When you are making pizza, there is almost nothing as frustrating as sticky pizza dough. It can really upset your rhythm and trying to work out if it’s too sticky to move on to the next step can be quite a challenge.
If your pizza dough is too sticky, it won’t rise or cook properly, and it could take you longer to produce a decent-quality pizza.
Getting the dough right is an incredibly important part of the process, so it’s important to know what to look out for.
If you are unsure about your sticky pizza dough, then you have come to the right place! Below you will find out everything you need to know and how you can fix stickier dough!
With this knowledge, you will be able to create the perfect dough in no time!
What Makes Pizza Dough Sticky?
Lots of people don’t realize it, but making the perfect pizza dough is no easy task. When it comes to making your dough properly, there are lots of factors that contribute to it.
Dough hydration is one of these important factors as well as how much you are kneading the dough.
Proper Kneading
Sometimes the reason why your pizza dough is too sticky is actually just because you haven’t kneaded it for long enough. All pizza dough starts off sticky, and you really need to knead it for at least 8 to 12 minutes.
As long as you have used warm water and the environment in which you are kneading isn’t too humid, your dough should be a lot firmer and less sticky by the time you finish kneading.
There is no way to speed up the kneading process, and too little kneading won’t firm the dough up, so don’t try and cheat around because it could be the reason why your pizza dough is too sticky!
But be careful you don’t over-knead the dough either!
Humid Conditions
If you are making your pizza dough in a humid environment, this is going to play a huge part in how your dough is going to come out.
In a humid environment, pizza dough will absorb more moisture, which actually increases the hydration and results in your dough being too sticky.
Your best option is to remove the dough from the humid conditions and add some more flour to the mix.
Excess Hydration
As previously mentioned, too much water is not good when it comes to creating the perfect pizza dough. This is the most common reason why your pizza dough is too sticky.
When your pizza dough contains too much water, it causes the dough to become sticky. The more water you add, the stickier it will become.
You can add a bit more flour to compensate for this, and it may absorb some of that water and save the dough.
Add Some Extra Flour
On occasion, the reason why your pizza dough is sticky is because of something you did with the flour. In some cases, when you add flour it can really make all the difference in the consistency of your dough. It can even be the cause of your dough sticking.
Adding flour can sometimes be just what you need to combat sticker dough. It is also important to know that different types of flour absorb water differently, including the quantities of water. So keep that in mind when you are adding flour to your sticky pizza dough.
How To Fix Sticky Pizza Dough
Even if your pizza dough becomes too sticky, that does not mean you have to give up and start again. There are a few ways you can do to fix your sticky pizza dough, so let’s take a look at some of your options.
The easiest way to fix sticky pizza dough is by gently and slowly kneading more flour into the dough. Do not add too much flour in one go, rather, add it in smaller quantities and gradually.
Too much flour can cause the dough to become dry. You want to knead the dough gently while you do this too.
It is always important to make sure you use warm water when making pizza dough. If you used cold water and it is now sticky, you will have no choice but to start again.
How To Deal With Sticky Pizza Dough
There will come a time when you need sticky pizza dough, but it is important to know that sticky dough is a lot harder to work with. Though it is harder to work with, that doesn’t mean that it’s wrong or impossible.
One of the best things you can do when working with sticky dough is to use a dough scraper. Dough scrapers help you to unstick the dough from the bowl, work the surfaces, and to stop it from sticking to your hands.
If you have kneaded the dough for the appropriate amount of time and it is still sticky, don’t panic. Simply add a little oil to the bowl, then set it aside in the mixing bowl and let the dough sit while it rises. The oil will guarantee that the dough does not stick to the bowl.
If you forget to use oil in the bowl after it has already risen, however, a dough scraper should help you get the dough out.
Conclusion
Overly sticky dough can be incredibly stressful to deal with. Sticky dough is usually caused by too much pizza dough hydration, lack of warm water used in the mixing process, and even by not adding enough flour.
Too much hydration can cause quite a lot of problems for your dough and we hope that the few tips we have provided here will help you prevent stickiness and make the perfect pizza dough.
You can also look online for pizza dough recipes if you are really stuck.
Remember, if your dough is too sticky, you can use the few tips we have provided here to help you stop the dough from sticking.
