This recipe for stuffed crust pizza is extra cheesy and extra delicious. It will make two medium-sized pizza or one extra-large pizza.
Pizza is one of our favorite go-to recipes in our family. Not only is it a tasty crowd-pleaser, but it is also very easy to prepare. (And who doesn’t love the melted cheese stuffed bread combination?)
It’s pretty easy to customize, so that if one of you likes anchovies or mushrooms and the other doesn’t, then you can just make two or more different pizzas.
However, our family is quite firmly against pineapple on pizza. Pineapple should never be on pizza. Never, ever, ever, ever.
Why would you do that to pineapple and to pizza? You really dropped the ball on this one, Hawaii.
Anyways, besides the monstrosity known as the Hawaiian pineapple and ham, poor-man-with-no-good-choices-remaining-in-his-life pizza, you can do pretty much anything else to your pizza and still be respected by your friends, family and associates.
While we do love regular pizza, it’s always more fun to experiment. When I was younger I loved Pizza Hut’s stuffed crust pizza, and so I decided to try making my own.
You pretty much just place some string cheese or shredded cheese of your choice into the outer edge of the pizza and roll it up then continue on as you’d like.
Because I really love pretzels, I brush a bit of melted cheese on the crust and sprinkle a bit of kosher salt on top. This makes it a sort of pretzel stuffed crust pizza.
We begin with a great dough. I have a classic that I love – it rises in about an hour and takes only 10 minutes to make.
Note: However, if you really want some great pizza, you should stick your dough into the fridge immediately after mixing and forming it.
Take it out the next day (let it come to room temperature first, about an hour) or leave it in the fridge for maximum 5 days. It will be very stretchy and much, much tastier.
After that, you can prep your pizza toppings in another 10 minutes then slide your pizza into a piping-hot oven for another 10 minutes.
All in all, it’s about 30 minute of active time and 1 hour of waiting.
We top ours with mozzarella and the local white cheese here, as well as jalapenos, sausage, salami, tomatoes and mushrooms.
You can do yours the simple margherita way, or go crazy with a BBQ chicken or buffalo chicken stuffed crust pizza.
While it may not seem like it, the most important parts of a pizza (and stuffed crust pizza) are the dough and the oven temperature. Make sure your dough is well-structured and your oven as hot as it can possibly go.
Stuffed Crust Pizza
This recipe for stuffed crust pizza is extra cheesy and extra delicious. It will make two medium-sized pizza or one extra-large pizza.
Ingredients
For the dough
- 1.5 tsp active dry yeast
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 cups flour
- 1 tbsp olive oil
For the toppings
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 6 tbsp pizza sauce, or tomato sauce
- 6 sticks string cheese (or equivalent shredded cheese)
- 1 cup mozzarella, shredded (4 ounces)
- 1 cup white cheese, shredded (you can use Provolone) (4 ounces)
- 1 tbsp jalapeno, sliced
- 10 slices salami
- 10 slices chorizo
- 1 medium tomato, seededa nd sliced
Instructions
Making the dough
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When you're making your dough, you'll want to make sure first of all that your yeast is good. Put it in a small bowl with the cup of warm (not hot) water and 1 tsp sugar. Stir and let it sit until creamy, about 5-10 minutes.
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In a large bowl, add your flour. I usually add about 2.5 cups of flour in there and leave the rest if I need it. Sometimes, doughs can be wet or dry, so this gives more flexibility.
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Mix the remaining sugar and 1 tsp salt in there. Then add the creamy yeast-water and mix it in the bowl with your hands. Tip it out onto a floured surface and knead the dough for another few minutes. Let it rest for 5 minutes.
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After the dough has rested, it will be smoother and easier to handle. Knead the dough again for another few minutes and form it into a smooth bowl.
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Add the olive oil to a clean bowl. Place the pizza dough ball in the oiled bowl and make sure to cover it in the oil. Put some plastic wrap over it and cover it with a kitchen towel. Let it rest in a warm place for about an hour.
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Now, the timing to turn on your oven depends on your oven. If your oven is slow, turn it on to the highest temperature immediately when you've set your dough to rise. If your oven is faster, you can turn it up to the highest temperature 30 minutes before the dough will be ready. Note: the kitchen will get hot.
Assembling the stuffed crust pizza
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Tip your dough onto a floured surface and cut in half. Roll each gently into a ball then stretch each one into a large round. Note: do not use a rolling pin, as you'll try to keep the bubbles formed during the rise. Use your hand to stretch it out, or grab the top edge and continue to rotate as gravity will help stretch out the dough.
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Make the edges of the dough as flat as the center. Take a large piece of baking paper and sprinkle cornmeal on top of the paper. This will help the pizza slide off easily. Place the dough on the baking paper.
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Cut your string cheeses in half and place the pieces on the edge. Roll the dough over and press it firmly around the cheese.
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Sprinkle olive oil on the center of the stuffed crust pizza base. Add 3 tbsp of tomato sauce. (Note: I add my cheese on top of the other toppings, although you can add your cheese now.) Add the toppings of your choice. Here, we used jalapenos, slices of salami and chorizo, and seeded, sliced tomatoes. Here, I add the shredded cheese on top.
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Slide the baking paper and pizza into the oven. I use a thin cutting board to slide the paper and pizza onto the pizza stone. Let it cook in the hot oven until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbly. Remove from the oven by sliding it back onto a cutting board. Repeat steps 7-11 with the second pizza.
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Slice and enjoy your fantastic stuffed crust pizza.
Bon appetit!
15 Comments
This looks SO delicious! Cheese makes everything better especially pizza.
You had me at that first photo of cheesy deliciousness – before I even realised the crust of this pizza was stuffed!! YUM Looks incredible!
Always looking for quick, easy, yummy recipes! Thanks for the share 🙂
Oh god. I cant wait to try some of these!
Omg looks so delish!! Definitely going to try your recipe 🙂
Looks amazing! We have pizza every Friday, I will have to try it this week!
yes please, more cheese!! I have to remember to do this next time I make pizza
I will be adding this to my Friday Night, Pizza Night menu!
Great idea! It’s on infinite weekly rotation at the Meyer household!
Stuffed crust pizza is our #1 junk food vice! So delicious.
Have to agree with the others – this looks absolutely amazing. You guys have done it again 🙂
Ohhh what a great advise about putting the dough in the fridge! What shouls I wrap it with or just in a tupperware? We love ours with a lot of red onions. Sometimes beside cheese we put only the onions. Mmmm
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Hi there –
We normally just put it in a plastic bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. The wrap should be slightly loose in case the dough expands more than expected. With tupperware, it could get interesting with expanding dough pushing against a tight lid 🙂
Oh my goodness, I love stuffed crust pizza! This looks so cheesy and delicious! I think I will have to make this, thanks for the recipe!
I’ll write some articles about how to use barbecue to cook food, so please read and give advice