The art of creating the perfect pizza dough requires both science and art. Dough handling is definitely on the art side.

Pizza dough can pose many baking challenges. You may also have to be careful when transferring a pie into an oven.

Although you want pizza dough to be sticky, it is not common to become too sticky. It can become so sticky that the pizza dough sticks to the peel instead of sliding off easily.

How can you keep your pizza dough from sticking to the pan and tearing? Here are our top tips and tricks for ensuring you have the best dough ingredients.

Why is my pizza dough so sticky?

Mixing flour, water, yeast, and water will result in two flour proteins, glutenin and gliadin, which combine with the water to create gluten. Gluten develops faster if the dough is kneaded more, creating longer and more strong strands. This gluten makes the dough elastic, strong, and smooth.

Problems can also arise if the crust becomes too sticky. It is usually due to one of the following factors:

Absorption of excessive dough

Too much water can make pizza dough sticky. It is easy to overstretch or tear dough that has too much water. This problem can be solved by adding more flour to the dough, one at a time.

Dough that has been under-kneaded

The gluten will not grow and strengthen if the dough isn’t properly kneaded. The result is a pizza dough that has a rough appearance, won’t stretch properly and can cause pizza crust to crack.

Proper handling of yeast

It is important to properly manage active dry yeast and instant yeast when adding them to your recipe. Active dry yeast is best when it has been rehydrated. Instant dry yeast and compressed yeast can be added to the flour. All yeast is sensitive to temperature. Too cold or too hot can cause yeast activity to stop, leading to poor gluten development.

Troubleshoot Your Pizza Crust Recipe

These are some ways to prevent your dough from breaking during crust stretching:

1. Choose a flour with a higher protein content
2. Mix well, but not too much
3. Let the dough rest after it has been mixed to allow the gluten strands to relax.
4. To avoid any tearing, stretch the dough evenly.
5. Stickiness can result from over-cooking a crust with wet toppings. Too much sauce can cause problems. Attention to sauce distribution, especially when you use a dough docker at very high heat.

Pick the right peel for the job.

What is the right peel? It depends on what task you are trying to accomplish. A plank of wood or mixed peel is best for prepping. These materials are less conductive than metal, so temperature variations are less likely to cause water condensation. The dough may become sticky if it absorbs the condensed water from an unbaked crust.

The metal peel is suitable for the oven. However, it would help if you moved quickly. As metal conducts heat well, moving too slowly can cause the crust to stick to the peel and begin to bake.

Are You Misbehaving? It would be best if you rethought your Peel Dust.

Dusting the pizza peel is an essential and time-honoured way to prevent the dough from sticking to your hands.

Many pizza chefs use flour and love the results. The pizza chef must work fast and keep the dough moving to prevent the flour from sticking to the dough and absorbing it. Combining a metal peel with conventional flour and a slow-moving chef can result in a pizza that won’t slide off the peel.

Other options for peel dust can offer some protection from the sticky dough. Cornmeal is a great dusting option. Many pizza chefs prefer the coarse texture of cornmeal to add to the crust’s bottom.

Semolina flour, made from durum wheat, is coarser than regular flour and has a slower water absorption rate. You can also use other types of flour, such as whole wheat, rye, rice, or cornflour (or a mixture of several). To prevent smoking and blackened crusts, make sure you clean out your oven regularly.