This Double Decker Stuffed Pizza will satisfy ALL your pizza cravings. This recipe uses mushrooms, peppers, sausage, and pepperoni, or you can use your favorite toppings!
3Italian sausages(hot or sweet, your choice), removed from casings
5ozbaby bella mushrooms(about 6 mushrooms), cleaned and sliced
½bell pepper(I used red), seeds removed and diced into ½ inch pieces
1.5cupsmarinara sauce
2cupsmozzarella cheese
15-20pepperoni slices
Optional: 1 tablespoon olive oil + ½ teaspoon ground garlic powder, for brushing the crust
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 425F. Spray the inside of the springform pan with nonstick spray or rub with a stick of butter. Sprinkle cornmeal all over the inside of the springform pan, tilting the pan from side to side to evenly distribute the cornmeal.
In a large skillet, cook the sausage over high heat, breaking it up with a spatula as you cook. As the sausage releases juices, drain the juices so you can brown the sausage. When it is fully cooked (about 5 minutes), drain the sausage through a large colander over a bowl or a plate. Set the sausage aside.
In the same pan that you cooked the sausage, cook the mushrooms until they start to sweat. At that point, add the bell pepper and saute for another 2-3 minutes. Drain the mushroom/bell pepper mixture into the same colander as the sausage. You want all the extra liquid to drain from the pizza stuffing, so your pizza won't be soggy.
Take about ⅔ of the pizza dough and roll it out and/or use your hands to stretch the dough into a ~16 inch circle. This dough will be the bottom and sides of the pizza.Carefully place the dough into the pan. Wrap the dough around the top edges of the pan, and then press the dough into the pan. This takes a bit of effort, but keep pressing the dough into the pan while fixing the edges of the dough.Bake the bottom of the pizza for 4 minutes. This will help make sure the pizza is not soggy. If the sides of the pizza cave in during baking, just straighten them out (careful! it's hot!) after baking - the dough should still be pliable after 4 minutes of baking.
Assemble the pizza! Place about ½ of the marinara sauce over the bottom of the pizza. Add about ⅓ of the mozzarella cheese. Add the sausage/mushroom/bell pepper mixture.Add ⅓ of the cheese (half of the remaining cheese). Place pepperoni slices all over the mozzarella.
Roll the rest of the dough into a ~11 inch circle. Carefully place the dough on top of the pizza, and press the top dough into the pre-baked dough, forming a nice crust around the edge of the pan. Use a knife to make 3 slits in the top layer of dough. This will make sure the pizza doesn't puff up while baking.Brush the crust with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic powder all around the edges.
Add the rest of the marinara sauce to the top of the stuffed pizza. Top with the rest of the cheese.
Bake for 20 minutes (or according to the dough packaging directions). The crust should should turn a nice gold color and feel done and 'hollow' when tapped. Let stand for 10 minutes. Run a knife along the inside edge of the springform pan to loosen the pizza from the pan. Remove the outside of the pan. Slice pizza into 8 slices and enjoy!!
Notes
You will need a 9-inch springform pan for this recipe, such as this one.