How to Make Thin Crust Pizzas in as Little as 15 Minutes

We love thin crust pizzas. The toppings spread on a thin, almost cracker-like crust, are delightful.

And you’ll love the convenience. Preheat the oven. Prep the toppings–cut the veggies and cook the meats. Then you really can have the pizza ready to serve in 15 minutes. We’ve proven that in our pizza classes.

That includes mixing the dough from a mix, forming the crust, assembling the pizza, and baking it.

You can convert any pizza recipe to a thin crust pizza by making a thin crust instead of a thicker one. But, with a thinner crust, you may wish to reduce the amount of the toppings. Balance is important. A thin crust pizza is more like eating a spread on a cracker. Often, a regular pizza recipe converts well to two thin crust pizzas.

Most of the pizzas we make are thin-crust pizzas.

Use this pizza roller to make fabulous pizzas in about 15 minutes
The large roller smoothly rolls out dough, creating a uniform crust. Easy to use on your pastry mat/cutting board or directly in the pan!
The small roller makes it easy to fill in dough to the edges, smooths edges and sides, and ensures uniform depth around the inner rim of the pan.

Step 1: Making the Crust

We recommend our crusts.

Why?

The enemy of thin-crust pizzas is gluten. Gluten is formed from two proteins found in wheat flour. When hydrated and mechanically worked, they twist together like tiny ropes. Those ropes give bread dough its elasticity.

But in pizza dough that elasticity creates “spring back”. You roll the dough into a 15-inch circle and it wants to withdraw to a 12-inch circle. It makes the dough tough to roll. You need a soft dough that will hold its shape.

“Dough relaxer” is what you need. But you don’t need to worry about that, we have plenty of dough relaxer in our mixes. Our proprietary dough relaxer makes the dough soft and easy to roll out to a thin, cracker-like crust.

Without a dough relaxer, you cannot make a thin crust pizza.

Our mixes are sized for a generous thick crust pizza. This means that you can make more than one thin crust pizza. I make two thin-crust pizzas from one mix. My daughter, Debbie, makes three.

All you add is water. Use the dough hook with your stand-type mixer. Once the dough starts to come together, turn the speed to medium-high and mix for about one minute.

About the Pans

Pans are critical.

You cannot make a thin crust pizza with a silver pan. The silver reflects the heat and the crust doesn’t bake to a cracker like consistency.

Always use a dark-colored pan. Our favorite pan is a perforated pan. The holes let the heat in and the steam escape.

But we’ve made plenty of crispy pizzas in pans without holes.

You can also use a pizza crisper. A pizza crisper has a woven wire mesh bottom. It’s like holes on steroids. You get even more heat to the bottom of the pizza.

Step 2: Assembling the Pizza

I prefer rolling my pizzas in the pan. I use a pizza roller. For me, it’s the easy way to roll the dough for a thin crust. You can form the dough right into the corners of a pan. It doesn’t make sense to roll a thin crust and then have a build-up of dough around the perimeter of the pizza.

Debbie heats a pizza stone. She rolls the dough on a dusted counter and loads it with goodies while it’s on the counter. She transfers the loaded pizza to the hot pizza stone with a pizza paddle.

Debbie’s pizzas tend to be more rough-hewn than mine. On the stone, they’re free form. Mine are contained within the pan—two 15-inch round pizzas from one mix.

Step 3: Baking the Pizza

You need to bake ‘em hot to get ‘em crisp. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. How long it will bake will be a function of how high you stack your toppings. If the toppings are sparse, the crust should be crispy, and the cheese melted and bubbly in six to eight minutes.

Exploring the Universe of Thin Crust Pizzas

It’s amazing what you can put on a pizza. You use your favorite garden vegetables. Consider everything from tomatoes to potatoes and broccoli to beans. If you like the veggies, chances are that you’ll like the pizza.

Most pizzas are made with a red sauce–a marinara sauce–but you don’t have to use a red sauce. White pizzas are made with a white sauce–such as an Alfredo sauce, ranch dressing, or onion dip. You need enough that your pizza is not dry but no more if you want a crispy crust.