Though I may technically be an 80’s baby, I just barely made the cut, and by all accounts, I missed the best parts. I was still in diapers when big hair and even bigger shoulder pads were already going out of style; my memories begin not with neon excess or synth-soaked rebellion, but with their faded echoes. Through cultural osmosis, I gradually inherited the decade like a rumor, absorbing it secondhand through Reading Rainbow reruns and “oldies” radio stations. What I never got was a taste of the food, and more specifically, the school cafeteria fare.

Pourable Pizza, now the stuff of legends, never made it to my lunch tray. Served for a fleeting moment in time, the most cited recipe dates back to 1988. Though it sounds like genuine slop, the worst part is the name, since it’s simply composed of a liquid, no-knead dough that can be quickly and easily distributed between sheet pans and baked en masse. Topped with tomato sauce and copious amounts of cheese, the crust offered little resistance, both to tiny teeth and picky eaters. Was it the healthiest thing? No, but did we care in that era? Not really. You could claim it contained grains, vegetables, and dairy, which was good enough for the USDA.

Now, almost 40 years after that legacy was established and driven by anemoia, I’m inexorably drawn to such a foreign yet familiar concept. Surely, Pourable Pizza could never exist like this again, not in its original form, and still it lives on in the minds of many. Spurred on by cravings, boredom, and frugality, I decided to revise the concept for my fellow adult children.

My rendition is fiercely loyal to the title, adding a layer of pourable vegan cheese on top to seal the deal. Shredded mozzarella? Nah, we can do one better, leveraging the inherent richness of tahini and nutritional yeast to whip up a liquid topping for our liquid foundation. Now that I’m writing that out loud, is this the liquid lunch of our generation?

Whichever generation finds this and takes it in as their own, may it feed their memories with equal measures of comfort and curiosity. May it taste like recess you didn’t quite have, a past you only half remember, and a future that feels less rigid than the rules we grew up with. This isn’t an attempt to recreate history so much as to make peace with it, to ladle something soft and sustaining into the gaps where experience should have been. Even when the decade is borrowed, the memories aren’t quite your own, and the pizza is poured, the comfort is real, and that’s enough.

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Yield: Makes 12 Servings

Pourable Pizza

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Get a taste of the 80's with this school lunch staple. Designed for efficiency and mass appeal, Pourable Pizza used a liquid, no-knead dough spread into sheet pans and baked all at once, making it a practical solution for picky eaters and limited time. This updated version recreates that nostalgic flavor and texture in mere minutes.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Additional Time 5 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

Ingredients

Pourable Pizza Crust:

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• 1 3/4 Cups Plain, Unsweetened Non-Dairy Milk
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons Light Agave Nectar or Granulated Sugar
• 1 Packet (1/4 Ounce or 2 1/4 Teaspoons) Active Dry Yeast
• 2 1/2 Cups White Whole Wheat or All-Purpose Einkorn Flour
• 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil, Divided
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons Coarse Cornmeal

Pourable Tahini Cheese:

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• 1/2 Cup Tahini
• 1/2 Cup Water
• 1/4 Cup Nutritional Yeast
• 2 1/2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
• 2 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons White Miso Paste

To Assemble:

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• 1 1/2 Cups Marinara Sauce

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
   
2. Gently heat the non-dairy milk to no more than 100 degrees or so, just so it's barely warm to the touch. Stir in the agave or sugar and sprinkle in the yeast. Let stand for about 5 minutes until the yeast reactivates and becomes frothy. Whisk in the flour, salt, and half of the oil, stirring to beat out any lumps.
   
3. Use the remainder of the oil to grease a half sheet pan. Sprinkle the cornmeal evenly over the surface of the pan. Pour the batter in an even layer, gently spreading it with a spatula to fill the sheet.
   
4. Bake for 10 minutes, until dry to the touch but not quite browned. It should only be par-baked at this stage.
   
5. Meanwhile, prepare the pourable cheese by whisking the tahini, water, nutritional yeast, cornstarch, vinegar, and miso together in a medium bowl, until smooth. You could also just toss this all into your blender if the tahini is especially thick and difficult to mix.
   
6. Carefully remove the pan and spread the marinara sauce all over the surface of the crust, right to the edges. Dollop and drizzle the liquid cheese on top, lightly tapping the pan on the counter to smooth and let it settle.
   
7. Return the pan to the oven and bake for another 10 - 12 minutes, until the cheese is set and lightly golden. Cut into slices and enjoy hot!

Recommended Products

Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase after clicking through the link. I have experience with all of these companies and I recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions I make if you decide to buy something through my links.

• 
  Wholesome, Organic Blue Agave, 44 oz (1.25 kg)
• 
  KAL, Nutritional, Yeast Flakes, Unsweetened, 12 oz (340 g)
• 
  Artisana, Organic Raw Tahini, Sesame Seed Butter, 14 oz (397 g)

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

12

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 341Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 2gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 4mgSodium: 275mgCarbohydrates: 55gFiber: 4gSugar: 5gProtein: 12g

All nutritional information presented within this site are intended for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information on BitterSweetBlog.com should only be used as a general guideline. This information is provided as a courtesy and there is no guarantee that the information will be completely accurate. Even though I try to provide accurate nutritional information to the best of my ability, these figures should still be considered estimations.