Super Crispy Thin Crust Pizza Dough
Learn how easy it is to make a thin crust pizza dough that is almost cracker-like. Found all over Chicago in taverns and bars, this is a super crispy crust that you can make right in your own kitchen. Makes enough for 2 pizzas and freezes for a quick weeknight meal!
Servings 2 14" pizzas
Equipment
Ingredients
Thin crust pizza dough recipe -enough for 2 pizzas
- 473 g "00" flour can use bread flour as well; see note
- 3 g instant yeast or 1/2 teaspoon; I use Saf-T
- 236 g water
- 12 g salt
- 47 g olive oil
- semolina flour for rolling and baking
Instructions
For the dough
- Place a mixing bowl on a baking scale. Turn the scale on and make sure the scale is on "grams". Add the flour. Reset the scale to "zero" before adding the yeast, the water and then the salt. Reset the scale to "0" before adding each ingredient.Stir the dough or mix in a stand mixer. The dough will be shaggy. Reset the scale to "0" and add in the oil. Stir until the dough is completely mixed and the ball of dough softens with the oil.473 g "00" flour, 3 g instant yeast, 236 g water, 12 g salt, 47 g olive oil
- Let the dough rest and hydrate in the bowl for 10 minutes. Remove the paddle attachment and replace with the dough hook. Knead in mixer for 5 minutes or so then let it rest again for another 10 minutes.*If mixing by hand: knead on a floured board for 5 minutes by pushing the dough away with the heel of one hand, flipping it over on itself and making a quarter turn. Repeat this motion until the dough is smooth and soft.
- Use a pastry cutter to divide the dough into 2 balls. Place each in an oiled small container or resealable bag in the fridge overnight to ferment.
- The next day, remove the container of dough to sit out at room temperature and allow to sit out for about 6-8 hours. Time this so that it works around your planned dining time.
To roll thin crust dough
- Remove one ball of dough from the container and shape the dough into as perfect of a round ball as you can.
- Add some semolina flour to a clean pizza peel or cutting board. Start to roll upwards with a rolling pin and then rotate a bit, roll upwards and rotate. Repeat until the dough reaches about 9" in diameter. Then, start rolling at 1:00, 6:00 and 10:00 o'clock (picture the pizza crust as a clock) until you get to 14”. Be patient —this might take a bit.semolina flour
- Preheat the oven to 500°. After the oven has reached temperature, place a baking stone or steel in the oven for at least 20 minutes to heat.
Topping
- Top with your favorite sauce and toppings. Spread within ½" from the edge of the crust.
Baking directions
- Bake for about 8-10 minutes at 500° until crispy and the top is golden and melted.
Notes
Rolling tips
- To shape the dough into a round ball, hold the dough in both hands and tuck the sides underneath, creating a domed round ball.
- Keep making sure there's a healthy amount of semolina flour under the crust as you roll. This will keep the crust really crispy and also not stick to the pizza peel.
- If "00" flour isn't available to you, you can substitute bread flour or AP flour as well. With bread flour, there is more gluten so the crust will be chewier which you might prefer. Conversely, the pizza might brown a bit more with AP flour.
- Note: there was an error in the original recipe that stated .3 grams of yeast. The correct amount is 3 grams and the recipe card corrected as of November 26, 2025.
