I know most people I talk to hated the thin pizza that we used to get in school. I'm not a pizza lover but if I do get pizza I usually get the deep dish meat lovers style pizza with every topping I can get because it's the toppings I'm after. I'm not a big 'crust' lover. My wife loves almost any kind of pizza. About 9 or 10 years ago I came across this recipe of the old school pizza and I talked my wife into helping me put it together. I really looked forward to them in school and now we do this recipe about once a year. It's a nostalgia thing and I really enjoy it on a infrequent basis. Anyway, this is the authentic old school recipe, I copied it directly from the recipe cards that were used to make the pizza.

 

Old School / Cafeteria / Lunchroom Pizza Recipe

Ingredients:

Crust:
 
2 2/3 cups flour
3/4 cup powdered milk
2 tbsp sugar
1 packet of quick rise yeast
1 tsp salt
1 2/3 cup warm water (105-110 degrees)
2 tbsp vegetable oil

Filling:

1/2 pound ground chuck
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 8 oz. block mozzarella cheese – grated yourself  (To be authentic school pizza, you will have to use imitation mozzarella shreds.)

Sauce (I make sauce the day before):

6 oz can tomato paste
1 cup water
1/3 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tbsp dried oregano
1/2 tbsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried rosemary crushed

Half sheet pan and line with parchment paper.

Instructions:

Crust:

Preheat oven to 475 degrees.  Spray pan with Pam and lay Parchment paper down (Pam makes it stick)
In a large bowl, mix flour, powdered milk, sugar, yeast, salt, whisk to blend
Add oil to hot water (110-115 degrees) pour into your mixture
Stir with a wooden spoon until batter forms, don’t worry about lumps, you just want no dry spots
Spread dough into pan using fingertips until it’s even. If dough doesn’t want to cooperate, let rest 5 minutes and try again
Bake just the crust for 8-10 minutes, remove from oven and set aside.
Brown meats until it resembles crumbles, set aside and drain meat, also
Get out the pizza sauce, to partially baked crust, assemble:
Sauce, spread all over crust
Sprinkle meats
Sprinkle cheese
Bake at 475 degrees for 8-10 minutes until cheese melts and begins to brown
Remove from oven, let stand 5 minutes
Cut in slices and serve