How To Shape & Stretch Pizza Dough For Perfect Pizza Base 

so ... how long should you have let it rise? (I realize that this comment is 1 year old, but I would like to know the answer, or, at least, the suggestions from the experienced chefs out there. I have only just took the plunge on this Ooni business and fell victim to their wonderful marketing!) Thanks for any help! Happy Holidays!

Great tips, thank you for sharing!

Thanks for those tips!

Spencer Wong your right. my favorite pizza place rolls the dough with a rolling pin as well. But they are famous for their super crusty flat dough. So I guess the rolling pin can used as a tool to change the dough as you prefer the baked dough to be at the end. www.zia-maria.de

old post but you must adapt the % of hydratation with the seasons too ... in the summer, you can increase it, in the winter or if you have a rainny weather, you can decrease ....

Use semolina for no stick on the peel

Look forward to seeing your first pizza!

That is amazing! We are so happy to hear it! 🍕🔥 Be sure to tag us in any pictures!

There are so many different ways, it really depends on what you feel comfortable with :)

Thanks! We're glad you enjoyed it! 🍕💛

Hi Karl! Thanks for your support! Hope to see you in the Uuni Community Facebook group :)

Woohoo that's awesome to hear! We couldn't agree more - 00 flour totally ups your pizza game 😉🍕💪

@@Oonihq Me too

@@MHaninZaman I have to order from Amazon. but OO flour is amazing

@@amybiedenbach7824 where about are you located?

@@amybiedenbach7824 check out your city Italian deli/grocery stores. That is where I get my 00 Tippo flour, and the Semola Rimacinata. I live in Phoenix, Arizona.

Thanks for watching!

Yes it is.

Thanks for sharing this with us! 🍕

@@Oonihq Most welcome!

IMO, this is where this youtube could be improved upon, IMO! How? By slowing his demonstration down! C'mon, we have the technology to do this. The Chef obviously is enjoying his technique, but this technique as a lot of moving parts to it! LOL! Something like watching the pro at the Driving Range. He/she charges you to watch him/her drive the ball straight down the fairway, and expects you to learn how to do this by watching the swing! So Ooni, get busy and make a slow motion of the Chef's technique! It's what I want for Christmas! Happy Holidays!

Hi Mike! Good to see you in here! Thanks for your support and feel free to send some breakfast chocolate pizza over our way ;)

You should definitely cover them and put them in...oh this was 1 year ago. Nevermind

Hi Carmen! Uuni Pro is still scheduled for July :) We'll send you a shipping update when available!

Fantastic! I've been perfecting my dough and stretching technique so I can hit the ground running. Love the video's -

You know what they say, practice makes perfect! 🍕🔥 >JM

pretty sure you would ball it up straight out of the fridge then leave in either tub with clingfilm or cloth over to reach room temperature

If you leave the dough uncovered you will get a skin on it, so leave it covered.👍

That's just for show.

Hey Albin, yeah that's probably it. Flour burns differently between the dough and the stone because it's dry unlike the dough. Here's two things you could try: 1) stretch your dough on a work surface and move it on the peel just to get it in the oven. That way you don't need to use too much flour as the pizza doesn't sit still very long. 2) You could also use a perforated peel like this one: ooni.com/products/ooni-12-perforated-pizza-peel The perforations on the peel allow excess flour fall off before the pizza slides in to your oven. Hope this helps!

Jonathan Radin Buddy you can bulk ferment in fridge (before balling) then ball and proof at room temp 1-2 hours to use right away or ball up right from fridge and individual wrap in clingfilm and freeze. They freeze beautifully. BTW if you ever over proof. Just reball up and proof for another hour and use. easier to handle than an overproofed dough.

Jonathan Radin I also add. You can bulk ferment in fridge for upto 3 days tastes even better post 24 hours... upto around third day..

Hi Jonathan! Luigi has left some great tips - you do need to leave the dough out for 1-2 hours to get up to room temperature and makes the world of difference when stretching. There are other variables such as kneading by hand, using a mixer or even the flour you use. Be sure to use 00 flour. You also need to use less yeast if cold proving. I highly recommend joining the Uuni Community for further tips and recipes :)

Another quick question. I am using "fine" flour and a mixer to kneed. I had great rise so no real problem there. The surface of the balls did get a bit stiff after I let it sit for 2 hours. Thoughts? Thanks!

Jonathan Radin By the way as Uuni say 00 flour but look for flour with a minimum of 12g per 100g of protein (gluten). Canadian flours are high gluten like a Caputo. Huge difference.

It may be hard to work with if you re-ball and re-stretch. You can try to pinch the hole back together and this should work! But by all means re-ball if you need to! 🙌

I usually put them in the freezer after the first proofing, rolled in to balls. Then when they're taken out they can just do the final rise as they thaw. ^kt

regular bread dough goes in after the first proof and you have shaped it...freeze it then, so it will thaw and rise in preparation for baking. I'm hoping pizza crust is the same.

Just a lot of practice ;) - Lucinda

Yup. I'm useless...

Hey Mark, this recipe is good for being in the fridge for up to 24 hours. Remember to half the amount of yeast if you are cold-proving :)

Great question! There are a number of factors that may have contributed to your dough tearing. We'd be happy to chat about all of them! Find some common mistakes below and give a new batch of dough a try: 1.) The dough ball you're using may not be large enough. For a 12" pizza, aim for a 250g dough ball; for a 16" pizza, aim for a 330g dough ball. 2.) Knead your dough for longer to build up more gluten elasticity. One tip is to do the "window pane test". Once you believe your dough has developed a sufficient amount of gluten structure, hold a small amount of dough up to the light and give it a stretch. If you can stretch it thin enough to see a layer of light between your dough, you've successfully developed a strong gluten structure. Woohoo! 🥳 3.) Use a high-protein flour. We always use a strong 00 pizza flour or higher protein bread flour to ensure that we can get that nice stretch on the dough. The good thing is that tears can happen! There's still a chance to save your pizza base. If you only have a few holes, you can easily pinch these spots back together. If you have more tears than you'd like, you can simply re-ball your dough and allow it to rest for between 30 minutes to an hour. If you're working with a cold-fermented dough (e.g. 24hr fridge dough), allow your dough to reach room temperature before attempting to stretch your dough. This will also allow your gluten to relax a little bit. We hope this helps! 🍕

@@Oonihq BUT you say 180 gm in the video!?!?!

@@normness The chef suggested 165 grams each. He is the Ooni Chef who started this youtube video in the first place! (over 5 years ago, don't you know!) He suggested making 10 dough balls from 1,000 grams (1 Kilo) of flour, for making the popular 12 inch pizza. He says that he makes 1-12 inch pizza from each dough ball!

Hello 🍕 if you prepare the dough ahead of time, you can try this method ooni.com/blogs/recipes/cold-prove-pizza-dough 😉

Ooni Pizza Ovens Thank you for responding so quickly! That is very helpful. Once the dough balls are formed and have risen to the proper size how long can they sit? I am asking because I’m trying to figure out how to coordinate using the dough. So, if I am having people over for pizza and I want to make the dough balls ahead of time how long can they sit at room temperature before the yeast overproves the dough? What if I am making pizzas over the course of a couple of hours?

Hello 🍕It really depends how much yeast is in the flour. More yeast, shorter life span. If you use our pizza dough calculator app you can work out how much yeast to use based on how long you think the balls will be at room temperature. A couple of hours isn’t going to do any harm either way though 😉 You can download our App for mobile here: Apple App Store: go.onelink.me/app/7976306a Google Play Store: go.onelink.me/app/faa98e49 Hope this helps❤️

Ooni Pizza Ovens Thank you!

Hi! We're sorry to hear you're having some issues stretching your dough. Can you please confirm the temperature of the water you're adding and your room temperature? You can always reach out to us at support.ooni.com and we'll be able to help you! 😊🍕

Hi... The temp of the water I used when mixing water with yeast was 111° and room temp was 68°. I used a bread machine on dough cycle and judging by the way it rose, the yeast was fresh. Thanks... Should I continue this with Support from Ooni or continue on this thread?

Hi, you can message our support and we can go through all the details and steps! 💛@@krus54

Hey Kevin 🍕The first suggestion we usually give is to go for "less is more" when it comes to toppings. The second one is to try and use some semolina flour on the peel before placing the pizza on it. Let us know!🍕F.

During lockdown I could only get coarse semolina to go on the peel, but everyone loves the extra little crunch it gives.

Hi Adam. The storage container does fit into our fridge. We use many methods when proving and happened to go with the container on this occasion. We don't normally use a damp cloth, more often that not it's cling wrap or a lid.

Thanks for the reply. I tried using my UNNI 3 - My first attempted the grill guard got stuck on the dough and fell. (It was a nightmare to get out). Are you planning to sell longer guard plates?

Hi Adam, it sounds like your stone might be pushed back too far, if you have it closer to the door it will make it easier to slide the pizza in and out without getting it caught on the back of the stone/flame guard. We won't be making any updates to this part but you can also cook without it! Do get in touch with support@uuni.net and we'll be happy to help further!

This seems like an error in that the most common recommendation for a 12 inch pizza is 240 -250g. 165 seems too small.

@@bjadams44 Yes, as my pizza making has improved, I normally use around 260g dough balls using Caputo 00 pizza flour, which is very good.

I had the same question the minute I heard it was 165gr. Did anyone get a reply?

@@michaeljemal7508 No, #ooni don't seem to care much about answering customer questions on RU-vid 🙄

Hi Gavan. Uuni Pro can make up to 16" pizzas!

I'm going out of my mind trying to decide on which to get. Would love it for the summer but would prefer the Pro... But the Uuni 3 is just around the corner...!! And is very affordable.

Hi Gavan! It's a tough choice ;) All depends on how, what and where you want to Uuni! If you want more than 2 fuel options and lower temps for long cooks then Uuni Pro is for you, although, Uuni 3 is great for on the go or cooking at family and friends!

Hi Vernonia! I would suggest ensuring that your dough is left to prove for a couple of hours at room temperature once it has been made. We have a great Pizza Dough recipe over at ooni.com. If you follow each of the steps you should be left with the perfect dough which is both easy to work with and delicious! For more in-depth advice please contact us at support@ooni.com and we'd be happy to help you out :) - EI

More time in balls works wonders. At 6+ hours they practically fall into shape.

Adjust with flour , give it more time to proof and then rest. It should be not brittle not sticky anymore

Hey Doris! If you're in the UK, you can find our very own dough proofing trays over on our website: uk.ooni.com/products/ooni-pizza-dough-proofing-tray?_pos=1&_sid=7f9fc93e5&_ss=r If you're in the US or EU, you'll want to check out our Ooni Stack! ooni.com/products/ooni-stack?_pos=2&_sid=9f89d2957&_ss=r

We're sorry to hear that you were having some difficulty with your dough, Anna! Because our cold proof dough recipe calls for less yeast, which is quite common with cold proof dough recipes, we'd recommend using less yeast for this fermentation method. We may also recommend checking out our Ooni Community Facebook page, where you can compare your experience with fellow Ooni users. If you're interested, you can view our group page here: facebook.com/groups/oonicommunity

At least an hour. On a 24 hour room temp dough I like about 6-8 hours.

Thanks for watching!

Without knowing too many details, your dough can become sticky if there is too much water in your dough or the flour isn't suitable for the type of dough you are making. Please do send us a message at facebook.com/oonihq and we're happy to chat more about it! 🙂

The dough could be cold, allow it to come to room temperature before you want to use it. The other possibilities are you haven’t built up a good enough gluten structure, not given it enough time to relax, it’s too low of a hydration or you're using the wrong type of flour. Please double check these things and if you have any more questions reach out to us 🍕❤ F.

Hey Pete! Since this video was published, we have revised our classic pizza dough recipe and would recommend using 250g dough balls to achieve 12" pizzas. I hope this helps. 🙌

Thanks. I've reset the app to match the latest recipe for next time. Just to say thanks for the ooni as well. Bought it in March and used it all over the place. Been great in lockdown to cook and meet in the garden. Impressed with the design and build quality. And everyone just loves the pizzas. A friend recommended to me and at least one other friend has bought one since.

If your dough is springing back, this usually means that the gluten hasn't had enough time to develop! Gluten is what makes dough elastic and stretchy. If your gluten hasn't developed enough, it will remain too tight and your dough will want to spring back into its original shape. We'd recommend using 00 flour, kneading it for at least 15 minutes (by hand, or for 5-10 minutes at low speed if you're using a mixer), letting the dough rise for the right amount of time (until doubled in size), and letting it come up to room temperature before stretching it out 😃.

Hi Max! If your dough is very sticky, try adding a little more flour. Make sure there are no holes or sauce on the peel as this will make it very difficult to slide off. Stretch then top the pizza on the peel without pressing too hard and try to work quickly. Before you slide the pizza into Uuni, lift the sides of the dough and blow under the base then, in a forward and backwards motion, slide the pizza on the peel a few times to ensure it's not stuck. You can also try using semolina or cornmeal!

Hey Jo! We highly recommend downloading our Ooni App (details in description above). This allows you to alter our Classic Dough Recipe based on how many dough ball you want, proof time and dough hydration. Try using a slightly lower hydration should you find your dough too wet. Also check out this handy video which may help: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-demJ2b4I0rY.html

Hey Robert this might help ooni.com/blogs/recipes/cold-prove-pizza-dough 🍕

@@Oonihq ohh tha k you so much I'm getting a batch ready for this weekend thank you again you awsome person

balba2008 Hey, if your base/bottom is getting too charred it’s because the stone got a little too hot. One good tip is to get an infrared thermometer to check how hot the stone is, that way it’s easy to avoid it getting too hot. Recommended temperature for it around 350-400˚C (650-750˚F) ^kt

Yeah, I have the IR thermometer. So if the stone is too hot, how do I get it to cool down, or how do I avoid it getting too hot in the first place? The pellet slide is already at its most narrow position.

balba2008 one easy way to cool down the floor in a WFO is to wipe it off with a wet rag...

Did you find the correct solution? I was thinking that when it happened to me that part of the problem was also a build up of flour from previous pizzas and the stone needed some cleaning.

Hi all! I thought that I would try to revive this question, since it is now over 5 years old! The question was: What To Do If Your "Stone" Gets Too Hot? Anybody have some experience with this? One comment mentioned cooling the stone by wiping it with a damp cloth! That sounds especially hazardous to me! Other than watchful waiting and withholding fuel, is there anyone out there with experience with the charred crust phenomena and what to do about it, other than to stop cooking until the oven cools down?

Great question, Bradley! Our pizza oven company was founded by husband-and-wife team, Kristian Tapaninaho and Darina Garland with one goal in mind: to make exceptionally tasty pizza accessible. Kristian, who is originally from Finland, decided to start Uuni so that incredible, Neapolitan-style pizza could be achievable from home. The idea of 'Uuni', a Finnish word that translates directly to 'Oven' in English, started in Kristian's home country. After trial and error, revision after revision, the world's first portable pizza oven was born! As a way for pizza lovers to better understand our pizza oven-making mission, Uuni was officially changed to Ooni in 2018. While our name may have changed, our passion for pizza-making remains the same. To learn more about our journey, you can read about our story on our website here: ooni.com/pages/about-us

This can happen with different dough hydrations. A little bit of oil on your fingers will help ease this 🙂

Making pizza dough

Yes I've noticed my 165s make a perfect 9. I need more stretching practice but they are already pretty thin

Indeed, Laurie, thanks for the feedback! We'll pass this on to our content team 🙂

It's not about the shape but about the taste so don't worry! If you ever need any tips, please reach out to our team at socialteam@ooni.com and we can help you out! 💛

Hey Alexander! Dough can be a tricky art form but with practice, you'll definitely improve! We swear by our classic dough recipe: ooni.com/blogs/recipes/classic-pizza-dough-how-to-make-it-perfect. You can also check out our Ooni app (link in video description) which has a dough calculator meaning you can alter the ingredients to suit how many dough balls you need! Hydration and salt content also play a huge part in your dough making, check out these videos by Ooni Ambassador, Lewis Pope, who explains it all: Hydration: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-demJ2b4I0rY.html Salt: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DZt270MD7rk.html

Everyone is at different places in their pizza journey and a rolling pin can help learn 💛 We appreciate your feedback

*eyeroll*

too much compressor