Can you clarify a bit of my confusion? So you roll out the dough on the parchment paper. Do you keep it on the sheet, apply your sauce and toppings and then place the uncooked pizza and parchment paper into a hot oven on a pizza stone? If so does the oven set to its highest temperature burn the paper? Please fill in the gap.

Don't know what the author does but I've cooked pizza on parchment without issues. Makes it nice because then I can cut it without cutting my cookie sheet (don't have a pizza stone)

oh you must get a pizza stone, andrea - much better pizza crust and it's great for reheating leftovers of all kinds

@JoshP - Yup, you top the pizza and bake it while still on the parchment. The parchment is fine in the hot oven. It browns a little, but it won't catch fire (you can see it post-baking in the first picture). During baking, the parchment pulls away from the pizza and you can slip it right out.

You certainly don't have to use parchment, and using a rolling pin to get thin crust works just fine with whatever method you normally use. I just find this to be a very easy way of keeping the dough from sticking to everything (since it sticks to the parchment) and then transferring the pizza onto either the baking stone or a pre-heated cookie sheet.

I've always done thin crust pizza this way and make super thin, crispy perfect crusts. Also, I find if I want it extra crispy/ not puffy, I don't let it rise. Add yeast and make it like normal but let it rest long enough for the gluten to chillax then roll, dock and bake.

wait a min... you use a rolling pin to roll something flat??!? what the WHAT?!?

sorry for the sarcasm... it was just to easy :)

I've always used a rolling pin. It stretches the dough nice and evenly and helps you avoid getting holes in your dough.

@ando - Totally! Ha! Like I said, I don't know why it took me so long to put 2 and 2 together on this one...

We've actually had really good luck getting a really thin and crispy crust by freezing the dough for at least 24 hours, thawing it for 20-30 minutes, rolling it out onto a pizza stone, and then pre-baking and baking on the bottom rack of the oven at about 400-475 degrees.

rolling the dough out when it's been frozen allows you to get it thinner than you would just rolling room temperature dough out.

Here's our post on it: http://www.kohlercreated.com/blog/?p=11118

I make dough in large batches, portion it out, then freeze each lump. Take it out mid-day to thaw for dinner pizza. No problems patting or rolling - even very thin - and the taste is super because time passed and allowed flavor to develop. It's lovely always having many lumps of pizza dough in the freezer. Oh, I use a mixture of flours, including semolina, in the dough, and dust the rolling surface and peel with semolina as well. No sticking!

Also, is that corn on the pizza? My personal motto is everything is better with corn.

@lindsay - Yes, it's corn! Recipe for Southwest Pizza with Black Beans and Corn coming tomorrow afternoon, so check back in!

HMM. Have always used a rolling pin for pizza. And, make sure start with a smaller amount of dough than I think I need. As another commenter stated -- I make a large batch of dough and roll and wrap individual portions and freeze. Thaws in a half hour. Great week night option.

I use a whole wheat cracker recipe for my pizza crust. Just mix, roll out and bake. No yeast, no kneading, no rising. Then top with whatever and bake again til the cheese is melted. Almost as easy as frozen, and absolutely delicious. And you have an actual cracker crust.

@upndown, what recipe? do you mind sharing?

I didn't use a rolling pin for a while because Alton Brown pointed out that it might impede forming the lip that turns into the crust. However I often try to make large, half-sheet pan size pies, and stretching and pulling dough into such a big shape often leaves it uneven in thickness. So the other day I used the pin and it was so much better, and also totally did not prevent a crust -- I just went around with my fingers along the edge and did it manually.

After much experimenting, I've found that using a rolling pin is hard work, and can just mash the layers within the dough (the crackery layers) down and cause a thin bread like crust. Consistency in making a cracker-like crust is hard with a rolling pin.

If you really want a CRUNCHY cracker like crust (that shatters when you bite into it), get out your pasta roller (I use the attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer). Divide your dough into three portions, roll them out fairly thin, then fold the dough over into itself three times, then roll out to 1.8" thickness or so. You should have three sheets that are 18" or so by 5". Seam then together with a touch of water and a rolling pin, then place over your pan and cut off the excess. This process mimics the expensive sheeting machines that pizzerias use (and that made Pizza Hut famous for cracker crust many decades ago).

This will produce a wonderful layered and crackling cracker crust. No bread-like crust with this process!