIZZA Facebook Group.
But, HOW to make pizza is not what I’m talking about today.
I want to talk to you about how to have FUN with pizza!
Fun is a state of mind. You have to choose to have fun – no matter what.
I’ve seen people ready to give up making pizza because their crust wasn’t absolutely perfect – wasn’t better than everyone else’s on Instagram.
Maybe that’s their idea of fun, but I feel sorry for someone that let’s the look of a pizza ruin their fun.
I am a self-confessed social eater!
That means that food tastes better and is more enjoyable if I’m with people that I like (I also eat 5X more!).
To me, food should be fun to eat with others. BONUS if you can make it fun to make with others!
That’s what you can do with pizza – enjoy making it just as much as you enjoy eating it!
When I have pizza with a group, this is my strategy:
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- Prepare 1 or 2 of my favorite party pizzas and have them ready to throw in the oven as the guests arrive
- Have a large variety of toppings out on the counter so guests can create whatever masterpiece they want
- Do a walk-through demo of how to stretch pizza dough – then let them stretch their own dough (with supervision, if possible)
- I walk them through how I make a pizza while telling them about their options for sauce and toppings
- I tell them to have fun and not to worry because they can’t mess anything up
Then I leave them to complete their creations and go out and cook them in the order that they come out
Does everything go perfectly well from there?
nope
Do I let it bother me when 5 people make just a plain pepperoni (when they have so MANY choices) or if a pizza falls apart in the oven because they stretched the dough wrong?
nope
Someone once told me that it ruined their pizza making experience because they told their kids what pizzas to make and their kids didn’t do it right.
My advice to him?
“If you’re not having fun, you’re doing it wrong.”
Getting upset doesn’t make pizza fun for anyone.
These were my top fun pizza making tips:
Fun Pizza Tip #1: Let everyone create their own pizza
This is especially important for children – even teenage (or older) children!
It is amazing how liberating it is for your guests when you give them permission to fail.
Not that you expect them to fail, but just tell them that they can try anything they want and everything will be great.
One idea is to print out a pizza bake list and set it out to give people ideas, but don’t set any expectations that they need to make any of those pizzas.
In fact, do the opposite – challenge them to make those recipes even better!
Fun Pizza Tip #2: Give Pizzas (Fun) Names
One of the benefits of letting people create their own pizzas, is that they might just invent something that you really like!
One day, my daughter, Kenna, said she wanted pizza – only we didn’t have pizza sauce (I know, right?), pepperoni, or much of any of our most common favorite toppings.
I told her that I would make the dough and she would need to create something with what we had in the kitchen.
The result is now famously known as “The Kenna”. It’s even featured on our printable Pizza Bake List.
It is also one of our most popular pizzas at parties!
Really, Kenna just made it up as she went.
She drizzled some olive oil and added minced garlic – and that was her sauce.
She added Mozzarella cheese, feta cheese and picked some fresh basil from her garden. She added chicken and mushrooms and “The Kenna” was born!
(Although she has since decided that she likes it better without chicken and we usually do half with mushrooms and half without because not everyone likes mushrooms).
Making “The Kenna” is more fun every time we make it with a new group of friends because it’s delicious and we get to share the story!
Fun Pizza Tip #3: Don’t Stress It – Everything Will Be OK!
What could go wrong?
Someone makes a pizza that you think would be gross – so don’t eat it!
The pizza sticks to your peel – so lift up the edges and add a little more corn meal.
The pizza gets a hole while in the oven and makes a big mess – so take the pizza out, clean your pizza oven, fold the pizza in half with the hole facing up, and finish cooking it as a “recovery calzone”.
No matter what obstacle you face, it can be overcome – so stay calm and pizza on!
Laughing about it with friends will make it a pleasant memory for you and your guests to share.
Remember, these problems happen to everyone, so it doesn’t make you look bad.
Also, if you make a big deal out of it, your guest may think it is their fault – which no fun at all.
Decide Now / Homework
So, decide ahead of time that nothing is going to ruin your fun – and it won’t!
People are more important than pizza.
So your homework is to invite over a friend, family, or neighbor, make some pizza, and have a good time – NO MATTER WHAT!
Go make some fun, delicious memories!
Tim is a self proclaimed social eater – so it’s not surprise that he’s obsessed making pizzas with his kids, friends, his kids friends, close family, extended family, people with the same last name but aren’t actually family, neighbors, random people in the neighborhood, and complete strangers!
There’s nothing quite like helping other people embrace their creative side as they make their own pizza masterpieces!
