Pizza dough that pulls away from your hands is one of those dreaded problems everyone has faced at some point. Most commonly, there is one reason for this: the gluten in the dough. This can occur due to improper proofing, excessive mixing, improper fermentation, low liquid content, or a dough that is too cold.
Luckily, there are some easy fixes for this that might help prevent it from happening in the future.
1. It Just Needs Rest
When working with fresh dough, many people forget that mixing can tighten up the dough and cause it to pull back as you work with it.
The reason for this is that mixing causes gluten to develop in the dough, which allows the pizza dough to stretch and makes it elastic, able to snap back when stretched.
A solution to this would be to ensure that your dough ball gets some rest after mixing or kneading so that the gluten is relaxed and does not cause the dough to snap back. If you attempt to stretch the dough and it pulls away, try letting it rest for a while and then try stretching it again; just ensure that it doesn’t become dehydrated. It is one of the easiest fixes for this issue since you usually don’t have to make any changes to your recipe.
2. It’s Too Cold
Cold doughs are some of the worst to work with, as they are hard and do not want to stretch easily. If you have a dough ball that has been sitting in the fridge for several hours, it will be firm and most likely resist your attempts to stretch it out.
In order to fix this, you need to give your dough ball some time to warm up to room temperature before you start working with it. The amount of time it will take for this will depend on your recipe and how long it has been sitting in the fridge. You will need to give it enough time to warm up so that you can work with it, but not so much that its proofing time is compromised. You also want to ensure that you do not leave the ball out for an extended period of time.
When taking the ball out of the fridge, make sure that if it is too cold, you take it out a little earlier so that it warms up for a bit before you work with it.
3. You Mixed It Too Much
Mixing is one of the most important parts of making pizza dough, as it helps develop the structure of the dough, but it can also ruin the dough if you do not mix it correctly.
The most common mistake that people make when mixing pizza dough is mixing it for too long. If you mix the dough for too long, it could be too tight and resist stretching. If you mixed it too little, the dough would have too little gluten in it to stretch at all and might end up ripping instead.
If you are in a professional kitchen, this is another reason why you might want to get a commercial mixer. A commercial mixer will help ensure that your dough balls are mixed thoroughly and consistently, but it is important to make sure that you are not mixing it for too long. As you should do for the dough resting time, avoid setting a mixing timer based on exact measurements. It is better to determine the consistency of the dough and mix until it has reached the desired consistency rather than use a timer. Just like with the mixing time, the resting period also has an impact on the final dough, and there are similar considerations for it; the time should be measured based on the consistency rather than a set time.
4. The Water Is Not Right
Water is one of the most crucial ingredients when it comes to pizza dough, as it makes up the majority of it and what makes it stretchy. If you have not used the right amount of water, your dough can become either too firm to work with or too wet and sticky. If you did not add enough water, your dough will be quite firm to work with, but that could also cause issues if you added too much water.
The amount of water needed will depend on the type of flour you are using as well. Below I have included a simple recipe for pizza dough:
• 1 lb flour
• 2/3 lb water
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp dry yeast
• 2 tsp olive oil
Mix the flour, water, and yeast together, then add the salt and oil to this mixture. Mix it all together until it comes together, forming a dough ball that you let rise. After it has risen, you need to allow it to rest, and then either knead or mix to achieve the right consistency, and let it rise again. After it has risen, let it rest a second time, and then you can make your pizzas.
This recipe is just a starting point, so you might want to experiment a bit to figure out how much water you need in your recipe in order to have a proper consistency. You will also need to consider the room temperature and how it might impact the proofing time.
5. You’re Handling It Wrong
Never roll your pizza dough. If you want to make a pizza with a soft, fluffy crust, you should use your hands to stretch the dough out to size. Rolling the dough will knock out most of the air bubbles formed in the dough during the proofing process and will cause you to have thinner edges on your pizza, as the rolling pin will press the edges down as you roll it. You should use your hands to stretch the dough out to the size you want, and you should also use your hands to push the dough from the centre of the ball outwards and up so that it will form a thicker edge. If you stretch the dough out properly, you should end up with a thicker edge than the centre of the pizza. If you stretch the dough and it snaps back, try letting it rest for a moment so that the gluten is relaxed before stretching it again. If you keep trying to stretch it out, you will end up with a flat centre and thick edge, with an uneven pizza overall.
What if My Dough Is Tearing Instead Of Stretching?
It is important to note that if you have a dough that snaps back and one that tears, these are two different issues that you need to address. A snapping-back dough will almost always be caused by too much tension in the dough or needing to rest. If the dough tears, it is most likely caused by inconsistency in the dough itself. The flour, water, mixing time, and fermentation can all play a role in the dough tearing, which is why it is best to make just one change at a time to see which change had a positive impact on the dough. If you make multiple changes at the same time, you will not be able to tell which change impacted the dough positively.
Where Does A Dough Mixer Come In?
Dough mixers are great for pizza restaurants that need to produce more dough balls, as mixing by hand can be very tedious. A commercial mixer will allow you to make dough balls faster, and it will also allow you to be more consistent with your dough balls. A spiral mixer is the most common type of mixer used for pizza and bread making, as it mixes heavier doughs that are used for yeast products. However, a mixer alone will not be sufficient for fixing badly made dough balls.
The right flour-to-water ratio will still need to be measured, and the mixing time will still need to be consistent in order to produce quality dough balls. The dough will also need to proof and rest, as always. A dough mixer will simply make the mixing process faster and easier.
The Simple Fix
When dealing with a dough that keeps snapping back, these are some of the easiest solutions to try. Letting the dough rest, ensuring that it is not too cold, making sure that your flour and water ratio is correct, letting the dough proof, and handling it correctly are all easy fixes that might help prevent this issue in the future. You do not always need to make changes to your recipe if your dough has too much tension, and you might want to give it some time to relax so that you can work with it.
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