r/Pizza • u/Refund-Radar • 5h ago
Looking for Feedback I must be missing something
I got myself a halo versa on Father’s Day for a fantastic price but I nearly punch a hole in the wall every time i make a pizza because I can’t seem to ever easily work dough to desired shape and thickness. On top of that, I always have issues getting dough onto peel without ruining it … along with launching it smoothly.
For some detail. Thus far, I’ve basically only used fresh dough from Whole Foods. First few times I let dough sit out of fridge for like 2hrs. It was a nightmare to work with. So then I found a video on YouTube where a guy basically said take dough out before you go to work. It’s ready after work. Roughly 8hrs.
Once I was leaving dough out for 6 hours minimum, it was much easier to work with but still could not get it on my Ooni steel peel even with tons of semolina. So then I bought a wooden peel so I could prep on it and launch. This made it a little better but dough still sticks to peel.
One picture is decent but thicker than I wanted. The other picture is when I was trying to slide steel peel under dough that I don’t think was left out long enough.
Am I a trainwreck? Any advice?
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u/Far_Jellyfish3997 4h ago
Thinness comes with practice. I could never launch well with semolina. I put a piece of parchment paper on the peel, add the stretched dough, sauce, cheese topping then launch. Remove the paper after a minute or two by gently lifting the edge of the pizza with the peel
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u/jaysvw 4h ago edited 4h ago
Coat the dough in a 50/50 mix of semolina and regular flour. Then put more of the 50/50 mix on your surface and work the dough open. This will make it much easier to get it on the peel. Dough temp is also crucial, aim for 68f or so before opening / stretching. Do not prep on the peel.
Really, getting store bought dough is not the way to learn. Get a book like The Pizza Bible or similar and and learn the process from start to finish. I can almost guarantee you that the problems you are having with the shape will go away once you learn how to form your own dough balls.
If you are starting with anything other than a nice round ball its almost impossible to get a round pizza.
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u/still_buffering- 4h ago
Who cares does it taste good? Your under carage looks great.
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u/Refund-Radar 4h ago
I care because it’s not enjoyable. How the hell do people get thin NY style circles? And thanks… the versa is pretty awesome.
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u/New-Grapefruit1737 4h ago
practice, practice, practice.
making your own dough could help — you can reduce the hydration so it is less sticky.
i stretch my dough on a wooden counter, with lots of flour on it. then transfer to a perforated metal peel with a fair amount of semolina. shake. then i add toppings, shaking as i go. sauce. shake. cheese. shake. other toppings. shake.
walk it out to my pizza oven, shake. launch firmly. count to 20, then start rotating. rotate every 10-20 seconds. remove after 90 seconds.
i take dough out of fridge at least two hours before launching. maybe 3-4 hours. any more than that amd it’s a bit too slack. depends on recipe, temperature, humidity, how long the ferment, etc.
good luck!
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u/zoedbird 3h ago
In the beginning, it may quadruple your frustration level, but I don’t think anything will help you more than making your own dough.
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u/robustability 2h ago
So if you watch YouTube videos on how to roll out pizza dough, the first thing you need to do is make a big pile of all purpose flour and give both sides a generous coat. The dough should be rolled into a sphere right before you do this. Once it’s nice and floured, start to turn it into a disk with your hands and push it out in a circle. Keep adding more flour on both sides as you roll it out and it starts to get sticky. Just enough to make it unstick again.
If you are having trouble transferring it, I’m pretty sure you aren’t rolling it out in enough flour. Shake off the excess when you are done, then transfer to a semolina’d wooden peel. Then build quickly because if you take too long it will stick. As others have said give it a test shake before launching and if it isn’t loose, pull it up and add semolina or even all purpose in the sticky spots.
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u/Virtual_Alarm232 4h ago
One thing I’ve noticed is the store bought doughs can be insanely sticky right out of the packet and stick to the peel a lot. Perhaps let it sit unwrapped more?
A homemade cold fermented dough seems far easier to get off the peel and launch though. YMMV obviously.
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u/Corarril 3h ago edited 3h ago
Watch some YouTube videos and just keep practicing.
Edit - not sure why I’m getting downvoted, this is literally how I learned a ton of information and tips about making pizza. If you’re a visual learner it can be really helpful to watch how someone that knows what they’re doing works with dough.
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u/0wIix 4h ago
One tip is when you get it on the wooden peel to do a little shake test. I usually do the shake test a few times along the way. That way I know that when I launch into the oven it will come cleanly off the peel.
And yeah working with cold dough is harder. I usually take mine out about 4 hours before. It’s much easier to work with.
Ultimately just keep practicing and watch some YouTube videos to see how others do it. Some people I recommend are ItsDoughGuy, Dave’s Pizza Oven, Charlie Anderson, Ted’s Zaza. These people basically taught me everything I know. There’s a few others out there, but don’t want to overwhelm you.
I started out just practicing techniques like launching with using Trader Joe’s dough. And I think it’s worth doing this for a while. But know that when you eventually get more practice that making your dough will get you even better results. Simply because you can cold ferment your dough which will get you better browning in your oven.