Can I transform puffy dough into a thin crust?

April 3, 2009 7:51 AM

Will I be able to roll a puffy expanded mound of pizza dough into a thin crust?

I bought frozen pizza dough and put it in the fridge for a day to thaw. It expanded to at least twice its size. Will I still be able to roll it out to a thin crust? In the past I've bought non-frozen pizza dough (from Trader Joe's) and it seemed denser than this puffy expanded mound.

Also, any tips on rolling out pizza dough are welcome. It always takes me forever!

Please help a well-intentioned, yet often foolish, cooking novice.

posted by ihavepromisestokeep to food & drink (11 comments total)

I love thin crust pizza, and have successfully thinned the TJ "bag of dough" product into a respectable pie. The key is to pre-bake it a bit. Here's how we do it:

1. Put a bunch of flower down and work the dough on the counter for a while. Do this as you would do any ball of dough, kneading it, stretching it, pounding it, until it's pliable and ready to shape.
2. Get a cookie sheet and brush it with olive oil. Brush both sides of the now-stretched-thin dough with olive oil.
3. Place on cookie sheet and pre-bake the dough for a bit, just enough to barely crisp it up.
4. Remove it from the oven, and add your toppings before removing it from the cookie sheet and putting it back in the oven to finish off the bake.

Hopefully your expanded mass will react in close to the same way. Good luck!
posted by nitsuj at 7:56 AM on April 3

Our pizzas are better since we bought a pizza stone. It was cheap at housewares store. Pre-heat it in the oven to 425 and roll out your dough with a rolling pin. Take out the stone and sprinkle cornmeal on it. Drop the rolled out dough onto it and trim any pieces that are hanging over the edge. Lay your toppings on and stick it into the oven 'til it's done.
posted by bonobothegreat at 8:22 AM on April 3

When I worked pizza, years before they officially carried a thin-crust option, we'd take a thawed & proofed medium, and just work it till it was sized for a large pie sheet. No rolling pin or pre-baking, just tossing the dough till it was thin enough.
posted by nomisxid at 8:30 AM on April 3

You will definitely be able to make a thin-crust pizza from your fluffy dough. The reason that this one is fluffy is that the yeast is still active, leading to more rising. I've always found the Trader Joe's pizza dough to be particularly dense, and kind of hard to roll out. Your stuff will likely be more pliable, and thus easier to roll out.

I like nitsuj's tips 2-4, but I would *not* recommend kneading the dough any further. This will activate more of the gluten (the protein in flour that makes doughs stretchy), making your crust more likely to shrink back up as you roll it and also to be tougher once it's baked.

For the rolling itself, I find it easiest to plop the dough straight from it's packaging onto a well-floured area, dust the top with flour, and use a well-floured rolling pin. Start rolling from the middle of the dough and move to the edge. Turn the dough as you're rolling -- two rolls from the center to the top, turn 180 degrees, 2 rolls, turn 90 degrees, 2 rolls, et cetera. Soon you'll wind up with a nice round pizza crust. Stop rolling when it's the thickness and diameter you desire!
posted by amelioration at 8:32 AM on April 3 [1 favorite has favorites]

Step 1 is to gently "punch down" the dough. Don't actually punch it, just gently fold it a little to reduce the size of the air bubbles in the dough. This should reduce it to roughly its original size.

Now, you've got to stretch it out. One popular way to do this is by flattening the dough a little, then making a fist and stretching it out on your fist while rotating it. But be careful to do it gently: if you're too rough, the dough will tear or start to get way too springy.

If the dough starts becoming too elastic (whenever you try to stretch it, it just springs right back) let it rest for a few minutes. This should make it easier to handle.
posted by goingonit at 8:35 AM on April 3

It will actually be easier because it is less dense.

I work at a pizza place currently, and when I get a thin crust order I let the dough ball sit and rise longer than a normal crust.
posted by schyler523 at 8:48 AM on April 3

You have to let it rest a little or it will want to shrink. Flatten it out as much as you can until it starts feeling springy or like it's going to tear. Let it sit for 5 minutes, and then go at it some more.

Um. Or what goinonit said.
posted by gjc at 8:51 AM on April 3

I tend to find it easier to get it thin, and perfect for use, when it's been in the fridge for a couple of days. I'll do enough dough for three pizzas or so, and then refrigerate the remainders, and it always improves, leading me to keep meaning to make some of that bread where you just throw it together in the fridge.
posted by opsin at 9:01 AM on April 3

Let it rest, let it rest, let it rest. When you try to roll it out and it pulls back, walk away. Let it sit for a couple minutes, then come back and I promise it'll stretch sooo much easier.

I once had an enjoyable evening watching my know-it-all brother wrestle with a circle of pizza dough for half an hour or so. Let it rest, I told him. Walk away, I told him. No no no, I know what I'm doing, he said. So he rolled it out and it snapped back, and he rolled it out and it snapped back, over and over. I bet his final crust was tough as hell, too.

Let it rest!
posted by bink at 9:30 AM on April 3

It has yeast and has risen. That is a good thing. There are two ways to transform it into a thin sheet ready for topping, pushing and rolling. Pushing is what you see at the pizzeria, but it will require copious flour and healthy dough. Rolling is easier and allows you to use less flour and it works even when the dough is less than ideal. If you have a pizza stone a wetter dough will make a crispier crust as it will quickly absorb heat from the stone. Roll it, transfer to a pizza peel or similar object having some corn meal to prevent sticking, top it with cheese etc. and then slide it onto the stone. For best results the oven should be at its maximum setting. Some pizza fanatics have been known to defeat the door locks on their ovens so that they can cook pizza on the cleaning cycle. A more sane person would just stick to the maximum temp, usually 550F. Whichever method you use you will want to punch down the dough prior to working it into final shape. As previously described you don't really punch it as much as push it down. If you lack a stone you will not want to use the dough wet because it will stick to things. In that case use lots of flour.
posted by caddis at 10:33 AM on April 3

Another tip to getting a thing crust: Like amelioration said, I would not knead the dough but roll it out right from the state it is in right now. Roll it out between a piece of parchment paper and some plastic wrap. The dough will cling to the paper, lessening the snap back on the very glutenous dough. After it is rolled out, peel off the plastic, dress the pizza, and throw it in a really hot oven still attached to the parchment. It'll easily come off when it comes out of the oven.
posted by Foam Pants at 5:57 PM on April 4