The Sloan Kitchen at Ohio Hi-Point Career Center (OHP) went beyond cheese and pepperoni as they held a Pizza Day on Friday, April 4. Culinary arts students spent the week before learning how to make the 12-inch pies with the assistance of Brittany Saxton, five-time World Pizza Champion and owner of Six Hundred Downtown in Bellefontaine.
With 30 students making over 80 pizzas, the event was deemed a success. Which was a relief for Chef Jason Cobb, who heads the Culinary Arts Department at OHP.
“We tried it two years ago and it was a train wreck,” Cobb admitted. “I’d never worked in a pizza shop before and it’s different from a restaurant, so there was a large learning curve.”
This year, things went much more smoothly, especially thanks to Saxton’s added expertise. The community was invited to purchase pizzas for $9 each.
Since everything was made from scratch, every student had a part in the work that went into the event. Customers could go with the “build your own” option or they could choose from a list of specialty pies, like Cobb’s own “sophisticated country boy”—which included crispy country ham, caramelized onions, Castelvetrano olives and goat cheese crumbles.
If you missed out, you might have to wait a year, but Cobb promises they will definitely do this again.
“This is something the whole class can do,” Cobb said, and added, “We had people in designated areas to make the process more efficient. Everybody participated.”