When the doors opened at Scottie's Pizza Parlor on Southeast Division on Sunday morning, a line two dozen strong was ready to try a pie the pizzeria had been teasing for the past week.

The Centouno Formaggio is owner Scott Rivera's attempt at a world record: A 101-cheese pizza inspired by the fervor over a similar feat seen in the 2014 "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" reboot.

And it's only available for one day: Sunday, April 23.

In the film, the four turtle teens stumble across a 99-cheese pizza, which purple-clad Donatello remarks should be a culinary impossibility. An real-life Australian chef took that as a challenge, baking what's believed to be the world's first Novantanove Formaggio.

Rivera is a fan of the Ninja Turtles franchise — he keeps a mug featuring the characters in his shop — and thought he'd top both efforts for The Portland Mercury's Pizza Week. First, his Southeast Portland pizzeria would offer a 100-cheese blend, the Cento Formaggio.

Scottie's Pizza Parlor creates 101-cheese pie 10 Gallery: Scottie's Pizza Parlor creates 101-cheese pie

And for the last day of the citywide celebration, he'd add a stuffed crust to top the world record.

Rivera had initially planned to host an observer from the Guinness Book of World Records. But the complicated procedure — including a hefty fee and manic scheduling — meant the record-breaking event would remain between the owner and his customers.

"That's fine with me," he said. "We know we broke the record. We'll make our own plaque."

The recipe Rivera and his employees used to concoct the Centouno Formaggio was formed and perfected in the weeks leading up to Pizza Week. He has a cheese guy, Greg Hessell of Cowbell Cheesemonger, who helped recommend certain blends and styles

Rivera and his crew then took their time mixing things together to test thickness, taste and consistency. He says he wanted to make "each bite a little adventure," but stopped short of getting too weird with the recipe.

"We're trying to avoid taking you to Funky Town," Rivera said.

The pizzeria makes its Centouno Formaggio with two different blends: a 55-cheese shredded blend and another 35-cheese soft blend. Another nine grated dry cheeses are sprinkled over the crust and tomato sauce and Rivera places a frico crisp of baked parmiggiano reggiano on each slice to make 100.

The stuffed crust puts the cheese count at 101.

It's also one of the least elegant items on the list of ingredients Scottie's has on hand for customer curious about what goes into the pie. The stuffed crust is composed of individual sticks of string cheese laid end-to-end.

All told, Rivera expects to sell 200 pizzas on Sunday, twice as many as usual. In preparation, the crew prepared 160 pounds of ricotta. They usually make 12.

The shop's refrigerator is also full of cheese.

Next year, Scottie's Pizza Parlor will probably dial down its ambitions for Pizza Week, Rivera said.

"We're going to take at least the year off," he said with a laugh before Sunday's opening. "Maybe we'll just sell salads."

Scottie's Pizza Parlor is selling the Centouno Formaggio by the slice for $2. The store will only sell it on April 23, 2017 until closing at 9 p.m.

--Eder Campuzano | 503.221.4344

@edercampuzano

ecampuzano@oregonian.com