Stuffed Crust Pizza

My pizza crust recipe came with my KitchenAid stand mixer. That thing has been worth every penny! The original recipe calls for olive oil, but I substituted vegetable oil instead. The original recipe calls for cornmeal as well, but I don't use that at all. 

Crusty Pizza Dough

2 tsp Quick Rising Dry Yeast

2 cups Warm Water

1 tsp Salt

4 tsp Oil

5-6 cups All Purpose Flour

Heat your mixer bowl by letting hot water sit in it for awhile. Once heated, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let sit about 10 minutes, and then add salt, oil, and 5 cups of flour. Combine at speed 2 on mixer for a couple of minutes. Add remaining flour a bit at a time until everything comes together and beat for a couple of more minutes. Use some oil in a bowl and place dough in, rolling around to coat in the oil. Put in a warm place to rise for a couple of hours. 

For these pizzas I used ingredients I had in the house. On one pizza I used hot capicollo ham, cremini and button mushrooms, and sliced olives. On the other I used pre-made bbq chicken from the grocer, red, yellow and orange peppers. The third pizza was the works! I used canned pizza sauce, and topped them with mozzarella, marble, and fresh grated parmesan cheeses. 

I rolled out the dough so that it was about 2 inches larger than the pan, and placed slices of mozzarella around the rim, folding and pressing the dough. 

Once prepared, I baked at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, then set the pizzas directly on the rack for another 3 minutes. 

This recipe yields 4 medium sized pizzas.