One of the staples of North American culture is the cheesy greasy super tasty pizza that can cover most food groups. Although it’s a staple that was taken from all the way across the pond in Italy, North Americans have assimilated it into our culture – ergo, it’s known for being “fast food”. There is a TON of grease (secretly I love this) that is unfortunately too much unnecessary…well pretty much everything. Salt, fat, sometimes a bunch of ingredients you can’t pronounce depending if the pizza is coming from a place that uses stuff that has been freeze-dried, just plain frozen, or chemical preserved.
If this is a regular part of your life, it’s hard to give it up! I know some days we really want pizza but we either don’t want to pay for the store bought ones or it’s really not all that great for us. When in need, make your own! Making the dough is as easy as 1-2-3. Seriously, I use Fleischmann’s Yeast for pizza and the crust only takes 30 minutes. There’s no complicated steps or long wait times.
Okay, so you want to get some gooey pizza in your belly ASAP. You make your dough using oil, flour, water, a tiny bit of salt & sugar. You shred some cheese and line it in a ring near the outside circle of the crust, fold the edges in over the cheese, then using dabs of water, seal the cheese in between the two parts of crust. Brush a tiny bit of pesto on the folded over crust then sprinkle with parmesan. You’ve just taken it out of the oven after a light toasting. Now what?
Instead of using a tomato sauce base (you can make this yourself to cut down on sugar, but I know when we don’t have time, we just use store bought cans), we skip the tomato sauce and just lightly cover the base with a basil pesto (no pine nuts). I use Irresistible’s brand pesto and that can be found at any Metro grocery store in Canada. If you’re super cool and have a ton of basil though, definitely make your own!
We used turkey bacon (can be subbed for prosciutto!), lean bacon, red bell pepper, spinach, mozzarella, goat’s cheese, tomato, mushroom, and a bit of onion. Sprinkle everything with a light layer of parmesan cheese!
Homemade Stuffed Crust Pizza with Pesto
When you're craving - this delicious pizza can sate your needs! Chock full of veggies, a bit of protein and a fluffy, cheesy, stuffed crust.
Ingredients
Pizza Dough
- 1 cup all purpose flour Or sub in gluten free all purpose + 1tsp xantham gum or pick up a mix like Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Pizza Crust that already has xantham gum
- 3/4-1 extra cup flour For later, again can sub gluten free
- 1 envelope Fleischmann's® Pizza Crust Yeast OR Fleischmann's® RapidRise Yeast Or check specifications if using other yeast
- 1 1/2 tsp sugar Our household uses cane sugar
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 2/3 cup warm water
- 3 tbsp oil
- 1 cup approx. marble or mozarella cheese Amount depends on what size of base you roll out, ie. if it's thinner the circle is larger
- parmesan cheese
Pizza Toppings
- 1 tbsp pesto for the base + a little more on top of the cheesy crust
- 1/2 bell pepper
- 5 mushrooms, sliced
- 5 slices lean bacon We get this from the butcher
- 3 slices turkey bacon Can be subbed with prosciutto
- 4-5 handfuls spinach
- 2 inch cube of goat's cheese, broken up
- 2 cups approx. mozzarella cheese, grated/shredded
- 1/2 medium tomato, beefsteak or otherwise large variety
- 1/4 white onion, diced
- parmesan cheese
Optional
- 1/2 cup pineapple, cubed into 1/4" pieces For a tangy+sweet addition!
Instructions
Pizza Dough
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Preheat oven to 425°F.
Mix 1 cup flour (gluten free+xantham gum or reg), pizza crust yeast, sugar and the salt in a large bowl. Add the warm water and oil and mix everything until well blended, about 1 minute. Gradually add enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Dough should form a ball and will be slightly sticky. Knead on a floured surface, adding additional flour if necessary, until smooth and elastic, about 4 minutes. (If using RapidRise Yeast, let dough rest at this point for 10 minutes.)
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Using a heavy roller pin, roll out the dough to the desired thickness (we like it thin!). With a bit of a thicker crust, it will be about 9-10". At this point, if you like the thinner dough, the pizza base will be LARGE. This is okay if you're doing the stuffed crust as we have to fold in the sides. If you just can't fit the base you've rolled out on your pizza stone/bake try, try making two small pizzas instead of one.
Shred some mozzarella or marble cheese and place it in a ring near the edge of the base sides, about 1" in. Take the outside of the crust, fold it over the cheese, and then with a bit of water on your finger tips, smush the folded edges back onto the base and smooth it out. The part where the base and the folded edge meet is where the water should be smoothed as this will make the dough a bit sticky again.
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Lightly brush a bit of pesto on the stuffed crust, sprinkle with the parmesan cheese, then slide the pizza stone into the lower rack of the oven. Leave the base and stuffed crust to be toasted til a light golden brown (about 5-8mins).
Pizza
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Dice and slice up all the veggies, meat, and fruit and put to the side. Using a medium hole grater, grate the mozzarella. For the goat's cheese, I recommend not crumbling it until you do it right over the pizza as it is very soft.
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When the pizza crust is ready, take it out of the oven and spread the pesto on the base part of the crust and then place all the ingredients on. I would save the 3 cheeses to be last so you get the cheesy goodness on top when you bite into it! There is no rhyme or reason to placing ingredients strategically! A pizza isn't supposed to be symmetrical so just put all the ingredients however you want. My boyfriend doesn't like whole tomatoes so they only go on my side, for example.
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Put the pizza back in for about 12-15 minutes on the lower rack. You can check back sooner as some older ovens tend to run hotter - I know ours does! When it's done, this pizza should be the epitome of a craving buster.
Recipe Notes
You can always have the option of subbing in whole wheat flour, gluten free flour, or skipping the meat/dairy cheese if you're vegan. There are plenty of vegan foods that substitute both, such as tofurkey and using nutritional yeast+cashews to make not-cheese cheese. Go wild! If you really love the tomato sauce, you can add it back in in lesser amounts. I almost never make my own sauce because of time and cost, but if you can get sauces or make a sauce that has a much lower sugar content, then having it on the pizza is A+. 🙂
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