Sourdough Cheese-Stuffed Pizza Crusts

Plain ol' pizza is great. But who doesn't love pizza with cheese-stuffed crusts? Today, I'm going to share my recipe for sourdough crusts stuffed with mozzarella cheese.

It seems like every sourdough blogger has a pizza crust recipe using sourdough discard.  I actually adapted mine from The Pantry Mama’s recipe, but I halved her ingredients (except for the starter) and use active starter instead of discard (as I’ve stated in previous posts, I’m not affiliated with The Pantry Mama, but I enjoy her content and recommend it to anyone who wants to improve their sourdough baking skills).

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But as I began experimenting with sourdough pizza crust, I realized that my favorite pizzas include cheese-stuffed crusts.  Wouldn’t it be great if I could make my own cheese-stuffed-crust pizza?

With that in mind, I developed the following adaptations and loved it!  The only problem I’ve had is that the cheese tends to bleed through the crust and crisp up on the pan.  It’s like it knows where the weak spots are in the dough, and it makes its escape halfway through the cooking process.  I’ve found ways to minimize the cheese-escapes, but I haven’t mastered it quite yet.

Start by mixing the crust dough.  Measure out 200g active starter, 140g water, 10g honey, and 15g olive oil.  Mix together until the starter and honey are dissolved in the water.  Then, measure out 250g bread flour and 10g salt, and add the wet ingredients to the dry.  Mix by hand until a smooth dough forms.  It may be a little wet, so add more flour as needed.  Lightly oil the bowl, then cover the dough and allow to rest for about 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, turn the dough onto a floured work surface and knead for 5-10 minutes.  Cover again and allow to rise until double (I find it takes 3-6 hours, depending on the temperature in the kitchen.  Usually, mine is ready at 3 or 4 hours). 

Once the dough has doubled in size, divide it into two sections.  Cover and allow to rest for another 30 minutes. 

While the dough is resting, I prep my pizza pans.  I cover mine with foil (two pieces perpendicular to each other covers the whole sheet for me) and lightly coat them with olive oil; this makes cleanup easier, but it also provides a better surface for prepping the dough.

This is also a good time to prep your mozzarella string-cheese sticks, which you’ll use to stuff the crust.  A full-sized stick is too long and too thick to roll into the crust.  I found that I had to cut them in half to make two shorter sticks, then cut them again lengthwise to make four long pieces.

After 30 minutes, place your dough lumps on the pans.  Use your fingers to gently flatten and spread the dough, being careful not to rip or tear it.  It doesn’t have to be perfectly round, and it’s okay if the outside is a little thinner than the middle; just be careful not to spread it too thin, as the cheese will make its escape through those weak spots.

Once the dough is spread, place your string-cheese quarters along the edges.  Once the edges are full, roll the crust over the cheese to wrap them into the crust.  Gently pinch the crust closed to seal the cheese inside, again being careful not to pinch through the dough.

Allow the newly-stuffed crusts to rest while you preheat the oven to 450°F.

Right before baking, use a fork to pierce the flat, inner crust; scatter those piercings (like you would if you were making crackers) through the whole surface.

Bake for 5-10 minutes without toppings to start cooking the crust.

While the crust bakes, get your toppings ready.  When you’re ready to assemble your pizza, you’ll need to work quickly to minimize interruptions to the baking process.

When the crusts start to change texture, pull them from the oven and swiftly cover with sauce and toppings.  Return to the oven for another 10-15 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown at the edges and the bottom, and the sauce is bubbling.  If your oven won’t fit two pizza pans side by side, and you’re using two shelves to bake them, make sure you rotate the pizzas on the shelves halfway through; add few extra minutes to the baking time to account for the heat lost when you open the oven to rotate the pizzas.

Allow to cool slightly before slicing.  Serve hot and enjoy!

(As a side note, I like my crusts a little on the crispy side.  My husband, however, likes the crusts softer.  The last time I made this recipe, I pre-baked the crusts for only five minutes and baked the full pizzas for 14 minutes, rotating the pans on the oven shelves halfway through.  The crust remained softer and cooked just enough to brown slightly on the bottom, but I felt like it was still undercooked; my husband liked it, though.)

Sourdough cheese-stuffed pizza crusts

Recipe

Yield: 2 pizzas

Ingredients:

200g active sourdough starter

140g water

10g honey

15g olive oil

250g bread flour (plus more for kneading and dusting)

10g salt

1 package mozzarella string cheese sticks

Pizza sauce and toppings of choice

Directions:

• Measure and mix the active starter, water, honey, and olive oil, until the starter and honey are dissolved in the water. 

• Then, measure and mix the bread flour and salt, and add the wet ingredients.  Mix by hand until a smooth dough forms.  It may be a little wet, so add more flour as needed. 

• Lightly oil the bowl, then return the dough and cover.  Allow to rest for about 30 minutes.

• After 30 minutes, turn the dough onto a floured work surface and knead for 5-10 minutes. 

• Cover again and allow to rise until double (3-6 hours). 

• Once the dough has doubled in size, divide it into two sections.  Cover and allow to rest for another 30 minutes. 

• While the dough is resting, prep the pizza pans (foil and oil) and the mozzarella string-cheese sticks.  Cut the cheese sticks in half to make two shorter sticks, then cut them again lengthwise to make four long pieces.

• After 30 minutes, place your dough lumps on the prepared pans.  Use your fingers to gently flatten and spread the dough, being careful not to rip or tear it (the cheese will escape through weak spots).

• Place your string-cheese quarters along the edges of the crust.  Once the edges are full, roll the crust over the cheese to wrap them.  Gently pinch the crust closed to seal the cheese inside, again being careful not to pinch through the dough.

• Allow the newly-stuffed crusts to rest while you preheat the oven to 450°F.

• Right before baking, use a fork to pierce the flat, inner crust; scatter those piercings (like you would if you were making crackers) through the whole surface.

• Bake for 5-10 minutes without toppings to start cooking the crust.

• While the crust bakes, get your toppings ready.  When you’re ready to assemble your pizza, you’ll need to work quickly to minimize interruptions to the baking process.

• When the crusts start to change texture, pull them from the oven and swiftly cover with sauce and toppings. 

• Return to the oven for another 10-15 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown at the edges and the bottom, and the sauce is bubbling. 

• (Note: If your oven won’t fit two pizza pans side by side, and you’re using two shelves to bake them, make sure you rotate the pizzas on the shelves halfway through; add few extra minutes to the baking time to account for the heat lost when you open the oven to rotate the pizzas.)

• Allow to cool slightly before slicing.  Serve hot and enjoy!

Have you tried this cheese-stuffed crust?  How did it turn out?  Let me know in the comments!