How To Make Ultra-Thin Crispy Pizza In A Home Oven

Q: How do you make thin crust pizza at home?

To make thin crust pizza at home, use a 150-gram dough ball and roll it out with a rolling pin to about 1/8 inch thick—much thinner than traditional pizza. Preheat your Baking Steel at 500°F for 45-60 minutes. Use the broiler hack: switch to broil for 2-3 minutes while you're topping your pizza to superheat the Steel, then switch back to bake or convection bake at 500°F right before launching. Top lightly with sauce and cheese, launch onto the hot Steel, and bake for 3-4 minutes total. The result is a cracker-crisp, charred-edge pizza that shatters when you bite it.

Q: What temperature should I bake thin crust pizza?

Bake thin crust pizza at 500°F (or 260°C) using convection bake if available. The key is to preheat your Baking Steel for 45-60 minutes, then use the broiler for 2-3 minutes before launching to get the Steel surface temperature even hotter—closer to 550-600°F. This extreme heat is what creates the cracker-crisp bottom and charred edges in just 3-4 minutes of baking time.

Q: How thin should thin crust pizza dough be?

Thin crust pizza dough should be rolled to about 1/8 inch thick (approximately 3mm). Use a rolling pin and don't be gentle—you want to flatten the dough completely, removing all air pockets. A 150-gram dough ball should stretch to about 12 inches in diameter. The dough should be thin enough that you can almost see through it in spots. This ultra-thin profile is what creates the signature cracker-crisp texture and allows the crust to cook in just 3-4 minutes.

Q: Why use a Baking Steel for thin crust pizza?

A Baking Steel is essential for thin crust pizza because it provides extreme, consistent heat that a pizza stone cannot match. Steel conducts heat 18 times better than ceramic, allowing it to absorb and hold the intense heat from the broiler. This creates a surface temperature of 550-600°F that crisps the ultra-thin bottom in 3-4 minutes while the top chars perfectly. Without this level of heat, thin crust pizza ends up soggy or undercooked. The Steel's thermal mass is what makes cracker-crisp, restaurant-quality thin crust possible in a home oven.

Q: What is the broiler hack for thin crust pizza?

The broiler hack is a technique to superheat your Baking Steel beyond the oven's maximum temperature. After preheating the Steel at 500°F for 45-60 minutes, switch the oven to broil while you roll out and top your pizza. Let the broiler run for 2-3 minutes—this adds direct radiant heat that pushes the Steel's surface temperature from 500°F to 550-600°F. Right before launching your pizza, switch back to bake or convection bake at 500°F. This extra heat is what creates the cracker-crisp bottom and charred edges in just 3-4 minutes without burning the top.

Q: How long does thin crust pizza take to cook?

Thin crust pizza takes 3-4 minutes to cook on a properly preheated Baking Steel at 500°F (using the broiler hack to superheat the surface). Bake for 2 minutes, then rotate the pizza 180 degrees for even cooking, and bake for another 1-2 minutes until the edges are charred and the bottom is golden and crispy. The exact time depends on your oven and how thin you rolled the dough, but thin crust should never take more than 5 minutes—if it does, your Steel isn't hot enough.

Q: Can you make thin crust pizza without a rolling pin?

While you can stretch thin crust pizza dough by hand, a rolling pin is highly recommended for achieving the ultra-thin, even 1/8-inch thickness that creates the signature cracker-crisp texture. Hand-stretching tends to leave the dough thicker in the center and creates air pockets that puff up during baking. For true thin crust pizza—the kind that shatters when you bite it—use a rolling pin to flatten the dough completely and evenly. Dust your work surface and rolling pin with flour to prevent sticking.

Q: How much dough do you need for thin crust pizza?

You need about 150 grams of dough for a 12-inch thin crust pizza. This is significantly less than traditional pizza styles—about 40% less dough than a standard Neapolitan pizza. The smaller dough ball allows you to roll it paper-thin (1/8 inch) without tearing. If you're using a standard pizza dough recipe that yields 250-280 gram balls, simply divide the dough into smaller portions. The reduced dough amount is key to achieving the cracker-crisp texture that defines thin crust pizza.

Q: What toppings work best on thin crust pizza?

Thin crust pizza works best with light, minimal toppings because the delicate crust can't support heavy loads. Use 3 ounces of tomato sauce, 4-5 slices of deli-style provolone or 3-4 ounces of fresh mozzarella, and a few leaves of fresh basil. Avoid wet or heavy toppings that can make the crust soggy. The focus should be on the texture of the crust itself—charred edges, crispy bottom—not piled-high toppings. Less is more with thin crust pizza. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil after baking.

Q: Why is my thin crust pizza soggy?

Thin crust pizza turns out soggy when the Baking Steel isn't hot enough or when you use too many wet toppings. Make sure you preheat the Steel for a full 45-60 minutes at 500°F, then use the broiler hack to superheat the surface. The Steel should be so hot that the dough sizzles when it hits the surface. Also check that you're using only 3 ounces of sauce and light cheese—excess moisture prevents crisping. If your oven doesn't get hot enough, thin crust pizza won't work without a properly preheated Baking Steel.

Oct 28, 2023

The best thin crust pizza doesn't bend. It shatters. Edges charred black, bottom golden and crisp, toppings barely holding on. That's what we're making tonight.

Most pizza recipes push you toward thick, puffy crusts. Neapolitan. New York. Detroit. All beautiful in their own way. But sometimes you want the opposite: paper-thin, cracker-crisp, almost burnt on the edges. The kind of crust that snaps when you bite it.

This is that pizza.

I spent years perfecting Neapolitan-style pizza. Puffy cornicione, soft center, leopard spotting. It's what I thought "good pizza" was supposed to be. But a few months ago, I grabbed a 150-gram dough ball, rolled it paper-thin just to see what would happen, and launched it onto my screaming-hot Baking Steel.

What came out wasn't Neapolitan. It was better. It was exactly what I wanted: texture over fluff, char over chew, crunch over comfort.

This isn't the pizza you make when you want something soft and pillowy. This is the pizza you make when you want to taste the heat. When you want every bite to be a little different, crispy here, charred there, just barely holding together.

Thin crust done right isn't about less dough. It's about more heat, less mercy, and a willingness to let the edges burn.

Let me show you how to make it.

Ultra-Thin Crispy Cheese Pizza

Ingredients

1 dough ball of Thin Crust Pizza Dough (150g-ish ball)

3 oz tomato sauce

4-5 slices Deli style Provolone

3-4 leaves basil

Olive oil

Procedure

1. Preheat your Baking Steel Product at 500 F for 45 - 60 minutes.

2. Grab a rolling pin and roll out the dough into a 12 inch cylinder or until the dough is 1/8 of an inch thick. Switch the oven to broil and let that broiler stay on for 5 minutes before you launch...Before you launch, turn off the broil and set your oven to convection bake.

3. Place dough onto lightly floured pizza peel and distribute tomato sauce. Top with sliced provolone. Splatter a little more sauce on top of cheese too.

4. Launch the thin crust onto the Baking Steel and cook for 2 minutes. Open up oven and give the pizza a 180 degree spin. This will help the pizza cook evenly. Bake for 2 more minutes or until desired brownness.

5. Remove from oven, top with basil and add a little olive oil on top.

About the Author

Andris Lagsdin is the founder of Baking Steel. A former restaurant cook turned steel nerd, he invented the Baking Steel in 2011 after realizing home ovens needed better heat conductivity to make restaurant-quality pizza and bread. What started as a backyard experiment with a welder became a company that's helped thousands of home bakers stop compromising on crust.

Andris teaches simple, repeatable techniques focused on heat, timing, and confidence in the home kitchen. He believes the best tools get out of your way and let you cook. When he's not testing new recipes or talking about thermal mass, he's making pizza with his family in Michigan.

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