[Photograph: Adam Kuban]

It's 1:43 a.m. as I type this. Five pounds of flour later, four batches of dough, and 3.5 hours later, I've got 12 plastic containers chillin' out in my fridge, ready for the their date with destiny on Saturday. Yeah, I know that a dozen portions is probably overkill for a party with nine guests, but I wanted some extra dough balls in case I screw up one or two. (Unlikely but, hey, stranger things, right?)

I used the JKLA pizza dough recipe (tweaking it a bit to autolyse the dough), and then divided each batch into 3 portions as specified. And, oh, interesting: I noted differences in the dough even when using a kitchen scale to measure ingredients. Two were only moderately sticky and released from the bowl of the food processor pretty easily, whereas the other two were were noticeably wet and clingy.

I still haven't set a formal menu yet but will have it by Friday. I'll share it with you if you're interested.

Also going right now? Four times the amount of the Kenji New York–style pizza sauce. Can I just say my apartment smells insanely delicious? I've never had an Italian grandmother, but I imagine this is what her house would smell like.

Once again, thanks for all of your suggestions and tips in this thread and this one!