Stretching – push the gas towards the rim, never out of it
From dough ball to 30 centimetres without flattening the rim. The hand movements step by step, plus the three mistakes behind a thin rim and a holey middle.
Quick answer: Push the gas from the centre towards the rim with your fingertips – never with a rolling pin, which crushes the bubbles that are meant to become the rim. Then stretch the dough over your knuckles or between your hands until it is about 30 cm in diameter.
The hand movements, step by step
Start by pressing flat from the centre outwards with your fingertips, leaving a clear rim of 1.5–2 cm completely untouched – that rim is what becomes the puffy cornicione. Then lift the dough and let gravity stretch it further, either by drawing it over your knuckles in a circular motion or by rotating it between your palms.
The three most common mistakes
1) Rolling pin: flattens the rim and presses out all the air you have just fermented into it – see balling for why an even ball is the starting point. 2) Overworking the centre: too much handling in the middle makes the base unevenly thin and risks holes (see dough that tears). 3) The dough shrinks back: if it springs back every time you stretch it, the gluten network has not rested enough – see dough shrinks back.
The next step is getting the pizza from the worktop into the oven without it sticking – see launching the pizza. A simple margherita is a good one to practise on the first time, or follow the whole process in your first pizza.
