Easy dorm room recipes: Brock’s microwave pizza

The policy prohibiting the presence or use of toaster ovens in UCCS residence halls can make life difficult for the student pizza-lover. Delivery is expensive, and campus food services offer only a few options daily, many lacking in healthy topping choices.    

Frozen pizzas come out like a wet noodle from microwave cooking, and microwave-specific French bread pizzas, though decent, have an ominous list of unpronounceable ingredients.

Microwaves cook food using electromagnetic energy. The specific electromagnetic field generated focuses energy to vibrate water molecules, so it essentially steams your food. Steaming is fine for lots of food, but bad for pizza. Crust should be crispy.

Microwave-specific pizzas are sold with a gray coated cardboard tray, called a susceptor, which is intended to help brown the crust. The gray coating is an extremely thin layer of aluminum that reacts with the electromagnetic energy, creating a small region of high heat which browns the crust.

The attached recipe intends to reuse the cardboard trays for subsequent, homemade pizzas. A true microwave crisper is available in retail outlets for about $25, which works even better.

Either way, halve a mini loaf of dense, crispy bread and top with pizza, pasta or (my favorite) chunky Italian-style tomato sauce. Mozzarella cheese by itself works best, but feel free to choose your own favorite or diet-specific toppings. My research showed that avocado with pickled jalapeños, pesto sauce with precooked chicken breast and fresh mushrooms are all common favorites.

Many types of precooked meat products exist in markets, as well as very tasty vegetarian equivalents: Just be creative.

Finally, sprinkle the top with Italian seasoning, garlic powder, peppers and grated parmesan. The crust will be surprisingly crisp, but eat it just after it cools a little, as leftovers can get too dry.