Learn how to stretch and shape and, yes, fling pizza dough from baker Jim Lahey in this simple, step-by-step tutorial in getting some air beneath your pizza dough.
We know you’ve always wanted to toss pizza dough like a boss. And Jim Lahey is going to help you get there. It may not come naturally to you at first toss. And, in fact, it may instead feel like you’re something of a dough-flinging fool with all the grace of a baby elephant. Not to worry. It’ll happen. Persevere. You just need practice.
Well, practice and the inspired and really quite informational instructions and photos below from Lahey’s book excellent book, My Pizza. (To give you some sense of its confidence-building powders, everyone who’s tried the recipe has given it 5 stars.)
Whatever plans you’ve got for this dough, we strongly encourage you first take a gander at our fave pizza recipes.
☞ Contents
1. Shape the dough in a circle
Take 1 ball of your pizza dough and generously flour it, your hands, and the work surface. Then press it down and gently stretch it out to 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 cm). You may see some bubbles form. That’s perfectly okay.
2. Get the dough onto your knuckles
Keep stretching the dough by slipping your hands beneath the dough and supporting it with your knuckles toward the outer edge. Lift the dough above the work surface.
3. Continue to stretch the dough
All you’re looking to do is continue to streeeeetch the dough simply by rotating it with your knuckles.
4. Tug—don’t pull—the dough into a wider and wider circle
Simple stuff here. You’re simply rotating the dough with your knuckles and gently tugging, rather than pulling, it wider and wider. Go easy and treat the dough gently. You want it to retain a bit of bumpiness so not all of the gas is smashed out of the dough.
5. Fling that dough in the air like a boss
Launch it into the air with a slight circling motion of the hands until it’s about 10 to 12 inches in diameter. Set the disk on a well-floured peel and continue with your recipe.
