Name: Homemade Stuffed Pizza Crust
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 65 min
Ingredients: 1 package rapid-rise yeast (I use Red Star); 1 cup warm water (the temp you'd use for a baby's bathwater); 1 tablespoon sugar; 3 cups all-purpose flour; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 1/8 cup cornmeal

Filled with melted mozzarella cheese and Italian seasoning, it’s so easy to make homemade stuffed pizza crust, you won’t get it delivered again!

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Whether you’re looking for the ultimate comfort food or a homemade pizza recipe for pizza night, this is the post for you. Making a homemade stuffed pizza crust is really an easy thing to do, but some people are intimidated by it. Others just see no reason to make it simply because there are some great pre-made ones in every grocery store (or, you know, at Pizza Hut). I often opt for those myself so I totally see your reasoning (judgment will not be forthcoming from my neck of the woods!).

But on the off chance you ever want to make a homemade stuffed crust, I thought I’d show you how truly simple it can be. In an hour you’ll be diving into a fresh homemade pizza recipe with a stuffed cheese crust and overloaded with your favorite pizza toppings. If you want to go that extra step in the homemade process, top your pizza with this quick pizza sauce made from scratch.

You can do this, I promise, and it just takes a few minutes.

Recipe Ingredients

All-purpose flour
Wee bit of sugar (see exact ingredients on our printable recipe card below)
Fresh rapid rise yeast (check your date)
Olive oil
Wee bit of salt
Cornmeal
Warm water

Place flour, sugar, salt, and yeast in a large bowl.

Stir that together a bit.

Add water…

and oil.

Stir that up until it starts to stick together like this.

Dump your homemade pizza dough out onto a floured surface.

Knead it for 3-5 minutes.

What I do is press it into a ball, then push into it with the heel of my hand.

Press it into a ball again, turn it a bit, push into it with the heel of my hand.

After a few minutes, it will get all smooth and nice.

Now form it into a ball again but this time leave it be.

Loosely cover it with plastic wrap.

I cover that with a damp dishtowel just to keep the plastic wrap from coming up and to help keep my dough from drying out while it rises.

Leave this be for 15-30 minutes if you used rapid-rise yeast.

If you used regular yeast, leave it be for 30-45 minutes.

When you lift up your towel you’ll have a slightly larger ball but it’s not going to double in size or anything.

Now sprinkle about 1/8-cup cornmeal (or 2 tablespoons) onto a pizza pan.

Press your dough ball down and place it in the center of the pizza pan.

Using your hand, press, press, press, press until you have your pizza pan mostly covered.

Then ignore this for five minutes.

This relaxes the dough and makes spreading it even further really easy.

After five minutes, press, press, press, press again until it slightly overhangs the edges of your pizza pan.

This is really easy to do since you let the dough relax a bit.

See? It pays to follow my advice sometimes :).

Now to make this into a stuffed crust pizza

If you want to stuff your crust, take some shredded mozzarella cheese and add in some herbs.

I am using about 1 cup mozzarella with 1/2 teaspoon oregano and 1/4 teaspoon basil.

If you don’t want to make a stuffed crust, skip down to where we start folding the edges over…

Toss that together a bit.

Then sprinkle it in a ring on the outer rim of your pizza crust.

Fold edges over cheese and press down.

Add as much pizza sauce as you want to that pizza base.

Add toppings (I’ve simply gone with pepperoni) and cheese and bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes.

Or until crust is golden brown and cheese is bubbly.

Enjoy your homemade stuffed pizza crust with your favorite toppings!

Storage

Store leftover pizza in an airtight container for up to 4 days. You can reheat either in the oven or in the air fryer.
You can also freeze pizza for up to 2 months. Thaw before reheating as mentioned.

Recipe Notes

I prefer Red Star rapid-rise yeast because I am not a patient woman. This pizza crust is ready to go in under half an hour when you use rapid rise. You can, of course, use another brand and type, but it may take a little bit longer. There are other rapid-rise yeasts on the market but I’ve always ended up with “good” yeast that worked when I got this particular brand and can’t say that for others. Just go with what works for you.
Water temperature is one of the most important things when it comes to working with yeast. Too hot and it will kill your yeast. Too cold and it won’t activate it or will make it slow as molasses. The key here is to think “baby bathwater”. If you’ve ever given a baby a bath, you can easily make your water the perfect temp just by the feeling of it. If you haven’t ever given a baby a bath, see if some of your friends will let you borrow their baby… just kidding. LOL.
Here’s a fun hack! Instead of mozzarella cheese, make your stuffed crust with a ring of string cheese. Grab 7 and line them up end to end for the ultimate stuffed cheese crust.
Feel free to substitute the all-purpose flour for whole wheat flour if you like.
You can make the pizza dough a day ahead of time. Just cover tightly in plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight.