How to Make Incredible Pizza with Store-Bought Pizza Dough (Like the Pros)
Learn how to make incredible pizza with store-bought dough using a few simple techniques (including hand-stretching the pizza dough) that transform ordinary dough into a Neapolitan-style pizza base with a light, airy crust and a thin, soft center. This recipe is for mastering the pizza base only; feel free to add your favorite toppings.
This recipe has been kitchen-tested to ensure consistent, reliable results.
How to Make Pizza from Store-Bought Dough
Making pizza from store-bought dough is one of the easiest ways to get great pizza at home. With a few simple techniques, like properly stretching the dough and baking on a preheated stone, you can create a light, airy crust with a crisp base that rivals pizzeria-style pizza.
How to Stretch Pizza Dough by Hand (Best Technique for Airy Crust)
The best way to stretch pizza dough is to use your hands rather than a rolling pin. Rolling pins push out the air bubbles that form during fermentation, which are responsible for the light, airy texture of the crust.
When pizza dough is stretched gently by hand, those air bubbles remain intact. This helps the dough puff up in the oven, creating a thin center with a soft interior and a lightly charred, airy crust.
Why You’ll Love This Technique
Making great pizza at home doesn’t require complicated dough recipes or expensive equipment. With the right technique, even store-bought pizza dough can create a Neapolitan-style pizza in your own kitchen.
This method mirrors the way many Italian pizzerias handle their dough: gently, simply, and by hand.
- Allowing the dough to fully relax so it stretches easily without ‘bouncing back’
- Preserving air bubbles that are created during fermentation. Skip the rolling pin; the light and airy texture of authentic Italian-style pizza comes from handling the dough gently with your hands.
- Baking the pizza on a very hot surface so the crust cooks quickly without becoming hard.
The result is a pizza with a thin, soft center and a light, airy crust with that characteristic char.
My brother and I seem to have an ongoing competition over who makes the best pizza. We’re constantly texting each other photos of our latest creations, each convinced the other needs to step up his game.
He ended up buying a pizza oven to nail down that authentic Italian-style crust. While I have to admit his setup is impressive, I like that my method doesn’t require a fancy appliance to get great results.
Although my brother might disagree, I’m pretty happy with how well this home oven technique produces a light crust with a thin center and those slightly charred edges that make pizza so good.
Table of Contents
- How to Make Pizza from Store-Bought Dough
- How to Stretch Pizza Dough by Hand (Best Technique for Airy Crust)
- Why You’ll Love This Technique
- What is The Best Way to Cook Pizza at Home?
- Ingredients
- How to Make Pizza from Store-Bought Dough
- How Hot Should the Oven Be for Pizza?
- Expert Tips for Better Pizza at Home
- Make Ahead and Storage Info
- Pizza From Store-Bought Dough FAQs
- Delicious Starts Here
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What is The Best Way to Cook Pizza at Home?
The best way to cook pizza at home is by placing a cold pizza stone in a cold oven. Then set your oven to the highest temperature setting it will go to (some go to 550°F while others go to 450°F). This intense heat mimics the environment of a pizza oven, helping the dough rise quickly while creating that classic crispy bottom and airy crust.
If you don’t have a pizza stone, you can achieve the same results with a cast-iron skillet.
Both of these surfaces store heat and quickly transfer it to the dough, helping the crust bake rapidly and develop a crisp bottom.
Ingredients
- Pizza Dough: Store-bought pizza dough works perfectly for this technique and produces a light crust with a thin, crisp center when handled gently. You’ll never know it was store-bought!
- Olive Oil: applied sparingly to the outer edges of the dough to brown the crust during baking for those that don’t have convection bake on their oven or it only goes to 450°F.
- Flour: A light dusting of flour prevents the dough from sticking to the counter while stretching and shaping.
Refer to the printable recipe card below for ingredient quantities and detailed instructions.
How to Make Pizza from Store-Bought Dough
Bring to Room Temperature and Reshape the Dough
Remove the pizza dough from the refrigerator and let it sit covered at room temperature for 2 hours. To form the dough into a ball to tighten the gluten structure, pinch the edges of the dough together and turn the dough over to start the shaping process. Pull the edges inward and tuck them underneath until the surface of the dough begins to tighten and forms a smooth, round ball. This step builds surface tension, which helps the dough hold its shape and makes it easier to stretch later.
Let the Dough Rest and Shape the Crust
Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and cover it to proof for half an hour. This step is crucial for letting the dough rise and also relaxing the gluten, which will make it easier to stretch and shape the pizza dough.
To form the light, airy crust: Gently press your fingertips 1 inch from the edge of the dough ball to create an indentation, or well. Avoid touching the center of the dough ball (this will stretch out in the next few steps).
Stretching the Pizza Dough
Gently stretch the dough where you made the indentation, pulling lightly with one hand while rotating the dough with the other. Work your way around the dough in a full circle, stretching from about 1 inch inside the edge rather than from the outer rim. Leave the outer edge untouched so the air bubbles remain intact and the crust can puff up during baking.
Shaping and Sizing the Dough
Both of these stretching methods help create a thin center with a thicker outer rim. Pick whichever suits you to continue shaping the dough to the size you want while keeping the center evenly stretched.
Option A: Drape the center of the dough over the back of your knuckles and gently rotate it as gravity pulls the dough downward. Rotate steadily so the dough stretches evenly without becoming too thin in one spot.
Option B: You can also stretch the dough by gently passing the center of the dough circle back and forth between your palms, allowing it to gradually widen. Avoid pulling on the outer edge so the rim stays slightly thicker.
Add the Sauce and Transfer to Pizza Peel
Working quickly, spread 3 to 4 tablespoons of your favorite tomato sauce evenly over the dough, within 1 ½ inches from the edge. If you don’t have a convection oven (or your oven only goes to 450°F), brush a small amount of olive oil around the edge of the dough to help brown the crust during baking. Olive oil is not needed if you have a convection bake setting.
Transfer the dough to a pizza peel. If the dough begins to stick, sprinkle a little flour on the end of a pizza spatula or bench scraper, then gently slide it under the edges of the dough. Work your way around the pizza, moving gradually toward the center and adding more flour as needed to release it from the surface. Slide the pizza off the peel and onto the hot pizza stone to bake.
Parbake the Pizza
Slide the tomato sauce-topped pizza dough from the peel onto the hot pizza stone and bake it without toppings for a short initial bake (about 5 minutes). This par-bake step helps set the crust so it stays crisp and sturdy, preventing toppings from weighing the dough down and making it soggy.
Bake until the bottom of the crust turns golden brown and begins to firm up. At this stage, carefully remove the pizza from the oven, add your favorite toppings, and return it to the pizza stone to finish baking (ie, when the cheese starts to bubble and melt). Let the pizza sit for 5 minutes before slicing.
How Hot Should the Oven Be for Pizza?
For best results, bake your pizza at the highest setting it will reach and set it to convection bake (if you have that option). Some ovens go to 550°F while many home ovens only go up to 450°F …. and that is fine, since the pizza stone helps mimic the high temperatures of a pizza oven. If your oven only goes to 450°F, just lightly brush a bit of olive oil along the edge of the crust to brown it during baking.
Expert Tips for Better Pizza at Home
- Place the cold pizza stone in a cold oven. Then preheat your oven. If you add a cold pizza stone to a hot oven, it will crack.
- Plan ahead: It will take about 1 hour for your oven to reach its highest temperature.
- Work quickly once the sauce goes on. After adding tomato sauce, work quickly. The moisture from the sauce can cause the dough to stick to your work surface if it sits too long.
- Release sticking dough with flour and a spatula. If the dough begins to stick, sprinkle a little flour onto the end of a pizza spatula or bench scraper and gently slide it under the edges of the dough. Work your way around the pizza, moving gradually toward the center and adding more flour as needed to release it from the surface.
- The same trick works on the pizza peel. If the dough sticks when transferring to or adjusting it on the pizza peel, use the same method: slide the floured spatula underneath the dough to loosen it before baking.
- Use less sauce than you think. About 3–4 tablespoons of tomato sauce is usually enough for a 12–13 inch pizza. The tomato sauce should be light enough that you can still see the dough through it. (As a side note: too much sauce can weigh down the dough and lead to a soggy crust).
- Leave a bare edge for the crust. Stop the sauce about 1 ½ inches from the edge of the dough. This allows the crust to puff and create that classic airy pizza rim.
- Brush the crust with olive oil for lower-temperature ovens. If your oven doesn’t have a convection setting or only reaches 450°F, lightly brush olive oil around the outer rim of the dough before baking. This will help the crust brown and crisp properly.
- Stretch the dough slightly larger than needed. Pizza dough will shrink by a couple of inches as it bakes, so stretch the dough a little larger than your final desired size.
- Shake the pizza peel before baking. Once the pizza is topped and sitting on the peel, give it a quick shake to make sure it moves freely. If it sticks now, it will stick when you try to launch it into the oven. (If this happens, refer to releasing the stuck dough with flour and a spatula as instructed above).
- Use a light hand with flour. Too much flour on the dough can burn on a hot pizza stone or steel. Shake off any excess before adding toppings.
- Don’t skip the par-bake: Par-baking allows the crust to cook through first, ensuring the final pizza has a crisp bottom and evenly baked toppings.
Make Ahead and Storage Info
Room Temperature: Once baked, leftover pizza can sit at room temperature for up to 2 hours before refrigeration.
Refrigerator: Uncooked pizza dough will keep for 4 days in the refrigerator. Simply remove the dough from the plastic bag it came in and place it in a lightly oiled airtight container (larger than the dough ball).
Freezer: The pizza dough ball can be frozen for up to 3 months and thawed overnight in the refrigerator. Cooked pizza can be frozen for up to 2 months when properly stored in plastic wrap and then placed in a zippered freezer bag.
Reheating: Heat already-cooked pizza in an oven at 275°F until warmed through. Don’t microwave the pizza, as it will affect the texture of the dough.
Pizza From Store-Bought Dough FAQs
Many home cooks assume great pizza requires making dough from scratch. While homemade dough can be wonderful, store-bought dough can produce excellent results when handled correctly.
Allowing the dough to come to room temperature and stretching it gently, rather than rolling it, preserves the air bubbles created during fermentation. These air pockets help the dough puff up in the oven, creating a light, airy crust with a thin center.
With the right technique, store-bought pizza dough can bake into a pizza that rivals what many pizzerias serve, all from the convenience of your own kitchen.
Pizza dough shrinks when the gluten is tight. Letting the dough rest at room temperature before stretching allows the gluten to relax, making the dough easier to shape.
A rolling pin pushes out the air bubbles created during fermentation. These bubbles help create the light, airy crust that makes pizza so good.
Too much sauce or too many toppings can weigh down the dough and prevent the center from baking properly. Using a light layer of sauce and par-baking the crust helps prevent this.
Yes. While traditional pizza ovens cook at extremely high temperatures, most home ovens reaching 450–500°F can still produce excellent pizza. Preheating a pizza stone helps mimic the intense heat of a pizza oven so the crust cooks quickly and becomes crisp. If your oven only reaches 450°F or doesn’t have convection, lightly brushing olive oil around the outer rim of the dough helps the crust brown during baking.
Delicious Starts Here
If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear how it turned out. Please leave a rating and a comment below; your feedback helps other home cooks decide if this recipe is right for them. And if you share it on Instagram, tag me @aspicedlifeblog so I can see your beautiful creations.🧡
How to Make Incredible Pizza with Store-Bought Pizza Dough (Like the Pros)
Ingredients
- 16 ounce bag, store-bought pizza dough
- All-purpose flour for dusting
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil see note below about usage
Instructions
This recipe is for making the pizza base only. Add any toppings you like.
- Remove the pizza dough from the refrigerator 2 hours before baking.
- About 1 hour before you plan on baking your pizza, place the pizza stone in the cold oven. Set the oven to its highest setting. If you have a convection bake setting, use it.
Form the crust
- Lightly dust your work surface with flour and place the dough ball onto the surface.
- Using your fingertips, press around the dough 1 inch from the outer edge to create a shallow indentation or well.
Stretch the Dough
- Stretch the dough along the indentation, pulling lightly with one hand while rotating the dough with the other. Pull from 1 inch inside the edge rather than from the outer rim so the crust stays thick and airy.
Size & Shape the Dough (Two Methods to Choose From)
- Shape the dough with either method below until it is about 12–13 inches in diameter, making sure to keep the outer edge thicker.
- Method A: Drape the dough over your knuckles. Rotate steadily so the dough stretches evenly without becoming too thin in spots.
- Method B: Stretch the dough by gently passing the center of the dough back and forth between your palms, allowing the dough to widen gradually.
Add Sauce and Transfer to Pizza Peel
- Spread 3–4 tablespoons of your favorite tomato sauce in a thin layer, leaving about 1 ½ inches around the edge.
- If your oven doesn’t have convection or only reaches 450°F, lightly brush olive oil around the outer rim of the dough to help the crust brown during baking. Transfer the pizza to a floured pizza peel.
- If the dough begins to stick, sprinkle flour onto a pizza spatula or bench scraper and gently slide it under the edges of the dough to release it from the surface.
Par-Bake the Pizza Crust
- Slide the sauced pizza onto the hot pizza stone and bake it without additional toppings for about 5 minutes or until the bottom of the crust is golden.
Add Toppings & Finish Baking
- The Pizza is done when the crust is slightly charred, and the cheese has melted.
- Let the pizza rest for 3-5 minutes before slicing. This allows it to set and prevents toppings from sliding.
Notes
Nutrition
Once you’ve mastered stretching pizza dough, you can use it for all kinds of homemade pizzas. Let me know what toppings you added by leaving a comment and rating below. Your feedback helps other home cooks feel confident trying it too.
And if you share your pizza on Instagram, tag me @aspicedlifeblog so I can see your delicious creations. 🍕
Looking for more snack food ideas? Try my Loaded French Fries or Mini Mac and Cheese Bites; both are great to serve alongside homemade pizza when hosting a party.
