Pizza Dough for a Crowd

We built a clay pizza oven in the back yard; it gets hot enough for Neapolitan pizza which by law needs to be 430-480C (800-900F), and results in beautiful pillowy crusts. Since it needs a lot of wood and a couple hours heating time, we need a large crowd to justify firing it up.

This recipe makes enough for 12 140g pizzas, which is about enough for 6 sedentary adults, or 4 hungry younger folks. The volume pretty much maxes out my Kitchenaid stand mixer. The international regulations specify a hydration percent between 55.5 and 62.5%, but I tend to go a bit higher, 66-70% hydration; here, I'll go with 66%, as wetter dough more difficult for inexperienced pizza makers to handle.

Before: 6 buckets each wit about 1.7Kg dough

After: 6 buckets risen to about 3L each

It's worth finding the proper pizza flour from Italy: the 00 grind is very fine and makes for a better result. We have found it at a very good price at a restaurant supply store, and at Literi's Italian market, and also bought it from a Neapolitan-certified pizza restaurant. It comes in 55-pound bags. Caputo is a fairly common brand, and it has 12.5% protein.

About 55 pounds of 00 pizza flour

1000 g Italian 00 Pizza Flour (2.2 pounds)
 660 g Water (2 3/4 C)
  30 g Kosher Salt (2 1/2 Tbs)
   5 g Yeast (2 tsp)

Knead 10 minutes.
Place in covered 2L container.
Let rise in the fridge 1-3 days.
The day of the pizza fest, pull the dough out about two hours before eating time and let warm up.
Divide into 12 pieces and roll into tight balls.
Let rise a while, covered; we do this in an inverted under-bed box.
Shape, put on cornmeal-dusted peel, sauce and top, then fire: they should be done in couple minutes if the oven is hot enough.

Pizza just put in the oven