Lunchroom Pizza - School Cafeteria Pizza Recipe - How To Make Pizza

Do you remember your time during Elementary School? Are you the type that gets nostalgic over those days? Are you always finding yourself trying to recapture those great memories? Have you ever wondered how they used to serve that familiar tasting Pizza? If you answered "yes," to any of those questions, then do I have the thing for you! This is a special recipe for making Pizza, that will leave you craving more. It's basically, the adult version of School Cafeteria Pizza, or Lunchroom Pizza. Some may even call it:"Schoolyard Pizza," which is what I called it.  The recipe itself, is very simple, and easy to make. It only requires the proper timing of when exactly to add in the respective ingredients. You may think of this as a two-fold recipe. The dough making process, as part one, as well as the full assembly of the pizzas themselves. That's part two!

   For the dough you'll need:

                                            3 1/2 cups of Flour
                                            1 pckt of dry Yeast
                                            2 tsp Sugar (divided)
                                            1 tsp Salt
                                            1 Tbsp Olive Oil
                                            1 1/4 cup Water
                                            2 Eggs

 For the toppings you'll need:

                                               Cheddar Cheese (shredded)
                                               Mozzarella Cheese (shredded)
                                               Pizza Sauce (I made my own)
                                              Your Favorite Toppings
                                                 
In a measuring cup, add 1/4 cup of luke warm water. Then, add the package of dry yeast. To that, you'll need to add a teaspoon of sugar, then stir using a whisk, so that the yeast does not form clumps. Cover it, and set in a warm place approximately 73 degrees Fahrenheit, or at room temperature. Let it sit for 15 - 17 minutes, or until it has begun blooming. You'll notice it bubbles up forming a foamy ball. That's what we want. Add that to the mixing bowl, then add two large eggs along with the salt, and flour. You may also add the water at this point. Make sure it's room temperature. It doesn't need to be hot, warm or cold. Room temperature water works. Trust me!

Next, you'll want to combine everything together by giving it a good mix using your mixer. You can do this by hand, if you don't have a mixer. I've also used a food processor to make this, so don't worry. If you have a stand mixer, just use that, it'll make your life easier.

After the dough is combined, scrape the sides with a spatula. Here's a pro tip: use a bit of cooking spray, or vegetable oil on the spatula to prevent sticking. Lightly flouring your fingers, also works miracles here. There's also a key step halfway during the mixing process. As soon as the ingredients starts to come together to form a dough ball, that's when you make a hole, or indentation in the middle and add the tablespoon of oil. Then continue mixing. Another tip... you want a softer, slightly stickier dough for this. If you want the pizza crust to come out fluffier, chewier, and softer. If not, then go ahead and add astronomical amounts of flour to this, and see how it'll prevent the dough from turning out nearly perfect.

After you take out the dough ball onto your work surface, make sure you knead it for a few minutes until pliable. You don't want to over knead. Trust me. Once your dough is supple, and soft, but springy, you can place it in a separate bowl and cover it for the first rise. Two hours later, take it out, punch the air out, lightly, using your finger tips, then divide the dough into two equal parts.

Once your dough is divided, you can roll it out, then fold the edges into an envelope shape (tucking in all four sides diagonally) then continue to roll out again, folding the edges once more. This will make air pockets and, introduce more air bubbles into the dough, helping it rise more during baking.

Finally, you roll both dough parts into balls, tucking in the bottom, then place into separate bowls to rise. Here's another pro tip. To prevent a crust from forming, you must spray your bowl with cooking spray, or lightly brush the sides of the basin with oil, using a pastry brush. Then, cover, and set aside in a warm place. The temperature in the room should not exceed 75 degrees Fahrenheit, or else your dough will not rise, as the yeast may die. Let these rest for another hour and a half, to two hours.

Once the respective amount of time has passed, roll out your dough into the shape of the pans you will be using to bake the pizzas. My preference is using pizza screens like they do at Pizzerias, but you don't have to.  Make sure you watch the video recipe for some more pro tips!

After placing the dough onto your pans, it's time to ladle on, some sauce. The amount is totally up to your palette. Top that with your favorite cheese mixture. For this recipe, I used Mozzarella and, Cheddar, (since it is Cafeteria Pizza) along with Pepperoni, and Mushrooms for the toppings. Those are interchangeable, as the deciding factor of where to go with this recipe, rests entirely on your shoulders. After all, you're the Chef! It is important to preheat the oven, to broil, or whatever maximum heat level you have. Usually, it goes up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Remember to preheat the oven, when you first start rolling the dough out, but before adding the sauce.

Once you've sauced, cheesed, and topped your pizzas, simply pop them into the oven, and bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on your oven. Keep in mind, baking times may vary with each oven, so make sure you really know your oven before attempting to make this at home. I really hope you've enjoyed the recipe for "Schoolyard Pizza," and hope to see you again soon!