Homemade Stuffed Crust Pizza with Honey-Sriracha Glazed Crust

Eat your heart out, Pizza Hut - there's a new stuffed crust pizza in town and it is coming straight from my kitchen.

As the daughter of a half-Italian mother, I grew up in the kitchen making dishes from scratch. To me, making pizza dough from scratch is as easy as making a sandwich, so I do it often. I remember making pizza with my mother almost weekly, always with traditional ingredients like pepperoni, anchovies, spinach, fresh mozzarella, basil from the garden, etc. Any time we suggested a more modern pizza ("Let's make a Hawaiian pizza, mom!") my mother would sigh and say, "your great grandmother would roll over in her grave if she heard you say that!"

My dreams of pineapple on pizza were dashed.

Now, in my own kitchen, I use any toppings I want. Pizzas come out of the oven with combinations like goat cheese, apple, balsamic reduction or chicken sausage, bleu cheese, and pear. The possibilities are endless. And then I did the one thing that will make me lose my title as an Italian forever. I made a stuffed crust pizza, ala Pizza Hut. I didn't stop there, though. I made the honey, sriracha crust. Can you hear my great grandmother tossing and turning in her grave?

The first time I pulled one our of the oven, my boyfriend gasped and exclaimed, "You can do that!!!?" and he requests it from time to time ever since. I use dough from scratch and may eventually post a recipe, but for now if you are planning on making this for dinner, just pick up fresh dough at the store, find another recipe online, or pick up dough from your local pizza shop.

Ingredients:
1 ball pizza dough (enough for 1 crust)
String cheese
Honey
Sriracha
Marinara
Mozzarella
Pepperoni (or any desired pizza toppings)=
Parmesan
Oregano
Garlic Powder

Step 1:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. I'm usually not a fan of rolling out crust for pizza. I feel like it is more authentic and rustic if I push the crust into the pan by hand. In this case, rolling the dough helps to ensure it is even, plus you will need a little bit of overhang on all sides of the pizza. This overhanging dough will be used to tuck in the mozzarella.

 Step 2:
Slice string cheese in half lengthwise and arrange around the outside of the pizza pan.

Step 3: Wrap the excess dough over the string cheese and press it into place to seal. It's okay if the dough is a little wrinkly or if there is excess dough over the cheese. During the baking process the cheese releases steam, which will create blowouts unless you leave a little bit of room.

Step 4: Combine equal parts honey and sriracha (hey, it's your pizza. If you like it a little bit more sweet, add more honey. If you like it a little spicier, add more sriracha. If you would rather do a garlic Parmesan crust, mix that on up). Side note. I am obsessed with my measuring cups. I wasn't even measuring, but I like to use them for prep bowls sometimes because they are so cute.

Step 5: Mix that honey/sriracha mixture until smooth, then brush it on the crust. I used a fork, but if you have a pastry brush that would work just was well (read: better.). You can see in this photo I got a little fork happy and crimped the dough all the way around. This is just me being neurotic about blowouts. Feel free do crimp or not crimp to your heart's desire.

 Step 6: Add toppings. I went with marinara, mozzarella, pepperoni, oregano, parmesan, and red pepper flakes.

Step 7:  Bake 15-20 minutes or until cheese on top is bubbly and brown, dough is browned on the bottom and your house smells amazing. Even with my obsessive crimping, I had some blow outs. Don't worry if this happens to you. The pizza is still delicious and there will be plenty of cheese in the crust. Slice and enjoy. I served mine with a mixed green salad and a lemon-Dijon vinaigrette - Zest and juice of one lemon, one Tbsp Dijon mustard, 1.5 tbsp olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste. stir together, toss on salad greens.