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Common Pizza Dough Problems and How to Fix Them

Dad and daughter making pizza dough and tossing it in the air

I love making pizza!  Maybe I’ve mentioned that before.

This year I have made pizzas for some large groups, including a youth fundraiser, a family reunion, lots of at home pizza parties with family and friends, two Halloween parties, and even catered a wedding.

When a friend buys an oven, I do my best to talk them through the process to give them the most important points.

After the conversation, I usually send them my favorite pizza dough recipe and any other articles that I think will help them and point them to our Facebook page, Fun with PIZZA Group for additional ideas.

Even then, it’s hard to know what you don’t know until you give it a try.

So, I continue to get questions about pizza dough issues.

Since I love helping people, I’ve created this guide that friends can read before, after, or during a pizza dough issue arises.

DISCLOSURE: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning when you click the links and make a purchase, we receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

WARNING: This is a comprehensive guide to fix pizza dough issues. You may want to use the Table of Contents to take you directly to the topics that you are most interested in.

Common Dough Issues

Here are the pizza dough issues I hear or read about all the time:

Recently, several friends bought the Ooni Koda 16 pizza oven.

After several attempts cooking on their own, they still had questions and wanted to get better.

So, I invited a few of them over to show me how they make pizza, and I would coach them with ways to improve.

Part of me wishes that I could tell you that everything went perfect, but the other part of me is glad that we had issues so that I could teach them that problems shouldn’t ruin their fun. 

My Two Rules of Pizza Making:

  1. Have fun – no matter what!
  2. You can overcome any situation – so don’t stress

We put these two rules to the test from the very start.

How to Make Pizza Dough

I tell people to start with my favorite easy pizza dough. It may not make Instagram picture perfect pizza crust, but it tastes great and is easy to make successfully.

I asked both couples to bring their dough to our pizza training party so I could see if there were some easy wins to uncover.

That’s when we came into our first pizza dough issue.

I won’t go into details, but stuff happened and neither of the couples brought dough – so we didn’t have pizza dough to make pizzas.

Same Day Pizza Dough

So, it’s time for the party to start, and we don’t have any dough. Do you see the problem?

Remember the rules – have fun – we can overcome any issue.

But how can we make good pizza dough right now that is ready to eat in less than an hour?

Can I Use Store Bought Pizza Dough in a Pizza Oven?

The first thought was to go to the store and buy pizza dough.

I have successfully used several brands of store bought dough.

I’m not talking about Pillsbury dough here. I’m talking about the special pizza dough made by Trader Joe’s, Kroger, Publix, and other grocery stores.

Do you realize some grocery stores use special gas or wood-fired pizza ovens to cook their pizza? So why wouldn’t they have a good dough that you can buy from them?

One of the couples at my pizza party prefers to buy their dough from Trader Joe’s instead of making it.

I respect that! For them, buying pizza dough helps them to focus on the fun of making pizza – without having to stress about making their own dough.

It also happens that Trader Joe’s pizza dough is my favorite store bought dough that I’ve used.

If I had at least 3 hours, I could have just bought my own dough to use. 

I say at least 3 hours because I find it takes 3-4 hours for refrigerated dough to get to room temperature and rise sufficiently. 

Cold dough doesn’t stretch and it burns (and that’s bad). You don’t want to take pizza dough straight from the fridge and put it in a 900 degree pizza oven.

How to Prepare Store Bought Pizza Dough for a Pizza Oven:

  • I take it out of the bag about 4 hours before I want to start cooking
  • Cut it into sections 200 – 250 grams (depending on the size of the original dough ball)
  • Ball it up and roll it in flour
  • Put it in either a sealed Tupperware container or on a cookie sheet and cover it with plastic wrap
  • Cover it with a cloth
  • Let it sit for 3+ hours to get to room temperature and proof

Because we didn’t have three hours, store bought pizza dough wasn’t on the menu.

Homemade Same Day Pizza Dough

If you make dough the day before you cook it and keep it in the fridge overnight, you don’t need much yeast.  For my recipe, it’s 5 grams of instant yeast to make overnight dough for 10 pizzas.

But, in order for it to rise in less than an hour, I needed to use 30 grams of instant yeast and warm, not hot, water.

I followed all other steps as I usually do with my favorite dough recipe.

But, after only an hour, the dough is ready enough to cook a pretty good pizza. 

We had less than an hour, so I had to use another trick to use the dough even faster.

How to Fix Pizza Dough That Won’t Stretch?

There are two main reasons that dough will not stretch – either it is too cold, or it hasn’t proofed (risen) enough.

I’ve found a way to speed up the process for both issues.

How to Get Cold Dough to Stretch

Think about it.  Would the dough warm up faster in ball form, or if flattened out?

That is the secret to helping a pizza dough warm up a little faster – which helps it proof a little faster.

This is not a true substitute for time – but it will help when you’re in a time crunch.

The trick is to start with a partial stretch, let it warm and rise for 5-10 minutes, then stretch some more – repeating as many times as necessary.

See, if a dough isn’t quite ready to stretch, and you try to stretch it too much, too fast, it will tear.

Instead, This is How You Manage a Cold Pizza Dough Ball:

  1. Press the air from the middle to the outside – creating an outer ring
  2. Slowly stretch the dough to a diameter of 6-8 inches only – no more
  3. Lay the dough on the counter for 5-10 minutes
  4. Stretch the dough as far as it will go from there

Repeat steps 3 & 4, as needed

You will know the dough is ready when it stretches easily and doesn’t shrink when you put it back on the counter or on a pizza peel.

How to Fix Pizza Dough with Holes in It?

How do you keep pizza dough from tearing?

My first question is, “when is your pizza dough tearing – when you stretch it or in the pizza oven?”

Assuming that you have good dough, I’ll explain how to avoid pizza dough holes – and how to fix them if they happen.

Why Does My Pizza Dough Tear When Stretching?

Have you ever heard the expression “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”? I wonder if ol’ Benjamin Franklin wasn’t talking about pizza dough!

If you get holes in your pizza dough while stretching, it typically means that the dough is not ready to stretch. For this, you need to read the section above about fixing pizza dough that won’t stretch.

That should keep you from getting very many holes in your dough in the first place.

How to Fix Pizza Dough Holes

If you do get holes in your dough – no big deal.

Simply fold a small section of the dough over itself to cover the hole and press down to seal the dough. That is typically good enough.

TIP: If you like to use olive oil as a base for your sauce, try not to use it on a dough that has had a hole repaired. I save those for thicker sauces. This more of a just in case than a hard rule.

Pizza Fell Apart in Pizza Oven

Have fun, and there’s nothing that you can’t overcome!

The other day, I was teaching my friend how to cook pizzas. We had cooked four flawless pizzas and right before he launched the fifth one I said “we haven’t had a single dough tear in the pizza oven!”

The pizza monster was listening and on the very first turn of the fifth pizza – a hole started and got bigger as we went along.

It made a mess all over the stone and the peel.

I’ve made hundreds, if not thousands, of pizzas in my portable pizza ovens. Why does this still happen occasionally?

Don’t stress! I will talk you through the reasons your dough tears in the pizza oven, and I’ll show you how to fix it!

There are several reasons why dough tears in your pizza oven:

  • Dough stretched too thin in one spot
  • Too rough or not careful with metal peel
  • Dough stuck to peel during pizza launch
  • Dough not cooked enough before first turn

Dough Stretched Too Thin

I try to teach people how to stretch their own dough. The price I pay occasionally is that the pizza falls apart in the oven.

They’re new, so maybe they get a part too thin, or they fix a hole in the dough and they don’t seal it quite well enough.

Solution: It’s all just a part of the experience! I’d rather give people the joy and experience of stretching pizza dough than put the burden on myself to stretch or inspect every dough before they start putting toppings on.

Too Rough with Metal Pizza Peel

This can be a big problem.

People sometimes think they have to get the metal peel under the pizza quickly – as if you have to sneak it under before the pizza realizes what’s going on.

Often in their effort to slide the peel under quickly, the handle gets turned down – which means the front edge of the peel goes up and into the pizza dough – tearing the pizza dough.

Solution: Make sure you’re not jerking the peel under the pizza or pushing the handle down during the motion.

Dough Sticks to Peel When Launching Pizza

We’ll talk more about how to keep dough from sticking to pizza peel later.

The problem here is when the dough seems like its not sticking, but there is just a little part that is sticking to the peel before you launch it into the pizza oven.

Solution: Do a good shimmy shake test to make sure the entire pizza can glide on top of the peel before launching your pizza – this shouldn’t be a problem.

Dough Not Cooked Enough Before First Turn

When you first launch your pizza into the oven, you have a 70 something degree pizza dough hitting a 900 degree pizza stone.

That first 15 – 30 seconds on the stone will sear the bottom of your pizza.

Most tears happen during this first turn because the pizza is removed before the bottom of the pizza crust can be cooked enough – so it is still too soft.

Solution: If you think this might be your problem, try giving your pizza an extra 5 seconds before making the first turn.

How to Fix a Pizza that Falls Apart in the Oven

Usually the tear starts small – maybe you don’t even notice it at first.

But then when you put it back in and take it back out again – the hole is huge and you have cheese and sauce all over your pizza stone and metal peel.

Are you still having fun?

YES, because you know that you can overcome any situation!

This is why I say that a pizza oven brush with scraper is a mandatory accessory when you buy a pizza oven.

(The Ooni Pizza Oven Brush is my favorite for lots of reasons I don’t need to go into here)

If for some reason you don’t have one, hopefully you have a barbecue brush or something with a long handle that can scrape the cheese off your pizza stone.

Either way, If you have a pizza disaster on your hands, here are the steps to fixing it AND saving the pizza!

Remove Pizza from the Oven

Probably a silly thing to say, but use your metal peel to get as much of the pizza out as you can in one piece. The pizza is not a total waste, so treat it like you’re still going to eat it.

Transfer the pizza to a clean wooden or bamboo peel.

Clean Your Pizza Oven

I will give you a quick process below, but you may also want to read our complete guide to cleaning a pizza oven.

The first step to cleaning your pizza oven is to turn the flame on high and let it burn the cheese and sauce into charred ash that can be easily scraped off.

I usually only take a couple of minutes to burn off the junk. Then I first use the scraper to loosen the mess followed by the brush to sweep it off to the side or out of the oven.

Make a Recovery Calzone

I mentioned before that when removing the broken pizza from the oven that you need to treat it like you’re still going to eat it.

That’s because the hole is typically on one half of the pizza so you can just fold the torn half over the good half and put it back into the oven to finish cooking.

That’s why it’s called a “Recovery Calzone”!

The good news is that people will love it just as much as the original pizza!

And, they’ll think you’re a pizza genius!

How to Stop Pizza Dough from Sticking to the Peel

I like to participate in pizza related online forums and Facebook groups, and this issue comes up a lot.

In fact, this was one of my biggest issues with my first pizza – which was a disaster BTW.

Here are the problems and solutions.

Metal vs Wood Pizza Peel

You have to have a metal pizza peel. You can’t really take the pizza out of the oven without one.

But, you should never use a metal peel to put a pizza in a pizza oven.

You may see professional pizza chefs make a pizza on a counter, lift up an edge, slide a metal peel underneath it and then launch the pizza into the oven.

Hate to break it to you, but if you’re reading this article, you may not be a professional pizza chef!

You and I should always use a wood or bamboo peel to launch our pizza into the oven (I prefer bamboo).

This means that you should lightly dust your wood or bamboo pizza peel with cornmeal, semolina, or rice flour (more on this later), place your stretched pizza dough onto the peel, and then put on your sauce and toppings.

Don’t even think of following those steps on a metal peel – it will stick like crazy!

One last work on metal peels. My favorite metal peels are the Ooni Perforated peels because they are perforated and have ridges that keep suction from happening.

If you don’t get an Ooni Metal Peel, get one with the grooves and holes.

What Should I Put On My Pizza Peel

Semolina vs cornmeal? Or should I use rice flour?

I don’t care which one you use as long as you don’t use regular flour on your peel and expect it to not stick. It pretty much doesn’t help at all.

The first question you should be asking yourself is “Why do you need to put anything on your peel to keep it from sticking?”

Good question! The answer is “moisture”.

See, your dough has moisture inside of it. Your peel shouldn’t have any moisture, but if you let the dough sit on the peel for any amount of time, moisture will transfer from your dough to you peel – and the moisture on the peel and in the dough now stick together.

This is why a metal peel is so bad – the moisture creates powerful suction.

All of this is made worse if you leave your pizza on the peel for a long time because sauce can seep through the dough onto your peel.

What does semolina, cornmeal, or rice flour do to help?

First, they create a moisture wicking layer between the dough and the peel.

Second, they act like ball bearings and keep suction from happening – so the pizza can slide off the peel properly.

So, which one is right for you?

They all work well. And you’ll want to brush any one of them off to the side with your pizza oven brush after every couple of pizzas.

Cornmeal

The best argument for cornmeal is that it is available at your corner grocery store and inexpensive.

The bad side of cornmeal is that it burns in your oven and can even create flames that cook your pizza uneven. I put just the right amount on so that the pizza slides off and I don’t feel like this is a problem – but I know it is a common complaint.

Rice Flour

Rice flour can sometimes be found at a grocery store, but typically needs to be purchased online.

I find that rice flour blackens like cornmeal, but it is much more fine and the pizzas slide off really well from it.

Semolina

Semolina actually is a flour, but is is made from durum wheat instead of common wheat. It is the type of wheat they use in pasta.

Semolina is courser than your normal wheat flour, and that seems to help it keep pizza from sticking better than normal flour.

There was a joke on the Ooni Community Facebook Group where someone said that “this community’s solution for every issue is to use semolina on your pizza peel”.

So, the best argument for using semolina on your pizza peel will to keep pizza snobs from blaming all of your issues on what you put on your peel.

As I read up on Semolina, I found that it has more gluten than normal flour and can cause bloating and discomfort in some people.

While that sounds fun, and it doesn’t matter to me which one you use, I typically stick with a fine cornmeal.

How to Get Pizza to Cook in the Middle

A very similar question I get is “how to make pizza dough crispy on the bottom?”

As these two issues are closely related, I will try to help you solve them both here.

This one is probably the toughest to answer because there are so many variables – especially since people use different pizza ovens, fuels (wood, charcoal or gas), and even different pizza dough hydration levels.

My goal is to plant a few ideas in your brain that will help you find the solution that is right for you!

My examples will be with propane pizza ovens, but the same principles can be applied when using other fuels.

I compare the Ooni Koda 16 and my Ooni Karu 16 with the gas burner so that you can understand that even when using he same fuel adjustments need to be made for every oven.

The Two Keys to Cooking Pizza All the Way Through

The first key is to balance the heat from the stone under the pizza with the heat coming from the flames above the pizza.

I also find that turning the pizza more frequently does three things to help cook the middle of the pizza:

  1. Your pizza has more time cooking on the stone – better cooking the bottom of the pizza
  2. Minimizes the risk of the flames burning the outer crust because it is sitting in one place too long
  3. The top middle gets cooked better with more time in the oven because it doesn’t care what side of the pizza the flames come from

How to Get Pizza to Cook in the Middle with the Ooni Koda 16

Here is my process:

  • Preheat the oven for at least 20 minutes on MAX HIGH heat (up to 30 minutes if I’m going to make a lot of pizzas)
  • Right before I put my first pizza in, I turn the temperature down to MAX LOW heat
  • Place the pizza on the hottest part of the oven – right in the elbow of the L-shaped burner
  • Turn the pizza at least 5 times to keep any part of the pizza at the hottest spot too long to burn the crust
    • After cooking all 4 corners, find any points of the pizza that need more cooking and put the pizza back in the oven for 5-8 seconds with that spot pointing towards the hottest part of the oven
  • After every 5 pizzas take a 3-5 minute break from cooking pizzas and turn the oven to MAX HIGH heat to recharge the pizza stone with heat
    • Don’t forget to turn it back down to MAX LOW heat before you cook your next pizza

If you have an Ooni Koda 16, try that and see if you have a better experience.

I use the same basic technique with the Ooni Koda 12.

How to Get Pizza to Cook in the Middle with the Ooni Karu 16 with Propane

You will find that it my process is similar to the Ooni Koda 16, but with some minor differences.

  • Preheat the oven for at least 20 minutes on MAX HIGH heat (up to 30 minutes if I’m going to make a lot of pizzas)
  • Right before I put my first pizza in, I turn the temperature down to MEDIUM heat
  • Place the pizza on the hottest part of the oven – right in front of the burner
  • Turn the pizza at least 5 times to keep any part of the pizza at the hottest spot too long to burn the crust
    • After cooking all 4 corners, find any points of the pizza that need more cooking and put the pizza back in the oven for 5-8 seconds with that spot pointing towards the hottest part of the oven
  • After every 5 pizzas take a 3-5 minute break from cooking pizzas and turn the oven to MAX HIGH heat to recharge the pizza stone with heat
    • Don’t forget to turn it back down to MEDIUM heat before you cook your next pizza

Conclusion

If you read this entire guide, you deserve an award!

But, you also would know just about everything that I know about fixing issues with pizza dough.

You now know everything you need to overcome just about any issue that you will come across.

Knowing how to overcome issues lets you focus on having fun while making pizza.

And that’s all I can hope for you!

I would love it if you would share your experiences and fun on our Fun with PIZZA Group Facebook Page!

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