Homemade cheese stuffed crust pizza is a great way to make pizza night more exciting. Stuffed crust made with mozzarella string cheese makes this a cheese lover's dream pizza.
Lightly flour your work surface and pizza dough. Stretch pizza dough out until thin and just barely fits on your pizza stone. Place on a pizza stone or an oiled sheet pan, it is okay if it hangs over a little bit.
Unwrap cheese sticks and tear in half lengthwise so you have 8-10 pieces of mozzarella sticks. Place these around the edge of the pizza with little to no gaps between pieces.
Sprinkle the Italian seasoning over the cheese sticks.
Starting in one spot, pull up the pizza dough to go over the seasoned mozzarella cheese sticks. Be sure to seal well with your fingers, pizza dough should stay in place without any help. Continue this process around the entire edge of the pizza.
Add your pizza sauce in a thin layer, using the back of a spoon to spread it out evenly inside the ring of stuffed crust.
Sprinkle the cheddar and fontina cheese evenly over the sauced portion of the pizza. This is also a good time to add additional toppings.
Place pizza in the oven and cook for 17-22 minutes until pizza is golden brown and the cheese is melted and bubbly.
Remove pizza from the oven and allow it to rest for 3-5 minutes before cutting into slices. While still hot, sprinkle with parmesan and freshly chopped parsley. Cut into 6-8 slices and serve warm.
Notes
Low fat or fat free mozzarella sticks or other types of cheese sticks aren’t recommended because they don’t melt well in this situation. Save those for snacks and go for the full fat mozzarella string cheese sticks.
You can bake pizza on a pizza stone, baking steel or oiled baking sheet.
I do not pre-heat our pizza stone because it’s a challenge to transfer the pizza to the hot pizza stone in the oven for me. If you do preheat your vessel, cooking time will vary.
You can use homemade sauce or jarred sauce for this recipe.
Parsley is an optional garnish, fresh basil will also work. If you don’t have fresh herbs, sprinkle some dried oregano or Italian seasoning.
Store in the fridge wrapped in foil for 2-3 days.
Reheat pizza in the oven at 350 F until warmed through, in the microwave or using your air fryer. I usually eat it cold from the fridge.
Additional toppings can be added with the shredded cheese, be careful not to overload the pizza or it’ll get soggy. All toppings should be fully cooked before adding to the pizza (like bacon, sausage, meatballs etc).