How to Stretch Your Own Pizza Base

Place your dough ball on a lightly floured surface then generously dust with ‘00’ flour. The dough ball should be completely covered in flour, as you don’t want any sticky spots.

Using your fingertips, press out the dough ball firmly, starting at the centre and working your way out to the edges. It’s important that this motion is a ‘push down’ and not a ‘stretch out’. As you push out to the edges, leave the last inch of the dough untouched. This will become your crust.

Turn the dough over and repeat the process. The aim is to end up with a circle of dough about half the size of the final pizza, with a thin middle and a raised crust.

Transfer the pizza base to the back of your hands. The edge of the crust should rest on your knuckles, with the rest of the base hanging down. (It’s a good idea to ‘de-bling’ just before this stage, as jewellery will poke a hole in the delicate dough.)

Now start stretching the dough between your hands. Try to stretch the outside edge, rather than the centre, as it will become too thin. Keep rotating the pizza base until you have arrived back where you started. Now you should have a 10-inch (ish) pizza base with a raised crust and a beautifully thin middle. If you hold it up to a light you should almost be able to see through it.

Fixing holes

If you over-stretch your dough and it gets too thin, you can end up with little holes in your pizza base. Just squeeze these back together before you put any toppings on. Easy.

Stuck pizzas

Try to move quickly with the dough, as it can stick to the work surface if left too long. If you’re generous with the flour and add more during the process, you shouldn’t end up in a sticky situation.

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