How to Make Pizza at Home for a Crowd

Pizza night works best when everyone gets stuck in. One person stands at the oven with the peel, everyone else stretches and tops, and pizzas arrive at the table three at a time, blistered and smelling of charcoal. This guide covers the planning: how much dough to make and what to get ready, so the evening feels easy for the cook as well as the guests.

The quick answer

Plan on one 12 inch pizza per person, made from a 250 g ball of dough, plus two or three spare balls. A Charlie Oven with three pizza stones bakes three pizzas in around three minutes, so a table of six eats in two rounds. Get the dough, sauce and toppings ready before you light the oven, then let everyone build their own.

How much pizza dough do you need per person?

Our pizza stones take a 12 inch pizza, and a 250 g ball of dough stretches to fill one nicely. Allow one ball per person. Hungry teenagers will go back for more and younger children often share, so it evens out. Make two or three extra balls: a pizza that slides off the peel, or a second helping, is easy when there is spare dough to hand.

Flour amounts are based on our quick pizza dough, which makes four 250 g balls from 600 g of flour. Scale the rest of the recipe in the same way.

Which pizza dough should you use?

Pick one dough you know well and stick to it. A party is not the night to try something new.

Make it on the day

Our quick pizza dough rises in two to four hours at room temperature, or one hour if you are short of time. Make it after lunch for an evening party.

Make it the day before

For less to do on the day, make the dough the day before, shape it into balls and keep them covered in the fridge. Take them out an hour or two before you cook so they relax and stretch easily.

Make it weeks ahead

Dough freezes well, so make a big batch, ball it and freeze it. Defrost the balls overnight in the fridge, then bring them to room temperature before stretching. Freeze any spare balls left at the end of the night too.

Buy it ready made

If you have time to let dough rise, make it. If not, good fresh or frozen dough balls are easy to find, and the oven still does the hard work.

Bake one big tray

For a relaxed lunch, a tray pizza feeds four to six from one pan with no stretching at all. Our Detroit deep dish pepperoni pizza bakes at a steady 220°C (430°F) in 15 to 20 minutes.

What to prepare for a pizza party

A week or so before, ask your guests about allergies and what they do not eat, so you can shop for everyone. Then on the day, get these ready before anyone arrives:

• Dough balls on a floured tray, covered with a clean tea towel.
• Tomato sauce in a bowl with a spoon. Keep it uncooked and spread it thin.
• Mozzarella torn and left to drain on kitchen paper, so the bases stay crisp.
• Toppings sliced and set out in bowls along the table, with any meat kept to one end.
• Semolina or flour for the peel, so the pizzas slide off easily.
• A board and a pizza cutter by the oven, ready for each round.

Set the toppings out where you want people to gather, ideally near the oven, and let everyone stretch and top their own. Children love building their own pizza. Let them top it, and leave the loading to an adult, as the oven runs at 375 to 400°C (705 to 750°F).

How to run pizza night

Light the oven 30 minutes before the first pizza goes in. The stones need the full 30 minutes to heat through, even if the thermometer gets there sooner. Use three quarters to a full football of good lumpwood charcoal, and if the evening runs on, add a few unlit chunks to keep it going. Our guide to lighting a charcoal oven and controlling the temperature takes you through it.

Take the drip tray off before you light the oven. Do not use the drip tray at temperatures above 270°C (520°F), as the heat transfer can cause damage to the bottom of the door gasket. Especially do not use the drip tray when making pizzas.

Then work in rounds. Three pizzas go in, they bake in around three minutes, and three come out, with no turning. While one round bakes, the next three are being topped. Serve each round as soon as it comes out. Pizzas taste best eaten straight from the oven, so there is no need to keep any warm.

Watch: pizza night for six

Four boys and the rest of the family to feed, so six pizzas in two rounds of three. You can smell when they are done.

1 minute, with sound.

Pizza toppings for a crowd

Keep each pizza light: more is not more. A little Parmesan alongside the mozzarella adds a salty edge, and a drizzle of olive oil over the top stops the crust drying out. Some of our favourites:

• Bresaola, rocket, Parmesan and truffle oil. We first had this at a campsite overlooking Lake Garda. Bake a margherita, then add the bresaola, a handful of rocket, shaved Parmesan and a drizzle of truffle oil once it comes out.
• Parma ham and rocket, added after the oven, with grated Parmesan and a little olive oil.
• Nduja and soft goat's cheese. Nduja is spicy and earthy, and a little goes a long way.
• Chorizo, in place of pepperoni.
• A plain margherita for anyone who likes to keep things simple.

Cooking for different diets? Bake vegetarian pizzas in their own round before any meat goes in, keep gluten free bases on their own round with clean utensils, and label the bowls so guests can help themselves.

Spare dough at the end of the night? Stretch it thin, brush it with olive oil and garlic, and bake it low in the oven as a flatbread. It lifts in moments, so turn it quickly before it dries out.

More pizza recipes

• Quick pizza dough
• Neapolitan-style pizza
• New York style pizza
• Detroit deep dish pepperoni pizza
• Pizza canapés with truffle, Serrano ham and Tunworth

To bake three pizzas at once you need a Pizza and Baking Stone on each of three racks.