Hi Mary: I haven't been in the FF for a long while. Thought I'd take a peep and saw your Post. Here is my recipe. Always glad to help. Pizza Dough An alterative to baking on a stone is to use pans. A 12 inch round pizza will take from 8 to 12 ounces of dough. According to thickness you want. After the dough is made weigh it out and roll into balls. Oil the pans and place a dough ball in the pan and flatten slightly, working the dough towards the side of the pan, with the palms. Then let it rest a few minutes. Repeat this every so often until the dough reaches the side and up, enough for a crust about ½ inch. Let it raise slightly , pinch the dough all over, with a fork and put into the oven to bake at 400 deg. If it bubbles while baking pinch it with a fork again. When light tan specks show ,take them out onto a rack to cool fast. Then you can use them right away or freeze , to use later. When cooking the Pizza, place the Pre Baked dough back in the oiled pan , Or cook on your Stone. put a latel of sauce on the dough and swish it around, sprinkle some Parmesan or Romano , put it in the oven for a few minutes. Take it out and spread the topping of your choice and the Cheese Topping. A good topping cheese is a mixture of Mozzarella and Provolone chopped and mixed. The provolone gives it a good flavor and doesn't get like rubber when it cools. I use all Provolone. A little trick for baking. Keep a cup of water and brush handy, to baste parts that are cooking too fast. If you can get new pans, they have to be cured in the oven, so they won't stick, unless you are using NS Coat them with oil and bake them for at least 6 hours. Never clean them with soap and water. Just rinse with water & wipe with a paper towel. Dough recipe: 1 cup of warm water (not hot) 1 Package of rapid rise yeast 1 tablesps sugar ,in a half cup of warm water 1/4 Cup of Veg. Oil 1 teasp.Salt About 3 1/2 cups Flour ½ cup of Whole wheat flour Place in a mixing bowl, the Water, 1 cup of flour, wheat flour , yeast if risen Add the oil and salt and more flour. Add enough flour to make a soft ball of dough, that doesn't stick to your hands. Knead until smooth. Put it back in the bowl , Smooth side up and Rub on some Veg. Oil Cover and set in a warm place to rise until it doubles in bulk. I put it in a warm oven, Covered with a damp towel. It rises in about 1 hour. When doubled, punch it down and knead it well. Divide into Balls , about 11 to 12 ounces and place in oiled pans. 12" round Dough should be about 3/16 " thick on the bottom and about ½" around the edge. For Sicilian Pizza , I used most of the dough in a 11" X 16" pan Follow the previous instructions. Good luck, Lou I'll send a Recipe for the Sauce.

I think I'll try the dry pan method for the mushrooms next time. I made another pizza last night, precooking the dough with dry cheese on top first and then added an extremely thin layer of sauce. I also added quite a bit of chopped fresh basil, two mushrooms sliced very thinly (for a 17" pizza), some black olives, and two jalapeños also sliced very thinly. On the top I used regular mozzarella instead of fresh, and it got very brown in the oven at 550° for 9 minutes. There was still a bit more moisture than I wanted, although the cheese was very dry and almost chewy. I didn't try the ricotta, although it is definitely drier than the fresh mozzarella. I'm not quite there yet, but I'm getting closer. Before I was making pizza with a thinner crust and using a lot less on top of it. Maybe I should go back to that method, although it is a bit tricker to get the dough stretched out. I bought the pizza peel myself, and it is aluminum. I might buy another one that is all wood. Lars

Wow! Everybody and his brother is having a party on Saturday! Do you have enough parking? Do you know some responsible young adults who will shag cars for you, or do the human spot filler? I hope you're lucky and the neighbors aren't having parties too. Or maybe you're lucky and have permits? Definitely precook the meats so you have a lot less to worry about with getting them fully cooked. It's also good to saute the harder vegetables ahead. I just had a smaller pizza party, and it was going to be a build your own kind of situation, but I think there were too many toppings and not enough elbow room, and I ended up making them according to people's druthers. If you're going to have them help, try to have a whole clear table for them, and another table for the ingredients, where they can just pick up the bowls and put them back. I also learned that there are drawbacks to letting the guests choose whether to put ingredients on the pizzas or in their salads. I did that because some of my guests were picky about salad, but I think a tossed green salad with a light vinaigrette and not too many other ingredients would be better. They can still use toppings on their salads if they think of it, but the base is complete. Putting drinks in the cooler(s) sounds like a good idea, not only for the space in the fridge, but also so you can put your drinks station where you want it, rather than where you want to be working. Don't forget to have a great time!

There's a lot of gluten free crusts out there for those avoiding wheat to have a pizza but this would be a potential option for some celiacs. Much depends on the kitchen and cross contamination. I enjoy a good crust on a pizza but a good crust must have adequate toppings for me to enjoy it. And there's not a lot of places that put adequate toppings on there for me. To the original question, I've never heard of plate pizza. Interesting concept. Is this a "deconstructed" thing with everything separate or do you order your toppings, sauce and cheese and they mix it up for you?