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Forming Pizza Crust

By: Allrecipes Staff

Everyone loves pizza! It's as delicious to eat as it is fun to make.

Although making pizza is simple, there are few tricks that will help ease the process along.

1. We used the recipe for Jay's Signature Pizza Crust. Once the dough has been formed and allowed to rise, uncover the dough and punch it down.

Jay's Signature Pizza Crust

2. This particular recipe makes a two pizza crusts or one very large crust, so there is quite a bit of dough to work with. If you would rather make individual pizza pies than one large pizza, portion the dough into as many round balls as you want pies. Some people prefer a more rustic look to their pizzas which does not require perfectly round dough balls. Once the portions have been formed, cover and let the dough sit for 5 to 10 minutes to allow the gluten to relax before rolling the dough out.

3. Flour the surface of your work area to keep the dough from sticking. While you don't need to use a rolling pin to roll the dough out, it will help maintain a consistent thickness. Another approach is to pound the dough down with your fist or palm of your hand--this is just a preliminary shaping, to form the dough ball into a disc.

4. Dust your hands with flour to keep the dough from sticking. Gently stretch the dough using the back of your floured hand, letting the weight of the dough pull the dough thinner. Use the backs of your fingers to push the dough out wider. Start in the middle of the dough with both hands close together, and slowly pull your hands apart, allowing the dough to glide above your hands. Turn the dough about 15 degrees on your hands and repeat this step until the dough is thinner, wider, and consistent throughout the entire circumference of the crust.

5. Try spinning the dough in the air. This is certainly not required, but it's a lot of fun! It also helps to make the dough more round, as the centrifugal force causes equal amounts of pressure to be thrown out in all directions, helping the crust to form into a perfectly round shape.

6. Cover a bread peel (a heavy square of cardboard will work well, or a rimless baking sheet) with either flour or corn meal. This flour layer is vital because it keeps the dough from sticking to the peel, which will allow you, with a quick motion, to push the pizza off of the peel, into the hot oven, and onto a baking or pizza stone. Place the dough on the peel. Complete any final forming of the shape.

7. Arrange whatever toppings desired onto the newly formed homemade crust.

See "Topping and Baking Pizza" for ideas, or these other related articles:

Comments

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ohiosunshine

Jun. 22, 2009 11:07 am

Apparently one must use much more than a dusting of cornmeal. The one and only time I used a pizza peal and a hot pizza stone, the pizza stuck like glue to the peel and absolutely refused to leave the peal - made for one big mess.

Marie

Jun. 26, 2009 8:45 pm

Until recently I was not able to make pizza on a peel, but recently I have great success. I use only bread flour and LOTS of flour for dusting. THe New York Times food page on their website has a great video and recipe. My pizzas (large individual size) now slide right off of the peel onto the stone. Be sure not to press the dough on the peel once you set it there, shake the peel occasionally as you add the toppings to make sure the dough is not sticking. Also, you can gently lift the dough and blow under it around the edges. Hope this helps.

zale

Jun. 30, 2009 5:03 pm

I've never had much luck with the flour & slide method. Instead I stretch my dough out on baking parchement, put the toppings on and using a cutting board slide the pizza and parchement onto my pizza stone. The stone stays clean, the pizza never sticks and you can bake several pizzas in a row with this method. Good luck!

malani

Aug. 10, 2009 8:27 pm

I recently made a pizza dough adding all the dry ingredients into a bowl and blended it with a wooden spoon. I then added the water and olive oil to the flour mixture and worked it until the dough was done. Next I kneaded the dough for 10 minutes and then rolled it to fit the non stick pizza pan which had holes at the bottom of the pan. This gave me an evenly baked crust.

layno

Aug. 14, 2009 7:07 pm

wow

Ladybug

Aug. 15, 2009 1:33 pm

Has anyone made this dough ahead of time and kept in the fridge for a few hours? I was wondering if that could be done or if it would ruin it?

sandiegofatima

Aug. 23, 2009 11:19 am

I freeze pizza dough and place in the fridge the day before I plan to use it. The dough bakes just as well pre-frozen or after it has just risen.

Celeste

Aug. 26, 2009 8:34 am

I spray the baking sheet with PAM before I roll it out. After I roll out the pizza dough, I then lift up one side at a time and re-spray the pan with PAM. I bake the crust for 10-15 minutes by itself. I flip it over when it comes out and then put the ingredients on the up side, which used to be the down side. So it is nice and crispy and not soggy at all.

Daniel

Aug. 30, 2009 4:40 am

My wife & I form the dough directly onto the olive oiled pizza stone. The dough is worked until it matches the stone perfectly. Works great.

Sarah

Oct. 8, 2009 8:13 pm

I just have all my toppings ready, take the pizza stone out of the oven and arrange the dough & toppings on it. Much easier than trying to slide the pizza onto the stone.

rjbake

Oct. 13, 2009 2:49 pm

I've been baking pizzas for over 30 years so I've make plenty of mistakes along the way. Here's some tips for getting that pie from counter to oven and back in one piece. Cornmeal works great. Just sprinkle some on the peel. Then, with the palm of your hand, spread the cornmeal around. Your palm should glide over the cornmeal without sticking to the peel's surface, especially the leading edge. If it feels sticky in spots, just add more cornmeal. Don't overdo it since some of the cornmeal is going to stick to the final product. Too much and it can affect the taste and texture of your pie. Once the peel is ready, lay the dough in place. It should move easily on the peel. Now add your ingredients. The more ingredients, the heavier the pie and thus the more force necessary to slide the pizza off the peel and on to the oven stone. A firm jerk may be needed to overcome the inertia of a heavy pie. Finally, if you have any holes in the crust, the pizza sauce can leak through to the peel and defeat the cornmeal's purpose. Plug any holes before adding ingredients.

davekathy2@hotmail.com

Oct. 17, 2009 6:43 am

To Ladybug - you can refrigerate the dough for hours - believe it or not, it rises in the fridge so when I am having a big gang, I make the dough in the morning and leave it in the fridge all day (in a covered, greased bowl).

malani

Oct. 21, 2009 8:27 pm

This pizza sounds fantastic and can't wait to try it.I did try a very easy pizza crust which came out very well. However I tried out a very easy pizza crust which came out really well. For the Pizza dough, 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 2 tsp. instant yeast, 2 tsp. sugar, 3/4 tsp. salt, 3/4 cup +2 tbsp.water,room temperature, 2tbsp.extra virgin olive oil. Mix the flour,yeast,sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add the water and olive oil and mix until it starts coming together. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8 to 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap and let it sit for approximately one hour in a warm place with no drafts. Punch down the dough. Remove from the bowl and divide into four equal portions. Roll out each portion into a roughly shaped 8 to 10 inch circle. Top with your favourite toppings.

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