You Should Never Use A Rolling Pin For Pizza Dough. Here's Why
If you're in the mood to make pizza today and usually use a rolling pin to roll out your dough, can we suggest that, just once, you might want to try shaking things up and doing it a bit differently? And by differently we mean leave your rolling pin where you found it, and employing your hands to work your pizza dough instead.
Stella Culinary suggests that the best way to prep your dough is to gently flatten your rounded and proofed pizza dough with your hand — the trick is to remember that you just want to flatten it so that it doesn't look like a dome anymore. Using your fingertips, press the gas which has formed in the middle in an outward direction to create the crust. At no point in this process should you use a rolling pin, because it will push out all the gas and leave you with a thick, tough crust. A lighter crust with a bit of gas inside is going to be much tastier, and cook more evenly.
How to manipulate pizza dough without a rolling pin
If you haven't been using the method of shaping pizza dough with your hands for very long, Crust Kingdom recommends that you keep the center of your crust a bit thicker (that's where a heavy pizza could tear), and to keep a half inch gap around the rim of the dough circle for the crust. Once your dough is big enough, drape the dough over your fists to gently stretch the crust apart. Don't forget to turn the dough from time to time so the crust-to-be is even.
If you want to make sure everything is as it should be, just hold the tough up to the light to see if some bits are thinner than others, then stretch those parts less. If the dough tears, then just pinch it shut and make sure you don't revisit that spot so it doesn't get worn through. And if the dough won't stretch and the process is too difficult, leave it to rest for 30 minutes before trying again.
Meanwhile, pizzas don't always come in a circle — they can be rectangular too! So, just get your crust to a shape that you're happy with, and practice to ensure it won't rip when you load it down with tomato sauce, cheese, and whatever topping you might want to add.