Bakin' It Old School: Cafeteria Pizza Recipe

This Old School Cafeteria Pizza recipe captures the essence of all that was good in the school cafeterias of our youth. (Cafeteria ladies not included.)

Jump to:

• What's the Story Behind this Recipe?
• The Three Essential Elements of School Cafeteria Pizza
• What Goes into this Recipe
• How to Make this Recipe
• FAQs & Expert Tips
• Related Recipes
• Old School Cafeteria Pizza

What's the Story Behind this Recipe?

The fall of 2018 marked a real Mama Milestone for me. After 28 years of recording the first day of school with a photo each year, and then sending my girls off to preschool, and kindergarten, and grade school, and middle school, and finally high school - times five! - I faced my baby's first day of Senior year - and my last "1st Day of School."

At that time all but the youngest had gone off to college, but as anyone who has ever done so will tell you, sending a child off to college is an entirely different experience from packing them off to first grade. Anyway, this rite of passage got me reminiscing, and as I got online to update Em's lunch account, I got to thinking about the cafeteria and the school lunches of my childhood.

Back in the Day, School Pizza was Great!

I grew up in Northeast Portland and attended the same elementary school from kindergarten through the eighth grade; and in that time, I figure I ate nearly 1500 meals in our basement cafeteria. More than two-thirds were "hot lunches."

I was one of those kids who got hot lunch almost every day. Both my parents worked outside our home and mom wasn't the lunch-packing sort, so until I got old enough to where my mom would let me pack my own lunch, I was most often in the hot lunch line.

Most days, the actual food served for hot lunch wasn't all that awesome, but ever so often, it was great. I mean, truly Good. My favorite was Chili & Maple Bar Day (I'll get to that here on the blog someday - you're gonna love it!), and my second favorite was Pizza Day.

In fact, school pizza was my first pizza. You see, back when I started grade school, we didn't go in for any of that fancy ethnic cooking like Pizza or Lasagna or Tacos at our house. We were a chili-mac, roast beef, chip-beef-on-rice kind of family. (Change comes slowly to Midwestern roots, especially when you replant them.)

Oh sure, by the time I hit my tweens, my mom had finally decided that she'd give the pizza at Amalfi's a try, and from then on we had it at least once a month. But even though I have had countless amazing, hand-tossed, artisan-created, wood-fired, rustic pizzas since those long-ago days, a slice of old school cafeteria pizza now and again is a comfortable, reassuring memory.

It's also a super easy, economical way to feed a ton of people!

The Three Essential Elements of School Cafeteria Pizza

To recreate the unique flavor blend that is School Cafeteria Pizza, you need three basic elements:

1. Pourable Pizza Crust
2. Pizza Topping Sauce
3. Grated Cheese (But not just any cheese!)

1. The Pourable Crust

The pourable crust is arguably the most critical piece of the puzzle because it gives school pizza its unique texture and bite. Every source I could find for school pizza crust made enough dough for at least eight full-size sheet pans; however, after some tinkering, I was able to adjust the recipe down so that it is just right for a single half-sheet pan.

2. The Pizza Topping Sauce

The second element is the Pizza Topping, which is really just a thickened tomato-based meat sauce. Easy-peasy. (As usual, I offer this recipe as a jumping-off point. If you want to make your topping sauce vegetarian, or add a stew of other ingredients to it, go for it.)

3. The Cheese

Back in the day, school pizza was blanketed in a golden brick of mystery known as Government Cheese. Government cheese was ubiquitous in the cafeteria of my youth, in grilled cheese sandwiches, lasagna, mac-n-cheese, and of course, pizza.

If you have never experienced government cheese in all its glorious goldenness, you don't know what you are missing. Rumored to have been created from the tears of Midwest dairy farmers, this “pasteurized process American cheese product” wedges in on the dubious side of the cheese wheel, somewhere between Velveeta and Kraft Singles.

I don't have access to government cheese these days; however, I've created a blend that comes pretty close and gives this cafeteria pizza recipe its authentic, old school flavor.

What Goes into this Recipe

Ingredient Notes & Substitutions

Pourable Crust

★ Quick rise yeast: Use quick rise yeast for this recipe. Regular yeast does not work fast enough.

★ Flour: Use all-purpose flour. Bread flour will also work.

★ Instant dry milk: Dry milk is indispensable to this recipe. In breads, Dry milk not creates a smoother, more mellow flavor, a more tender texture, and a higher rise.

Substitutions: If you don't have dry milk, you can substitution warmed regular milk (110-115° F | 55° C) for the hot water.

★ Sugar: Use plain white sugar.

★ Hot water: Water should be about 110-115° F | 55° C; hot enough to activated the yeast when it is mixed with the flour, etc. Do not get the water too hot, or it will kill the yeast.

★ Corn meal: The cornmeal functions as a lift to allow air to flow under the crust without sealing to the parchment or pan. You can use white or yellow cornmeal.

Pizza Topping

★ Ground Beef: Use lean ground beef.

Substitutions: You can sub in ground turkey, or even ground chicken, but the outcome will not be quite as robust.

★ Italian sausage: TO recreate school pizza, use a mild Italian sausage. If you prefer your pizza spicier, use a spicy Italian sausage instead.

★ Onion: For the best flavor, use a yellow onion. Red or sweet onions will also work.

Cheese Blend

★ American cheese: American cheese is essential to this mix. It is that orange, processed stuff that now most often gets wrapped in individual plastic sheets and sold at a premium. You can buy a block, or a block of unwrapped slices, in the cheese section of most grocery stores.

★ Cheddar: Use any good-quality medium cheddar; we recommend using Tillamook.

★ Mozzarella: Use a full-fat mozzarella. Low-moisture mozzarella doesn't melt as well (or taste as good).

How to Make this Recipe

Pourable Crust

Preheat oven to 475°F | 245°C (conventional), or 425°F | 220°C (convection)

Line a 20" x 13.5" half-sheet pan with parchment paper. Spray with cooking spray and sprinkle lightly with cornmeal. Tilt the pan back and forth to distribute corn meal evenly.

Combine yeast, flour, dry milk, sugar, and salt in a medium mixing bowl.

Combine oil and warm water in a large measuring cup or mixing bowl, and then pour the liquid into flour mixture and stir thoroughly for about 5 minutes. The dough will be very sticky.

Pour the dough mixture from bowl onto prepared pan and spread evenly using a spatula. Set dough in pan aside to rest for 20-30 minutes.

Put the pizza dough pan in the preheated oven and pre-bake until crust is set:

• Conventional oven: 475°F | 245°C F for 10 minutes
• Convection oven: 425°F | 220°C for 7 minutes

Remove from oven and set aside until Pizza Topping has cooled slightly.

Pizza Topping

Prepare the pizza topping while the pizza crust is "resting." In large skillet, combine chopped onion, mild Italian sausage, and ground beef and cooked over medium-high heat until meat is thoroughly browned and onion is soft and translucent.

Add tomato paste, water, brown sugar, and dried herbs. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 15-20 minutes. The mixture is done when it is no longer runny.

Allow topping to cool slightly before spreading it on pizza.

Cheese Blend

Combine three grated cheeses in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Assemble & Bake

Carefully spread the Pizza Topping over the pre-baked Pizza Crust. Top evenly with Cheese Blend.

Return pizza to hot oven and bake until cheese is melted and topping is heated through:

• Conventional oven: 475°F | 245°C F for 10-15 minutes
• Convection oven: 425°F | 220°C for 5 minutes

FAQs & Expert Tips

Related Recipes

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