There is no set amount of cheese as the amount for a 12-inch pizza can vary from as little as 3-ounces to as much as 10-ounces, with about 6-ounces as the “norm”. With that said, look around to see what other stores are using, then try to match them, or better them, depending upon your concept. Work out the amount you want to use with one size of pizza, say the 12-inch, then use the surface area of the circle Pi X R squared to calculate the amount of cheese for the other sizes. For example:
12" pizza = 3.14 X 6 (squared) or 3.14 X 36 = 113.04 (call it 113 square inches).
If you use 6-ounces of cheese, then divide 6 by 113 = 0.0530973-ounces of cheese per square inch.
14" pizza = 3.14 X 7 (squared) or 3.14 X 49 = 153.86 (call it 154 square inches).
154 X 0.0530973 = 8.176-ounces (call it 8-ounces).
You can use this for your dough weights, sauce weights, and cheese weights.
Repeat this for each size of pizza and you will keep all of your weights in perfect balance. It even helps in pricing your pizzas too.
For example: A 14-inch pizza is 41-square inches larger than a 12-inch pizza at 113-square inches. So, if we divide 41 by 113, and multiply by 100 we see that a 14-inch pizza is 36% larger than a 12-inch pizza. Based on this, the 14-inch cheese pizza should be selling for 36% more than a 12-inch pizza.
Like our friends up in Canada would say “Pretty slick Ehh”
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
