Pizza

Pizza + College Kids = 4Ever. 

If I saw this graffiti on a tree trunk or a bathroom stall door, I’d be completely unsurprised. GrubHub says college students’ No. 1 online order is cheese pizza. There’s a record for “Most College Students in an Inflatable Pool Eating Pizza with Snow on the Ground.” College Park currently has 13 (yes, 13) pizza restaurants. And nationwide, 1 in 8 Americans eats pizza every day, which apparently adds up to embarrassing sodium intakes, according to the USDA. 

Fortunately, homemade pizza dodges some of chain pizza’s less-healthy qualities and presumably can also be eaten in inflatable pools. This is why making your pizza in-house is the best way to get over your grief about the end of the Ratsie’s era. I know you could walk 400 feet down Route 1 and just transfer your loyalty to Blaze. But this way, you don’t have to go outside, and you get twice as much pizza for your money. 

You can achieve this nirvana in one of two ways. 

THE RIDICULOUSLY QUICK METHOD

Stock up on premade pizza crusts. Later, dump tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and random nearly expired fridge food on those puppies. Bake according to package instructions and enjoy in the warmth and comfort of your home, preferably while watching Netflix.

THE YUMMY ARTISAN METHOD

Make your own pizza crust. This takes a little time because the dough has to rise; I’d make it a weekend project. The online recipe I tried went very, very wrong (I got pizza batter, not pizza dough), so instead my friend Daniel’s mom was kind enough to share her recipe with us. It goes as follows:

Ingredients:

1 1/2  teaspoons dry active yeast

1 tablespoon honey

1 cup lukewarm water

1 1/2  teaspoon salt

2 1/2 to 3 cups flour (a mix of white whole wheat and white flour is best)

Instructions:

Stir yeast, honey and water together until dissolved. Mix in salt and flour, then knead for 10-15 minutes. Cover and set to rise in a warm place, such as a slightly preheated oven, until it has doubled in size — about one hour. Punch down and divide as needed; roll out to one-fourth of an inch.

After that, the instructions are the same: Add tomato sauce, cheese and random fridge food. If you’re going to a party, try chicken, corn and tomatoes for the Maryland-themed Terrapizza, pictured at the top of this page.

Or, if you’re tired of tomato sauce, you can beat a couple of eggs and spread that on the crust instead. Then add mozzarella and sausage, and voila: breakfast pizza (also courtesy of Daniel’s mom). It’s a Slices delivery option without the hassle of tipping.

A final note: Both versions freeze well. If you vary your toppings enough, this pizza could get you through the whole semester.