Pizza Hut Stuffed Crust Pizza

A stuffed crust pizza is a large ball of pizza dough stretched out to a 16″ circle and filled with extra cheese (string cheese) along the border of the crust. The crust then gets sealed and topped like any other pizza, except the crust is stuffed with extra cheese. 

Pizzerias will use a docker wheel to pierce the holes of the pizza dough, so the dough doesn’t rise high during baking. To make stuffed crust pizza at home use a [eafl id="19171" name="perforated pizza pan" text="Perforated Pizza Pan"] and soybean oil if you want to copy Pizza Hut exactly.

Pizza Hut Stuffed Crust is best with supreme toppings! To take a shortcut to supreme pizza simply omit the pork and beef and use pepperoni for the meat. I do advise mushrooms, green bell peppers, and red onion even if you turn vegetarian.

• Pizza Dough- this homemade pizza dough is made with dry active yeast, granulated sugar, salt, dry milk (dough enhancer), water, oil, and bread flour.
• Tomato Sauce- use a thick and sweet marinara sauce.
• Mozzarella Cheese- choose a low moisture part-skim mozzarella cheese for making pizza. Pre-shredded cheese can have an anti-caking ingredient called cellulose.
• Toppings- I love stuffed crust pizza with mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, green bell peppers, white button mushrooms, and sliced purple onions. Yum!
• Oil- use any mildly flavored oil to generously grease the pizza pan and crust before baking. I will also drizzle additional oil onto the crust after baking to get the signature-looking Pizza Hut Crust.

Making homemade stuffed crust pizza is simpler than you may think! See my full photo tutorial in the recipe box.

1. Make the pizza dough by combining the yeast, sugar, salt, dry milk, water, and oil. Whisk together and knead in the flour using a stand mixer. Knead 3-5 minutes.
2. Form dough into a ball and place it into a greased freezer bag. Place in the refrigerator and proof overnight.
3. To make Pizza, remove the proofed pizza dough from the fridge and allow it to sit for 5 minutes on the countertop. Using a rolling pin roll the dough out to a 16″ circle. Transfer dough to a greased 16″ perforated pizza pan. Place 8 pieces of string cheese along the edge of the pizza dough leaving a 1-inch border for sealing. Bring the dough over the string cheese and pinch down to seal the cheese.
4. Run a docker wheel around the center of the pizza.
5. Spread the pizza with marinara sauce and top with toppings.
6. Brush the crust with oil and bake at 500°F for 8 minutes.

Chef’s Tip: Brush the crust with oil after the pizza has baked for a signature Pizza Hut look!

Commercial Pizzerias run their ovens over 500°F for operating in a fast-paced environment. Pizza Hut uses a conveyer belt oven that bakes a pizza fast. Fortunately, you can achieve the same effect by baking a pizza at home on the highest oven setting. Make sure you pre-heat the oven to at least 500°F.

Baking pizza at a high temperature requires less baking time and can eliminate the use of a pizza stone or other fancy equipment. Simply invest in a perforated pizza pan for the best-stuffed crust results.

Soybean is an odorless cooking oil used throughout Pizza Hut. I used sunflower oil with fantastic results. You will need cooking oil for greasing the pizza pan, brushing the crust, and proofing the pizza dough.

To make a stuffed crust pizza recipe that doesn’t ooze out on you, will require some helpful tips to succeed.

• Stretch your pizza dough to a large 16-inch circle. The size does matter-any smaller and the dough will be too thick.
• Place the string cheese along the edge of the pizza dough leaving a 1-inch border. Taking the excess dough, bring over the top of the string cheese and seal by pinching down the dough into the crust.
• Use a [eafl id="19170" name="Docker Wheel" text="Docker Wheel"] to pierce the dough and prevent it from growing in the oven. (Pizza Hut and Papa Johns use a Docker Wheel when making pizzas). This will also pinch down that seam that closed the string cheese up.
• The Original Stuffed Crust Pizza at Pizza Hut is baked in a perforated pan. Grease well before using.

You can freeze uncooked pizza dough, however, do increase the yeast by an additional teaspoon of yeast. Freezing pizza dough can sometimes kill off the yeast, which is why it’s important to use it up within a month.

To Freeze Uncooked Pizza Dough: place dough ball onto parchment freezer paper and flash freeze. Transfer to a freezer bag and keep frozen for up to one month.

Reheating Instructions: Thaw completely before using.

Pizza is best, fresh and hot out of the oven. If you have leftovers they reheat great in 3 different ways.

• Bake in pre-heated 350°F oven for 7-8 minutes until crisp.
• Microwave over high every 30 seconds until hot.
• Place into a pre-heated skillet covered, until heated thoroughly.

Comment and review how you reheat pizza!

Baking with yeast is easy. To ensure that your yeast is active, simply dissolve in warm water and sugar first. If the mixture didn’t foam your yeast didn’t activate and is most likely bad.

• Use warm water to activate the yeast. If you will ferment the dough in the refrigerator for a few days you can use cool water.
• If you are not planning to refrigerate the pizza dough, but rather bake immediately, increase the yeast by 1 teaspoon.
• Do not use hot water, which can kill the yeast.
• Warm water should be anywhere from 95-100°F.
• Always dissolve dry yeast in liquid first.

Stuffed Crust Pizza is great with a side salad of leafy greens. Plus it adds healthy calories and is a side with extra nutrition.

• Pomegranate Salad with Ranch Dressing
• Shrimp Alfredo
• Fettuccine Alfredo
• Boneless Chicken Wings
• Baked Chicken Teriyaki Wings

Pizza places with stuffed crust pizza are Papa John’s, Little Caesars, and Pizza Hut. Some Frozen selections from the grocery store are, Red Baron and Digiorno stuffed crust pizza. Dominos Pizza doesn’t currently have Stuffed crust pizza, however, they do have stuffed cheesy bread as an option.

A former food scientist (Patty Scheibmeir) for Pizza Hut came up with the idea when she wanted to make the crust more appealing after people left out the crust on a plate. Pizza Hut launched the stuffed crust on March 25, 1995.

There have been claims of the stuffed crust being invented by others before Pizza Hut launched. However, Pizza Hut is well popularized from their invention.