Dough – Why does the pizza crust turn out too hard

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I made pizza from scratch, including the dough. I followed the recipe correctly and kneaded it for around 30+ minutes until it passed the windowpane test. It was stretchy and not too dry or wet. I let it sit and then proof in the fridge before stretching it out and baking it on a pizza steel (That was heated for 1 hour at 525F). The crust turned out WAY too hard, so much so that if I tried to fold the tip of the slice it would crack like a cracker. I like pizza crispy but I still want to be able to fold it! The dough seemed fine and nice and stretchy and easily workable before I put it in the oven… it was light and airy and the outer crust formed those nice big bubbles (that were way too hard, though)… what went wrong? Is it possible that I over kneaded? How do I keep a crispy outer crust but still nice and foldable so I don’t break my teeth when I eat it? Also, after kneading the dough can I let it rise in the fridge overnight?

Best Answer

Possible problems:

  1. You have too little water in the dough (you said that it felt OK, though)
  2. You baked it for too long at too low a temperature (likely).
  3. You let it proof for too long or too high a temperature (sounds like this may not be the case if you followed the directions and had it in the fridge).
  4. You kneaded it too much (likely).

I'd suggest making sure the hydration is correct according to your recipe, kneading 10-12 minutes, then cooking it on a pizza stone or baking steel in a really hot oven so it cooks as quickly as possible. Let us know if this solved your problem.

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