We let our pizza dough (from TJ's) sit out to get to room temperature. I let it sit in a bowl with flour uncovered for 30 mins - 1 hr. Then I put plenty of flour down on the couner and use a rolling pin (husband like the gravity/stretch/throw it in the air method) to stretch it out. We put a dash of cornmeal on the pan before placing the dough on the pan. We bake our dough right then for about 8 mins. It helps if you put the dough in the oven very quickly after rolling it. Good luck!

Also, wax paper will melt and stick to your stone and your dough. You need parchment paper instead. The edges will get dark brown, but it won't burn completely away.

Faith is probably right, your dough is too cold. You can also try a different recipe; my favorite pizza recipe is the olive oil dough from Artisan Bread in 5.
Also, don't confuse wax paper with parchment paper. I'm not saying the original post didn't say to use wax paper because I don't know what post you read, but parchment paper may be of better use in this case than wax.

if you're taking it right out of the fridge, maybe try using your fingers to stretch it out. if the editor's suggestion is correct, the warmth from your fingers may help with the issue!

mlflamingo is right - you want parchment paper, not waxed. Waxed melts and sticks and smells funny when it burns. Parchment paper won't stick - you can use when you bake cookies too for easy cookie removal!

Exactly. It needs to be room temperature. Also, don't use a rolling pin: you'll end up with a dense crust. Push it out with you finger tips. Push it out as far as you can before it shrinks back a bit, let it rest five minutes, push it out some more, let it rest, etc. A little patience goes a long way.

And for anyone not using a pizza stone, I find a little spray of oil on a baking sheet works wonders. Not only does it prevent the crust from sticking and helps it get a little extra crisp, but the oil helps the dough 'grab' the pan and prevent shrinkage while you're push it out.

A friend of mine has a similar problem with pizza dough the first time she made it from scratch. She tried again, this time following the recipe exactly, and found that the recipe required a lot more kneading than she had done the first time. The second pizza was much more stretchable than the first.

If the room temperature issue isn't the solution, you may want to try kneading the dough when you get it home, let it rest, and then try rolling it out.

Try rolling it until it starts to retract, letting it rest about 20 min so the gluten can relax, and then finishing the job.

http://www.bonappetit.com/tipstools/tips/2008/11/how_to_roll_out_pizza_dough

Other than letting the dough come to room temperature, which is most likely your main problem, from your photo it also looks like you had the dough uncovered in your fridge or wherever else it was. Contact with air causes the surface of the dough to thicken and dry out, and when you go to stretch it later it makes it difficult to stretch evenly and it cracks (and you get hard pieces that you probably don´t want to eat later). Oil the top of your dough and then cover it with a plastic bag or kitchen towel while you let it come back to room temperature (and when you store it in the fridge, keep it covered with plastic, though make sure to leave room for it to rise (yeast dough will continue to rise, albeit more slowly, in the fridge)

I'd say there could be 2 parts to your equation. Are you making the dough from scratch? If so, knead it for a while. Like, 10 minutes. This will make sure that you have some strong gluten built up. Eventually you start to see that if you pull the dough apart, rather than tearing it starts to stretch (try it!). Also, the dough should be pretty wet -- when I first started making pizzas I always had them a bit too dry.

Once you have the dough, like has been said above, you need to let the it rest for at least a half an hour. This lets the gluten chains relax a bit, so as you stretch they won't force the dough to snap back to a ball.

Basically, it's all about the gluten! It takes some practice to get a great pizza crust. Keep trying and you'll definitely nail it.

I pull store-bought dough from the fridge the night before I need it-- I plop it into a very lightly oiled bowl, cover tightly with cling wrap, and stash the whole thing in a dark cool cabinet until the next day when I get home from work. The dough expands to three times its size, and it's way easier to work with. I punch out the bubbles quickly, cover loosely, and let it rest in the dark cabinet while I prep the other pizza toppings and pre-heat the oven. Then I roll it out on a floured counter (from the center, turning a quarter turn each time), then transfer it to my cooking surface. Perfect dough every time this way, and there is practically no headache or prep. It takes legit 1 minute to dump the dough and stash it the night before.

This will change your pizza dough stretching life. Stretch a round of dough over a large upside mixing bowl. It's so easy to control and doesn't flatten the dough like a rolling pin.

If you make the dough from scratch you'll have greater control over the end product and process, including the stretching part. Here's our pizza dough recipe from Italy:

From Scratch Pizza Dough Recipe

I almost always have trouble with store-bought pizza dough because it can take SO LONG for it to come up to room temperature. But if you're patient, like other said, it's much easier to stretch the dough when it's not cold. You'll want to keep it loosely covered, though; otherwise you'll get dry, hard bits that won't incorporate well. If you run into trouble during the stretching/rolling phase, let the dough relax for 3-4 minutes and then try again.

There seem to be a lot of baking ideas here! I like to stretch my dough on parchment paper and then I slide the paper onto the stone for about 5 minutes (for really thin crust.) This is just enough to set the dough in its shape, which I find makes the subsequent topping and handling easier.

Then I take the crust out, set aside the parchment paper, deflate any big bubbles that might have puffed up in the crust, brush it with olive oil, add toppings, and put it back in the oven directly on the hot stone - no parchment this time. For me this double baking method really cuts down on the frustration and inevitable messiness of working with floppy dough covered with sauce.

I'll echo quinnley's advice! Take the bowl you just used to let your dough rest, turn it upside down, and use that to shape your dough. Works great!

Another thing for those making dough by scratch: weigh the flour! http://eatlovedrink.com/2011/04/27/weighing-white-and-whole-wheat-flour/

Indeed, pizza crust likes to put up a little resistance. Let it come to room temp, do your initial stretch -- let the weight of the pizza dough stretch itself -- just hold one side with two ands and let the other side droop, and work your way around. Once you've gotten it as far as it will go, let it rest on the stone for 10 to 15 mins (sprinkled with cornmeal). Then stretch it again, same method. Then top it.

pam h
howtorunyourlife.blogspot.com

For reasons I haven't figured out refrigerated pizza dough is simply not as stretchy as freshly made, even if the refrigerated dough is allowed to come to room temperature. For tis reason if I'm going for a super-thin crust I'll make the dough the same day I'm using it. Also, as others have mentioned, letting the dough rest for 10-15 minutes after the first stretch makes it possible to stretch it further.

The stretch of a dough is all about the gluten content. If you make it fresh, the molecules are not degraded as they do over time with fridge dough. Try using a flour that is designed for bread machines. Good luck!

I make pizzas and naan all the time from cold dough and truthfully find it easier to work with it when it is cold (less sticky.) The key to getting it thin and even is to do it is stages. Take the lump out and with a fair amount of flour and a rolling pin roll it just a bit to get it started, to about 1/2 to 3/4" thickness, let it sit for 3 minutes and shrink back a little. Then hit it again, roll it as far as you can then let it sit. One more time and you will have it, I perfectly even dough that is cold not sticky and ready in under 10 minutes.

Homemade only makes it taste better but they both cook up about the same. As said before a little cornmeal on the bottom of the dough helps get it back off but put this on just before it goes in.

Also you can use the same dough for "naan" just a bit different in the heat of he stone and techique.