We prefer the thin, cracker-like crusts. It’s almost like eating toppings on a cracker.

They are much quicker to make. Because the crust is so thin, you don’t have to wait for the crust to rise. By the time you have your pizza assembled, it’s ready to go into the oven. If you have your toppings ready to go, you can make a pizza in as little as 15 minutes. We’ve done so in our pizza classes.

It’s a different experience. We don’t pile toppings high on a thin crust pizza. It’s sparse, maybe half as many toppings. That’s a better balance for the thinner crust and it keeps the pizza crisper.

Most pizza recipes can be converted to thin-crust pizzas. If you are building your pizzas from a mix intended for a thick crust pizza, make two pizzas from the mix instead of one. (My daughter, Debbie, make three pizzas from one mix.) And the toppings? Divide those between two pizzas.

What you do have to have is a soft, pliable dough else the dough won’t roll out as thin as it should be. Commercial bakers use a dough relaxer. Our pizza dough mixes have a dough relaxer as does our pizza flour blend.

If you have a favorite recipe, add a dough relaxer. You can buy a dough relaxer here. It’s almost impossible to roll a thin crust without a dough relaxer.

It’s much easier to roll your thin crust with a pizza roller. You can roll the dough right in your pan. With this handy roller, you can roll right into corner, so you don’t have a thick crust on the edge and thin elsewhere.

If your dough doesn’t roll as thin as you would like it, let it relax for a few minutes and then roll it again.

What You’ll Need to Make Your Thin Crust Pizzas

Pizza Flour Blend

Dough Relaxer

Pizza Stone

Pizza Peel

Pizza Crisper

Baker’s notes about making thin crust pizzas

  1. Mix the dough with a stand-type mixer with a dough hook. Our pizza dough mixes are just-add-water mixes. Once the dough ball forms, mix on medium-high for about a minute or until the dough becomes elastic.
  2. Roll out a thin crust. If you prefer to use a pizza stone, roll the crust on a floured counter and load the crust with goodies. Transfer the pizza to the hot pizza stone in the oven with a pizza peel.
  3. Be sparse with the sauce and goodies. The goodies will insulate the crust and take longer to bake.
  4. Bake until the crust is crisp, and the cheese is bubbling. In a hot oven and without too many toppings, your pizza should be baked in about eight minutes.

What to load them with

It’s amazing what you can put on a pizza. Most pizzas are made with a red sauce, a marinara sauce, but it doesn’t have to be a red sauce. White pizzas are made with a white sauce. Try Alfredo, ranch dressing, the onion dip you buy at the grocery store, or a nice coating of olive oil. You need enough that your pizza is not dry but no more, especially if you want a crispy crust.

Tomato and Basil Thin Crust Pizza

Most of the time, we load our toppings on the crust and then bake the pizza. With fresh tomatoes, we place the tomatoes on the pizza for only the last few minutes. We prefer fresh tomatoes to cooked ones.

Instead of a tomato base of marina sauce, we use a French onion dip and like it very much. This is a great pizza.

Ingredients

  • 1 thin pizza crust, about 14 inches
  • 5 tablespoons French onion dip
  • 1 teaspoon Zesty Italian spice blend or other
  • 5 medium-sized red and yellow tomatoes
  • 2 tablespoons fresh basil leaves snipped into pieces
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
  • 1/8 teaspoon coarse ground pepper
  • 2 teaspoons virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

  1. Spread the onion dip on the baked crust. Sprinkle the spice blend evenly over the onion dip.
  2. Cut the tomatoes into quarter-inch thick slices. Lay them on paper towels as you cut them to soak up part of the juice.
  3. Layer the tomatoes on the crust. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
  4. Sprinkle the freshly cut basil over the tomatoes and drizzle with olive oil. Spread the parmesan cheese over the tomato slices.
  5. Place the pizza in the oven. Bake until the cheese is melted and bubbly and the crust is baked, about eight to ten minutes. Serve hot.

Summer Squash Thin Crust Pizza

Garden Veggie Pizza

This is another great thin crust pizza that you can make in a hurry.

The squash cooks more quickly than the peppers and onions, so we partially cook the onions and peppers in the microwave until they are crisp-tender. Then we load all the veggies on the crust at once.

This is a surprising pizza and an excellent way to use the zucchini that grows so abundantly in your garden. Because it’s a mild-tasting pizza, even your kids will eat it.

Ingredients

  • 1 thin pizza crust
  • 1 medium zucchini, sliced
  • 1 medium crookneck squash, sliced
  • 1/2 medium red pepper, chopped
  • 1/2 medium sweet onion, chopped
  • 1/2 cup marinara or red pizza sauce
  • 2 teaspoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon Zesty Italian seasoning
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup mozzarella cheese
  • 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

  1. Form a very thin pizza crust, one that will cook quickly in the oven.
  2. Spread the crust with the marinara sauce on the unbaked crust. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning. Toss the vegetables in olive oil.
  3. Layer the vegetables over the marina, distributing them evenly. Sprinkle salt over the vegetables. Spread the cheese over the vegetables.
  4. Place the pizza in the oven and bake for eight minutes or just until the crust is crispy, and the cheese is melted and bubbly.

What to Do with Leftover Pizza Dough

If you have extra pizza dough but would like to save it for later, you can put it in the refrigerator for up to three days. Be sure to put it in a glass or metal mixing bowl and cover it with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out.

The dough will be dense when it’s first taken out of the fridge, so you’ll want to let it rise and thaw for an hour. You can then treat it like normal pizza dough, add toppings, and bake it normally.

More pizza that you can make into thin-crust pizzas

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