Homemade pizza can be a bit of a rabbit hole — the more you try to perfect it, the more intricate every little detail gets. Of course, there’s nothing like a perfectly made homemade pizza from scratch, but that requires some serious time and effort, not to mention a high-quality oven. While making a sourdough base just right or getting that perfect char on the crust can be a tall order at home, there’s a very satisfying restaurant-pizza feature you can easily recreate on a homemade pie — stuffed crust. Making the dough from scratch is still an option, but to make things quick and simple so that the whole process is done in under an hour, simply use store-bought pizza dough. If you have any leftover after making pizza, you can always make easy focaccia with store-bought pizza dough.
To make a stuffed crust base, start by rolling out the dough as you normally would on a pizza pan or tray, but spread the edge a little extra so you can line it with cheese and fold the excess dough over. Once you’ve made an even ring of cheese on the periphery of the stretched dough, use a little moisture to press the dough closed and seal the cheese inside. This step is crucial to ensure melted cheese stays in the crust and doesn’t seep out onto the rest of the pie. It’s also why a readymade crust might not work when making stuffed crust, since the dough is difficult to seal if it’s partially cooked. The rest of the pizza-making process is the same as usual, but remember to be careful with the first bite as the melted cheese in the crust will be hot!
The best part of homemade stuffed crust is that you get to choose the stuffing
The simplest, quickest way to stuff a pizza crust is to use string cheese. The shape and thickness of the cheesy snack fingers are just right for filling the edges of the crust, and if you use the full-fat variety, it gets the perfect gooey consistency when melted. This also makes string cheese perfect for homemade air-fried mozzarella sticks. You can alternatively buy regular mozzarella and cut or shred it to use for stuffing. Fresh mozzarella has too much moisture, which may seep out and lead to a soggy crust, so use the dehydrated kind.
Of course, you can start playing with more cheese flavors to complement your pizza toppings. If you plan on using a hard cheese like aged cheddar for a sharper flavor, make sure to combine it with a melting cheese to maintain the gooey texture of the crust’s filling. Even if you decide to stick to mozzarella, you can season it with herbs and spices, or even sprinkle some sausage or bacon bits on it for a more interesting stuffed crust.
Once you get the hang of stuffing pizza crust, you can start getting even more creative with the stuffings. The easiest alternative to string cheese is sausages, which also have a convenient shape that’s easy to roll into the edge of the crust. Cheese-stuffed hot dogs can also be added to the list of potential crust-stuffers. For a more gourmet spin on the stuffed crust, consider using a mix of spinach and ricotta, which one would usually find in a traditional stuffed pasta like ravioli.
