Thin Crust Pizza (Americas Test Kitchen)

Thin crust pizza is a type of pizza that is characterized by its thin, crispy crust. It is typically made with a simple dough that is stretched out to a thin thickness before being topped with sauce and cheese. This recipe for Thin Crust Pizza is the ultimate in simplicity and taste.

Jump to:

• Ingredients For the Dough
• Here's How I Made the Dough
• Ingredients For the Pizza Sauce
• Here's How I Made the Pizza Sauce
• Here's How I Made the Thin Crust Pizza
• Recipe

Ingredients For the Dough

I used the following ingredients for the pizza dough: Bread flour, Kosher salt, sugar, instant yeast, vegetable oil, and filtered water.

Here's How I Made the Dough

1. For the dough, I added the flour, sugar, and yeast to the bowl of my food processor, which was fitted with a metal blade. Then, I processed the ingredients for about 5 seconds.

2. I slowly added the water through the feed tube with the food processor running. I processed the mixture until the dough was just combined and no dry flour remained. This took about 10 seconds.

3. I let the dough stand for about 10 minutes. Then, I added the oil and salt. I processed it for about 45 seconds until it was satiny and cleared the sides of the bowl.

4. Next, I removed the dough from the bowl of the food processor. I kneaded it briefly on a lightly oiled piece of parchment paper until it was smooth. This took about 1 minute. 

5. Then, I shaped the dough into three tight balls. Each piece of dough was about 9 ounces. I lightly oiled each dough ball and placed each piece in a Ziploc sandwich bag. Then, I refrigerated the dough for at least 24 hours and up to 3 days.

Ingredients For the Pizza Sauce

The day that we made the pizzas, I made the sauce.

The ingredients for the sauce included whole canned tomatoes, olive oil, white wine vinegar, fresh garlic, salt, dried oregano, and freshly ground black pepper.

Here's How I Made the Pizza Sauce

1. First, I drained the canned tomatoes in a wire strainer. I took care to remove as many of the seeds as possible.

2. Then, I added the drained tomatoes, olive oil, white wine vinegar, minced garlic, salt, dried oregano, and freshly ground black pepper to the bowl of my food processor fitted with a metal blade. I processed the mixture until it was smooth. This took about 30 seconds. Next, I transferred the sauce to a covered container and refrigerated it until it was ready to use.

Here's How I Made the Thin Crust Pizza

Now for the pizza itself. I used the prepared dough, the prepared sauce, Mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, and fresh basil.

One to two hours before making pizza, I removed the dough from the refrigerator and removed the dough from the Ziploc bags.

Then, I shaped each piece into smooth, tight balls.

Next, I placed the dough on a lightly oiled piece of parchment paper, spacing the dough at least 3 inches apart. I covered the dough loosely with plastic wrap coated with nonstick cooking spray and let them stand until ready to make the pizzas.

One hour before baking the pizza. I adjusted the oven rack to the second-highest position (the rack should be about 4 to 5 inches below the broiler) and set the pizza stone on the rack.  I then heated the oven to 450°F.

This is where Susan stepped in. She coated one ball of dough generously with flour and placed it on a well-floured piece of parchment paper.

Using her fingertips, she gently flattened each piece of dough into an 8-inch disk, leaving 1 inch of outer edge slightly thicker than the center. She let the dough rest for 10 minutes.

Using her hands, she gently stretched each disk into a 10-inch round, working along the edges and giving the disk quarter turns as it stretched. Then she transferred the dough to a piece of reusable parchment and let it rest for another 10 minutes.

Finally, she stretch each disk into a 12-inch round.

Using the back of a ladle, she spread ½ cup tomato sauce in a thin layer over the surface of the dough, leaving a ¼-inch border around the edge.

Then she sprinkled on 1 to 2 Tablespoons of chopped basil.

Next, she sprinkled ¼ cup of grated Parmesan cheese evenly over the sauce, followed by 1 ¼ cups of shredded Mozzarella cheese.

Susan carefully slid the reusable parchment with the pizza onto a pizza peel.

Then she slid the pizza on the reusable parchment from the peel onto the stone and baked it until the crust was well browned, and the cheese was bubbly and beginning to brown. This took about 8 minutes.

After 8 minutes, Susan carefully slid the pizza onto the pizza peel and placed it on a wire rack for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.  She repeated this with the remaining ingredients.

The result was three incredibly tasty thin crust pizzas. Yum!

If you're looking to try a different kind of pizza, check out my CPK Rosemary Chicken and Potato Pizza.

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