Stuffed crust pizza seems to be all the rage these days. With that gooey mass of warm flavor oozing out of every bite of chewy crust, it’s hard to resist. Everyone seems to have their favorite type of pizza.
From a simple thin-crust, no-topping cheese pizza to one of those whopping Chicago-style deep dish ones that weigh in at several pounds, most people have a definite preference when it comes to choosing their favorite pie.
Now we have added stuffed crust pizza to the mix. I believe all the large franchise chains have a version of a stuffed crust pizza now. Of course anything really popular usually comes at a higher cost. Stuffed crust pizzas are no exception.
But there is an alternative in these tight budget times. I’m talking crust and all from scratch. It’s really not that difficult and the variety of stuffed crust pizzas you can make is virtually endless, both in the toppings and cheese choices.
You can get a good stuffed crust pizza dough recipe right off the Internet. This will illustrate the first advantage of making your own homemade stuffed crust pizza, the number of dough types. Usually restaurants only offer two or three types of crust, but there really are scores of them if you’re willing to make the effort at home.
Usually the dough will be a yeast-type that needs to be mixed, allowed to rise for a time, then punched down and rolled out. Or sometimes they’re allowed to rise again, then rolled. Even an amateur cook will have no problem making their very first stuffed pizza crust.
The secret to making a stuffed pizza crust is so simple it’s like one of those “Aha!” moments we all have now and then. You simply roll the dough larger than the pan you’re going to use to cook the pizza by about four inches total in each direction. Place the dough over the pan, letting about two inches drape over each side. Now take either cheese sticks like you can buy in the dairy section of the grocery store or grate up some of your favorite cheese. Lastly you just starting folding the outer dough flap over the cheese and pressing it down onto the inside dough to lock it in place until you work all the way around the pizza.**