Stuffed Crust Pizza

My husband loves the stuffed crust pizza from Pizza Hut, but it is very expensive to have as a treat. I knew I could make it for less. Plus, this way I could control the ingredients that went into it, and on it. A traditional stuffed crust pizza would use tomato sauce, but my husband loves Alfredo so that's what I used. This is very rich, but oh so good.

Stuffed Crust Pizza:

adapted from foodnetwork.com

Crust:

1/4 cup warm water

4 Tbsp. sugar

1 package dry yeast

3/4 cup milk

4 Tbsp. unsalted butter

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading

3 Tbsp. cornmeal, plus more for the pan

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp. salt

8 ounces mozzarella

Olive oil, for coating bowl

1 small jar Alfredo sauce

1 tsp. dried basil

1 tsp. dried oregano

2 cups grated mozzarella

1 package sliced pepperoni

To make the crust: Stir the water, 1 Tbsp. of the sugar, and the yeast together in a small bowl. Let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan. Remove from heat, add the butter, and stir until melted.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, cornmeal, remaining sugar, egg, milk mixture, yeast mixture and salt until a soft dough forms. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth, adding flour as needed if dough is sticky, about 1o minutes. Clean the bowl and coat it generously with olive oil. Form the dough into a ball, put it in the bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about one hour.

Punch the dough down and let rest for 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 45o degrees.

Cut the mozzarella into sticks about 3"x3/4"x3/4". (I use string cheese) Sprinkle a large baking sheet with cornmeal. Place the dough on the baking sheet and stretch it into a 15" circle.

Arrange the mozzarella sticks around the dough about 1" from the edge of the pan. Then roll the dough over the cheese to form the stuffed rim.

Spoon Alfredo sauce to taste on crust. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over sauce. Sprinkle herbs over top of the cheese. Finally, lay the pepperoni slices on top of it all.

Bake until crust is golden brown, 15 to 2o minutes.