How to make the pizza base light and crunchy?
The secret to keeping pizza base light and airy is to apply minimum pressure when forming the base. After the dough has fermented (2 hours), punch down the dough, cover and let sit for another 30 minutes. Gently deflate the dough and divide into the desired number of pizzas. Without applying excess pressure smooth the dough pieces into round balls. Cover with plastic or moist towel and let rest for 10 minutes. Lightly dust flour on the work surface and place a dough ball. Apply even pressure with your fingers at the center of the ball and work outwards to spread the ball to a disc shape. Once the disc becomes 2-3 times the diameter of the ball, hold the edge of the disc on the knuckles of both your hands. Gently stretch and shift about 45° angle to spread the dough into the desired base size. Spreading the dough by hand, allows the air pockets to remain inside the dough, which make the pizza light and crunchy. It takes a bit of practice to master this technique, so hang in there!
