Thin Crust Pizza (Crispy Crunchy and Light Pizza Crust)

Thin crust pizza recipe with step by step pics. This recipe is one of the best thin crust pizza recipe, which gives a crisp, crunchy and light thin crust pizza base.

I had got a few requests for sharing thin crust pizza recipe and method. In this recipe post I have explained in detail on how to go about getting a thin crust in a pizza.

While making any pizza, be it thin crust or the thick pan pizza, the pizza sauce that is used is very important as it is one of the key ingredients that flavors the entire pizza. Best is to use homemade pizza sauce or you can use your favorite brand. I prefer the real flavors of pizza sauce made with fresh tomatoes, so I make small batch of pizza sauce and refrigerate. It comes in handy when you want to use the tomato sauce for pizzas as well as pastas.

For the veggie toppings you can add your choice of veggies. To make this thin crust pizza dough I have used a mix of whole wheat flour (atta) and all-purpose flour (maida).

For the cheese, you can use pizza cheese or mozzarella cheese. This thin crust pizza recipe will yield 3 pizzas of 10.5 inches. So can easily serve 3 to 4 people.

How to make thin crust pizza

A) making pizza dough

1. In a mixing bowl take ¼ teaspoon sugar and ½ teaspoon instant yeast.

2. Add ½ cup water.

3. Mix well so that the instant yeast granules dissolve.

4. Now add 1.5 cups whole wheat flour (atta), 1.5 cups all purpose flour (maida) and ½ teaspoon salt or add as required.

5. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil.

6. Mix everything.

7. Then add the remaining ½ cup water .

8. Mix and begin to knead.

9. Knead to a smooth dough for 10 to 12 minutes. A slightly sticky dough is also fine. The dough has to be kneaded very well. Do add more water if required while kneading.

10. Flatten the dough.

11. Spread some olive oil all over.

12. Cover the bowl with a cotton towel or lid. Let the dough leaven for 2 hours.

Other preparations for making thin crust pizza

13. When the dough is leavening you can prep the veggies and keep them aside. I have used onions, capsicum (bell pepper) and steamed corn kernels.

14. You can also make the pizza sauce which gets done in 15 to 20 minutes.

15. After 2 hours the dough has doubled and risen.

16. Punch a few holes in the dough and they should bounce back.

17. Here’s a pic to show the leavened fine dough strands. You will see the dough has many tiny bubbles, is stretchy and slightly sticky.

18. Divide the dough into three parts for 10 to 10.5 inches round baking pan. Roll into balls. Keep them covered. If using a smaller pan, then divide the dough into 4 parts.

Assembling and making thin crust pizza

19. Take a round pan or a pizza tray. Grease it with some olive oil.

20. Sprinkle some flour all over. You can also use cornmeal (makai ka atta).

21. Take one dough ball and place it on the greased round tray.

22. with your fingers press and nudge the dough till the dough covers the entire surface of the pan or tray.

23. Keep the thickness uniform all over. The thickness of the pizza dough can be from 0.3 to 0.5 cm thickness. Since the dough stretches easily, it is easy to spread it with your fingers.

24. Spread some olive oil on the dough.

25. Next spread 2 to 3 tablespoons of pizza sauce for a 10.5 inch pizza.

26. Break mozzarella cheese in small bits and place them on the pizza.

27. Now top the pizza with veggies.

Baking thin crust pizza

28. Bake the pizza in a preheated oven at 250 degrees celsius. Preheat oven 15 to 20 minutes prior baking. Keep on the lower rack as this helps the pizza to get a golden, crispy and crusty base. Heat both top and bottom heating elements.

29. Bake thin crust pizza for 10 to 15 minutes or more time till the crust is crisp, golden and the cheese melts. If you want you can even bake more till the cheese turn golden. But for the cheese to get golden, you can keep the pan near the top rack. If you keep the pan near the bottom rack, the base would get too browned by the time the cheese becomes golden.

30. Remove the pizza on a wooden board. Then with a pizza cutter or a knife cut the homemade thin crust pizza.

31. Serve this best thin crust pizza hot. sprinkle some oregano, Italian herbs, fresh or dried basil, red chili flakes while serving.

Faq and tips for making thin crust pizza

1. Which type of yeast is used?

• This veg pizza recipe uses instant yeast. in the Indian markets, dry active yeast is sold as instant yeast by some brands. This causes a lot of confusion.
• Instant yeast granules are tiny and resemble poppy seeds (khus khus). Dry active yeast granules are larger in size and like that of large mustard seeds. So if you buy a pack mentioning instant yeast and the size is bigger, then its actually dry active yeast.

2. If using dry active yeast:

• Mix dry active yeast, sugar in warm water in a small bowl. Keep aside for 10 to 12 minutes. Cover and let this solution bubble and become frothy. Then mix with rest of the ingredients and knead.
• For the dough, the leavening time will be 3 to 4 hours.
• The time taken to leaven will depend on the temperature conditions in your city. So you can keep the dough for some more hours if required.
• Use good quality dry active yeast and do make sure that the water is neither on the cooler side or hot. It should be warm.
• ½ teaspoon instant yeast = 0.8 teaspoons active dry yeast = 1.5 teaspoons fresh yeast

3. Can a thin crust pizza be baked in a microwave convection oven?

• Yes, you can easily bake this pizza in a microwave convection oven using the convection mode.
• But to get the crisp crust use a metal baking pan or a baking tray.
• If you keep the pizza on the glass turn table, the base will be baked but won’t be crisp and golden.
• For baking in a convection microwave oven, preheat as well as bake for 200 or 220 degrees celsius or whichever is the highest temperature in your oven. Preheat oven for 15 minutes.

Few more delicious pizza recipes for you !

• Pizza – Veg pizza from scratch
• Margherita pizza
• Pizza without oven
• Bread pizza

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