You are currently viewing How To Stretch Pizza Dough: A Guide To Homemade Pizza Dough

How To Stretch Pizza Dough: A Guide To Homemade Pizza Dough

Making pizza at home is what every pizza enthusiast has tried at least once. One of the things which can be hard, but fun to do is stretching your pizza dough. Here are some tips on how you can stretch your dough as well as fix some problems you might encounter while doing so.

Is making homemade pizza dough hard?

Like every cooking process, making pizza dough from scratch can be hard, confusing and time consuming for beginners. Nevertheless, you can always practice and follow recipes and in time you will become a pizza-making expert.

Additionally, making pizza dough at home is worthwhile, despite the time commitment. Homemade pizza dough is a no-brainer when it comes to cost savings and greater flavor. You can also choose healthier types of flour, which is another plus.

How to stretch pizza dough for beginners?

stretch pizza dough
Photo by Malidate Van from Pexels


Once you’ve picked a recipe and made your dough, the next aspect of pizza creation to master is stretching the dough. When done correctly, it will make a significant difference in the texture and feel of the completed pizza.

How to stretch pizza dough by hand? 

Here’s how you can stretch your dough by hand:

  1. Begin with the dough ball that is unstretched. Then, at your work area, gently push into it with your fingertips.

    To help extend the base outwards, keep pressing into the dough ball to flatten it by gently pushing your hands apart from each other. Keep the form as round as possible, since this will affect the overall shape of the pizza dough foundation when it has been stretched out.

  2. It’s time to define the crust after your dough is properly floured. You don’t need to be exact; simply push your fingers into the dough about half an inch from the borders.
  3. Then, continue the process all the way around the circle. This prevents the crust from becoming too thin when the dough is stretched. Your crust may appear thin by the time it’s all stretched, but because you’ve covered it, it’ll still bubble up nicely in the oven.
  4. You must first flatten the dough into a disc before stretching it. Using the palm of your hand, press the dough into a large flat disc.
  5. Next, push the dough out from the center with the middle three fingers of each hand, expanding the flat disc into a big circle approximately 6 inches across and 1/2 inch thick.
    When you press the dough, it should be soft and malleable, not shrinking back. At this point, it’s fine if the flattened disc isn’t completely spherical.
  6. Even though it seems amazing, stretching pizza dough with your knuckles and tossing it in the air isn’t the ideal technique to learn how to stretch pizza dough. Instead, hold the dough close to your body and utilize gravity and hand tugging to get a uniformed crust.
  7. When you’re ready to stretch the dough, carefully take it up and hold it with both hands on one edge, letting the remainder of the dough hang down.


    As you gently spin the dough in one direction, like rotating a wheel, gravity will accomplish part of the stretching job. As the dough hangs down, slowly lift it from hand to hand.

stretch pizza dough evenly
Photo by ROMAN ODINTSOV from Pexels


How to stretch pizza dough without breaking? 

Adding a little flour to the dough before stretching it out on the pan or the counter can keep it from tearing. Using a few pinches of flour, pat the dough’s surface all over. Using a little dusting of flour, attempt to stretch out your dough. Then it should be a lot easier to deal with.

How to stretch pizza dough evenly? 

To stretch your pizza dough evenly, wait until you have pushed the dough down before stretching it. Make no attempt to expand it out of the ball shape.

Then, press down from the center and outwards, flattening the dough ball to a considerably lower height. To push the entire ball down, use the palms of your hands and your fingers. After it has become somewhat flat, spread it out into the appropriate shape and area.

How to fix holes in pizza dough?

When you stretch out the dough, you may see several thin patches, some of which are thin enough to form holes in the dough.

Pinch the holes together to close them. You can take two fingers and seal the sides of the opening. The holes will be filled quickly as a result of this.

If pinching the dough just produces more holes, the dough is too thin in that region. Look for any lumps of dough or high spots in the dough and press them toward the thinner areas.

Why is my pizza dough not stretching?

If your pizza dough is not stretching, it doesn’t necessarily indicate you created terrible dough; it might just mean you’re not handling it properly, causing the gluten to tighten.

The most prevalent reason why it’s difficult to stretch dough is tight gluten. Gluten is highly elastic when it is tight, so it bounces back readily. Allow the dough to come to room temperature before working with it, and if it seems too tight, relax it for 15 minutes. Gluten that has been relaxed is simpler to stretch.

How to roll pizza dough without sticking?

Add approximately 1 tablespoon of flour on a large cutting board and sprinkle it about to make a very light coating of flour on the surface before you start stretching pizza dough by hand. The flour will prevent the dough from sticking to the board.

However, keep in mind that too much flour can make pizza dough tough.

As such, you can try applying a little olive oil over your work surface and hands (about 2 to 3 tablespoons). Olive oil prevents the dough from adhering to your cutting board or baking sheet while also promoting a beautiful, crispy crust.

roll pizza
Photo by Malidate Van from Pexels

How to stretch pizza dough in the air?

Although you may see this in movies and cartoons, tossing the pizza in the air isn’t the best technique to stretch pizza dough. You may easily rip the pizza this way or stretch it too much in any direction. Worst of all, you risk dropping the pizza, which you want to prevent.

How to stretch pizza dough without a rolling pin? 

If you want to make a pizza but you don’t own or can’t find your rolling pin, you can try out these alternatives:

      • Roll it with a wine bottle
      • Make it in a pizza pan
      • Stretch it by hand
      • Make it in a skillet

How to stretch pizza dough into a rectangle

To make a rectangle shaped pizza, roll the pizza dough into an oval, then pull on the corners of the dough oval with your fingers to stretch the dough to look like a rectangle. You can do this on your counter or in a rectangular pizza pan. 

What is the best temperature to stretch pizza dough?

The best temperature to stretch pizza dough is at room temperature. Thus, if your dough is from the fridge, allow it to rest for at least 30 minutes at room temperature before stretching. 

Gluten, the protein that gives pizza dough its chewiness, contracts when exposed to low temperatures. This explains why cold pizza dough stretches and snaps back like a rubber band. This will soften the dough and make it simpler to work with. 

Similarly, if you are working with frozen pizza dough, make sure that the dough is properly thawed before you work on it. 

How do I stop my pizza dough from shrinking? 

There are numerous approaches you may take to resolve this issue. To achieve the correct crust consistency, several varieties of pizza dough are intended to have both high-protein and high-gluten, but in an improper environment, this can lead to a slew of problems.

If you know you’ll be dealing with high-gluten flour, you’ll want to go for one with a lower protein level, preferably between 11.5 and 12.8 percent.

You can still achieve the proper texture of pizza dough with a lower protein level but high gluten. By doing this, you won’t give enough protein for the dough to “memorise” its original form.

This will minimize the length of time the dough snaps back into place, giving you more time to mold and shape the pizza into the form you choose.

Rolling vs stretching pizza dough

rolling vs stretching
Photo by Klaus Nielsen from Pexels


The pockets of gas that developed during the rise will be pushed out of the dough by rolling it. These pockets cause the dough to be thicker and the bubbles in the crust to be bigger. The rolled dough will be thinner and denser than the unrolled dough.

On the other hand, stretching permits some of the gas bubbles in the dough to remain in random spots on the pizza. When the dough is baked, the bubbles expand even further, resulting in a big and prominent crust. It’s also uneven and “artisanal,” (like the Neapolitan pizza) which contributes to the overall impression of this pizza type.

Things you should avoid while stretching pizza dough

Here are some things to avoid while stretching your pizza dough:

      • Don’t under or over proof your dough
      • Remove your jewelry
      • Warm up your dough before stretching
      • Don’t toss your dough in the air

Concluding remarks

When it comes to stretching pizza dough, the most important thing to remember is to relax and trust yourself! With a little practice, you’ll soon improve your talents, so have fun while mastering this important pizza skill. Try your homemade pizza dough with our BBQ Chicken Pizza Recipe!

If you love making homemade pizza, Gyber’s pizza ovens make it so easy to produce restaurant quality pizza from your home. Portable and lightweight, it’s also so easy to bring it along when you head to the beach or when you go camping.

Even though it seems amazing, stretching pizza dough with your knuckles and tossing it in the air isn’t the ideal technique to learn how to stretch pizza dough. Instead, hold the dough close to your body and utilize gravity and hand tugging to get a uniformed crust.

Leave a Reply