Forming pizza dough balls takes a little bit of practice, but once you know how to shape dough rounds, you’ll know the secret to making perfectly round pizzas. Plus, you can apply this technique in other recipes to create perfectly round loaves of bread or shape round sourdough boules.
Step-by-Step Instructions for Shaping Dough Rounds
Shaping pizza dough is a fairly simple process. After the initial 1 hour pizza dough rise, either prepare a piece of parchment paper or lightly flour your countertop, and remove the dough from the bowl using a dough scraper.
Using a dough cutter, divide the dough in half.
Use your hands to pull and round the edges.
Pinch the bottom to hold it together.
Cover with a damp towel and proof for another 30 minutes. ¡Voila! You now know how to shape dough rounds.
In our Italian pizza dough recipe, each dough round makes a 12-inch pizza. If you don’t want to bake one or both of the dough balls this week, make frozen pizza dough balls by wrapping in plastic wrap, placing in a freezer-safe bag and freezing for up to 3 months.
After the dough balls have risen, check out this next video on stretching pizza dough!
Put this new skill to the test in our Italian pizza dough recipe, then turn it into a delicious pizza using our base recipe! Once you know how to make pizza dough at home, you may find yourself eating pizza a lot more often. Pair your homemade pizza with a vegetable side to make a balanced meal.
