How to prevent pizza dough from stretching back

How to prevent pizza dough from stretching back - Person Slicing A Pizza With A Pizza Cutter

I have a problem with my pizza dough. I start to shape it but it is somewhat difficult to make it bigger and thinner because the dough stretches back to its initial form.

Any ideas?



Best Answer

Funny enough I was until recently working under a certified pizzaiolo. Are you allowing it to rest properly? How long are you kneading it for? What is your method for shaping your dough?

Edited to add from a later comment (I don't really see the point, it's right there after all):

Pizza dough, particularly if you are using proper 00 flour, needs a solid ten minutes of kneading before it rests. Resting time will vary depending on temperature and so on, but 2 hours seems excessive to me. Don't ever use a rolling pin to shape pizza dough; you've spent all that time working air into the dough, why squeeze it all out? Shape by hand, pulling towards you with your left while pushing away in a windshield wiper motion with your right and rotating the dough slightly on each pass.




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Quick Answer about "How to prevent pizza dough from stretching back"

  • Proofing the dough for longer as gluten relaxes over time.
  • Bring dough to room temperature as gluten is tighter when cold.
  • Reduce the protein in your flour as this forms gluten.
  • Learn to stretch by hand for more control.
  • Weigh your ingredients so they are accurate.


  • How do you keep pizza dough from shrinking back?

    How to Stop Pizza Dough from Shrinking
  • Scale and ball the dough immediately after mixing.
  • Place the dough balls in plastic dough boxes and wipe the top of the dough balls with salad oil.
  • Cross-stack the dough boxes in the cooler for at least two hours before down-stacking the boxes.


  • How do you keep pizza dough from expanding?

    How To Stop Pizza Dough Rising Too Much In The Oven
  • Stretch or roll the pizza thinly enough.
  • Cold dough causes more bubbles and blisters so bring it to room temperature.
  • Ensure the area for the crust is not too large \u2013 1/4 inch or 1/2 inch max.
  • Knock out or pinch any bubbles when shaping.


  • How do you keep dough from stretching?

    The best way to fix this issue is to make sure that your pizza dough is warmed up to room temperature before stretching it out. If you happen to have bought your pizza dough already mixed from a store and it's cold, you can place it into a mixing bowl that has been oiled.

    Why does my dough shrink back?

    Water evaporates during baking, and this evaporation causes shrinkage. Therefore, the more water you add, the more shrinkage that will occur. Properly mixed pastry will lubricate the flour with the butter, and a minimal amount of water should be needed to hold it together.



    Why my pizza dough doesn't stretch? 1+1 Reasons 🧐 Pizza stretching tricks




    More answers regarding how to prevent pizza dough from stretching back

    Answer 2

    Your dough probably stretches back because the flour has a value of p/l?1. I wrote this answer for another question on Pizza specific flours should have a value of p/l?0.5.

    If you can't get a flour with p/l?0.5, you can try reducing the dough's strengh by:

    • Leting it rest a long time.

      Resting for 2, 4 or 6 hours doesn't sound strange to me. I usually rest for 8~12 hours at room temperature, but I use strong flours (and usually, but not always, with a "right" p/l value).

    • Add some acid to the dough

      And old proffessional baker once told me they didn't have consistent flours in the 70's. Sometimes they were too strong, sometimes too weak. When it was strong, they added vinager to make it "less nervous" (sic). I'd preffer let it rest longer than doing this to my pizza dough.


    Another chance could be that your pizza dough balls are still too cold from the fridge, and therefor too stiff.

    If this is the case, you can take it out of the fridge earlier to let it reach room temperature.

    Answer 3

    For a softer and easier to work dough that still performs fine in a very hot oven. Use 100% wholemeal flour and process in a food processor with a chopping blade (this trick doesn't seem to work as well for bread)

    The food processor will eventually form a lump of dough and will put huge centrifugal strain on the machine, so don't use you flash brand new one. I have an old sunbeam "Big Oscar" for this job

    Let dough rise as normal, punch down an knead briefly, rise again. Shape, with the pull, smear, turn technique (it will stay put). Let rise again briefly before adding topping and cooking

    Answer 4

    Ascorbic Acid which can allow the gluten to relax by acidifying the protein structure breaking the intermolecular protein bonds in the tertiary protein structure reducing the tightness of the gluten; it also contribute to dough relaxation.

    You can find Ascorbic Acid in Vitamin-C powder you only need a small small portion of it or a drop of juice from pineapple or kiwi fruit. Other reducing agent's can also be used

    Answer 5

    Here's a trick I found in My Father's Book Of Southern Italian Peasant Food: To prevent your dough from shrinking back, coat your pizza pan with Crisco, then spread the dough.

    Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

    Images: Polina Tankilevitch, Flora Westbrook, Andy Kuzma, Polina Tankilevitch