New York style
Stretching a Neapolitan ball thinner, and which brands take it.
Kitchen
What to do with the dough once it lands
Written for a ball you bought rather than one you made. All of these are ours, tested on the bench, and free of the life story.
Delivered dough behaves differently from dough you mixed yourself: it arrives frozen or chilled, it has already been fermented on someone else's schedule, and it will punish a rushed defrost. These are written for that ball — how to thaw it, how to open it without tearing, and what to make when you fancy something other than a margherita.
How to use frozen pizza dough balls
Almost every complaint about delivered dough — it tore, it wouldn't stretch, it snapped back — comes down to temperature, not the dough. Get this right and most brands behave.
- Frozen: move to the fridge 24 hours before you want to eat. Not the counter — a warm defrost proves the outside while the middle is still ice, and that is the dough that tears.
- Chilled: it is already thawed. Treat it as the fridge stage below.
- Two hours before: take the ball out, leave it covered on a floured surface or in a lidded tub. It should roughly relax and spread, not double.
- The readiness test: press a floured finger into the edge. If the dent springs straight back, it needs longer. If it fills slowly and stays slightly dented, it is ready. If it stays fully dented and the ball looks slack, you are past it — bake now.
- Opening it: flour the top, press from the centre outwards with your fingertips, leaving the outer inch untouched — that untouched ring becomes your rim. Then lift and let gravity stretch the middle. Never use a rolling pin; it crushes out the gas you paid for.
- If it fights you: stop, cover it, wait ten minutes. The gluten is tight, not broken. It will open easily after a rest.
Refrozen once already? Expect a weaker rim. It will still make a good pizza, but it is not the dough's fault when it doesn't puff.
Garlic dough balls, from one pizza ball
One 220–250g pizza dough ball, defrosted and at room temperature · 50g butter, soft · 2 garlic cloves, crushed to a paste with a pinch of salt · small handful of parsley, chopped fine · olive oil
- Heat the oven as high as it goes with a baking tray inside, at least 240°C.
- Cut the ball into twelve equal pieces. Roll each between a cupped palm and the worktop until it tightens into a smooth sphere — a dry worktop grips better than a floured one.
- Sit them in a lightly oiled ovenproof pan, just touching. Cover and leave 30 minutes until they press against each other.
- Brush with olive oil. Bake 12–14 minutes until the tops are deep gold and the sides have pulled apart into soft seams.
- Mash the butter with the garlic and parsley. Spoon it over while they are still too hot to handle, so it runs into the seams rather than sitting on top.
A dough with sugar in it — check the ingredients column on the comparison page — will colour faster. Start checking at ten minutes.
Margherita in a domestic oven
One dough ball at room temperature · 80g tinned San Marzano-style tomatoes, crushed by hand, salted · 70g fior di latte or low-moisture mozzarella, torn and drained on kitchen paper for 20 minutes · basil · olive oil · semolina for dusting
- Put a steel or heavy tray on the top shelf and heat the oven to maximum for a full 45 minutes. Not 20. The stored heat in the tray is doing the work your 250°C oven cannot.
- Open the dough on a semolina-dusted board or upturned tray. Check it slides before you top it — this is the step everyone skips and everyone regrets.
- Sauce thinly to the rim you left. Cheese on, but less than instinct says: wet mozzarella steams the base into a pale disc.
- Slide it on and bake 6–8 minutes. Switch to the top grill for the last 60–90 seconds to get colour on the rim.
- Basil and a thread of olive oil after it comes out, never before.
A domestic oven will not leopard a crust. If your rim is pale but the base is cooked, the dough is fine — your oven is just 200°C short of Naples.
Questions we get about using delivered dough
How do you defrost frozen pizza dough?
In the fridge, for 24 hours, then two hours at room temperature before you bake. Not on the counter from frozen — a warm defrost proves the outside while the centre is still ice, and that uneven ball is the one that tears when you stretch it.
If you are short of time, four to five hours at room temperature in a covered tub will do, but expect a slightly weaker rim.
Why does my pizza dough keep tearing?
Nearly always temperature, not the dough. Cold dough is tight dough: the gluten has not relaxed and it will thin unevenly and split. Let the ball come fully to room temperature, and if it fights you halfway through opening, stop, cover it and wait ten minutes rather than forcing it.
The other common cause is a rolling pin, which crushes out the gas the ferment created. Press from the centre with your fingertips and leave the outer inch alone.
Can you refreeze pizza dough once it has thawed?
You can, and it will still make a decent pizza, but you will lose rise. Each freeze damages some of the yeast and gluten structure, so a twice-frozen ball tends to give a flatter rim and a tighter crumb. Some sellers state their dough is re-freezable; most say use within 48 hours of thawing.
What temperature should I bake pizza at in a home oven?
As hot as it will go, with a steel or heavy tray preheated on the top shelf for a full 45 minutes. A domestic oven reaching 240 to 250°C will cook a good pizza in six to eight minutes, but it will not char the rim the way a 450°C pizza oven does. A pale rim over a cooked base is your oven, not your dough.
Also being written
Calzone
Filling ratios that don't burst the seam.
Focaccia from pizza dough
The dimple, the brine, the second prove.
Pan pizza, no oven
Skillet on the hob, finished under the grill.
Leftover balls
Flatbreads, breadsticks, and what freezes again.
Toppings by temperature
What works at 450°C and what burns.