Jimmy;
If the dough retracts (snaps back) soon after you stretch it to size the problem is related to excessive dough memory which can be caused by too strong of a flour, or insufficient dough fermentation, or too cold of a dough at the time of stretching, or even insufficient yeast level in the dough, which really results in insufficient fermentation. The solution in this case is to warm the dough (allow it to rest at room temperature longer before you open the dough into skins, use a lower protein flour, of use something like PZ-44 from Foremost Farms USA to reduce the dough memory.
If the dough is shrinking back during baking, you will need to give the dough more fermentation time by any of the following: allow the dough to ferment for a longer time before opening it into pizza skins; increase the dough temperature after mixing by about 5F as this will provide for more vigorous yeast activity, resulting in more fermentation to the dough; increase the yeast level by approximately 1/4th more (25%) than you are presently using. In this case the higher yeast level will result in more fermentation to the dough. You could also add about 1 to 1.5% PZ-44 to the dough formula.
Note:
Don’t try to cool the pizza crusts on a solid pan, instead, after baking, transfer the crusts to a wire screen for cooling. Cooling the crusts on a solid pan can cause the crusts to shrink during cooling.
Without seeing your entire process it is hard to say exactly what is causing the problem in your case, but one of these actions should correct it.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
