So we are currently super into thin crust pizza! I don’t know why the magic of thin crust took so long to dawn on us, but a couple of months ago B2 and I tried a new pizza place in our neighborhood and rediscovered all the perks of it we hadn’t appreciated until now. It’s crackly, flaky, crisp but with a little bit of give, and it takes up so much less belly real estate than doughy chewy regular crust that you can eat, like, seven more slices. Which is clearly the most important part.
When I first set out to figure out thin crust at home, I realized after a few trials that the one I was after wasn’t necessarily a pliable, Roberta’s-style thin crust, black-blistered on the edges and stretchy (although I just saw this and now I might be amending my statement). Instead, it was a crispy, layered “cracker-style thin crust” I learned hailed from St. Louis, a no-yeast (!) and no-rise magical creation that lets you go from pantry staples to pizza in less than an hour. I based this recipe on one from Lottie + Doof and one from King Arthur Flour, and found that it was the perfect, slightly crunchy but slightly chewy thin crust we were after, and the quickest and easiest one I’ve ever made, to boot. For the days when I forget to leave out a 24-hour no-knead dough, or even for the rest, I am so excited about this.
I’m pairing up with West Elm for these couple of weeks! It was an arugula, apple, balsamic, & bacon combo that first stole my heart at that thin crust pizza place around the corner, and you can find my at-home recipe for it on their blog this morning. Thank you so much to West Elm for sponsoring these posts!
Cracker-style thin crust pizza!
makes two 10-inch thin crust pizzas or one 14-inch. Based on recipes by Lottie + Doof and King Arthur Flour.
Ingredients
- 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon (approximately 135 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 6 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1/2 teaspoon honey (or sugar)
Instructions
- Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl. In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the water, oil, and honey. Pour the water mixture into the flour mixture and stir until a dough comes together. Switching to your hands, knead the dough until smooth and supple, about 5 minutes. Divide the dough into two equal pieces (or leave as one, for one larger pizza), shape each one into a round disk, cover with a cloth, and let rest on a board for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 500 degrees with a pizza stone or cast-iron skillet (turned upside down, if you like) inside.
- Working with one portion of dough at a time, roll a dough disk between two pieces of parchment paper into a round that is about 10-inches in diameter. Peel off the top layer of parchment. If you like, brush lightly with olive oil (I often forget this step, so I’ll go ahead and say it’s optional), then spread with sauce and your choice of topping. (Here’s one we’re liking lately!)
- Using the parchment paper, transfer the pizza to the pizza stone in the oven. (I place the parchment directly on the stone–no need to slide the crust off the parchment paper.) Bake until browned on top and slightly charred on the edges, about 10 minutes. Enjoy!
Colleen
Hello! This looks yummy and definetly something I would like to try. Out of curiosity, have you tried making it with whole wheat flour. Do you think that would rock out the same or would the texture be different!
Colleen
Oh gosh…I need to re-read my comments before posting…sorry! I meant to say..would that ‘work out’ the same or would the texture be different? My iPad took over my spelling..lol..
Marisa Franca @ All Our Way
Don’t feel bad — sometimes I feel like an illiterate after I reread something that I’ve already sent 🙁
tworedbowls
I like the idea of pizza crusts rocking out!! 🙂 I’m sorry to say that I have no idea how whole wheat flour would work here because I’ve never tried it, but I feel like it should work! I imagine it might need a bit more water if you use 100% whole wheat, but perhaps you could try 50/50 whole wheat and regular first, and then adjust from there? This is all guesses, though. If you try it, I would absolutely love to hear how it goes! Thank you so much for stopping by, Colleen!
Darlene Record
Hello!!! I have sprouted/ soured kamut to try this recipe with—I would have thought that cutting back on the oil would make it more like a cracker crust. And I love the idea of no yeast since my husband is allergic—but your pizza looks amazing because arugula is the bomb, and I’m guessing the apples are Granny Smith!!
★★★★
Marisa Franca @ All Our Way
We make lots and lots and lots of pizza dough. We certainly don’t like the really thick bready type crust — you can’t taste the delicious toppings. If we want bread we make bread. This is a very interesting crust. We look forward to making the crust. Your toppings are very interesting!! 🙂
tworedbowls
You’re so right, the toppings do shine with a thin crust! Thank you so much for the kind words, Marisa!
Darlene Record
I have sprouted/ soured kamut to try this recipe with—I would have thought that cutting back on the oil would make it more like a cracker crust. And I love the idea of no yeast since my husband is allergic—but your pizza looks amazing because arugula is the bomb, almost as good as water cress!!
Anonymous
1x is way too small, and the crust was dense, and very biscuit like. Not cracker-like at all.
★★
Darlene Record
I have sprouted/ soured kamut to try this recipe with—I would have thought that cutting back on the oil would make it more like a cracker crust. And I love the idea of no yeast since my husband is allergic—but your pizza looks amazing because arugula is the bomb, and I’m guessing the apples are Granny Smith!!
★★★★
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar
This pizza sounds wonderful! And I adore the apple version in your photos. Definitely a fun, unique project for the weekend! xx
tworedbowls
You are so sweet, Katrina! Thank you!!
Erin @ Her Heartland Soul
Omg I want to eat this!!
Erika
Pizza night just got so much better! Love the arugula topping.
Rossi @ A Baking Girl
I love the idea of using an upside down cast iron skillet as a pizza stone. I’d never thought of that but it makes perfect sense!
Considering The Radish
I love a good, chewy, yeasty pizza, but I might have to surrender to this when I forget to start the pizza dough. It sounds delicious- and I love arugula on pizza.
Alan
Ugh, and this is one of the big reasons I hate dairy free… curse you pizza. Looking good – love the photography, Apple wouldn’t have been my first choice for a pizza
Lindsey
yussss to thin crust! although most places didn’t generally serve it, i grew up eating it. me and my mom would always get the margherita pizza with fresh basil – yum. LOVE these greens and the addition of apple! sounds like the perfect balance of meaty, cheesy, fresh, and crisp! going over to west elm now 🙂 so happy to see your beautiful work over there, lovely. xo
Aysegul
This looks and sounds so good Cynthia! I love your styling so much <3
Angela - Patisserie Makes Perfect
This look so tasty. I love thin and crispy pizza so much and I’m really going to like this I think.
Brooke Bass
I can’t tell you how many nights I want to make pizza (like NOW) but then haven’t done the overnight rise and I refuse to eat traditional pizza dough that hasn’t sat for at least 24 hours because I take my pizza seriously. But this. This just might solve all my problems! Perfect for nights when I don’t plan in advance. Love it, Cynthia! (And yes to eating seven more slices…)
Laura (Tutti Dolci)
I am all for a super thin crust pizza, this looks awesome!
Ellie | fit for the soul
Yo, crackuh! This looks so good! Who knew thin crust could be this simple?? I’ve always been the thin-medium (does that make sense?) type of pizza eater like the ones I grew up on in Argentina…but once in a while that thin crunch is so perfect.
Julia@ Happy Foods
Beautiful, beautiful pictures! Love thin crust pizza and this looks just delicious! Love the rolling pin also! 🙂
Jennifer Farley
I always prefer thin crust pizza. I do like thick crusts on occasion, but I like the delicate crunch of a well made thin crust, and it’s so much less… heavy. Which means I can eat more pizza.
Lynn
I usually like thick dough on my pizza – but hey it’s pizza. I don’t discriminate!
Summer Daisy
This is pizza perfection! Yum ♥
summerdaisy.net
JIN
Delicious! Truly a dream combination of ingredients and flavors 🙂
Supriya
I’m digging the thin crisp base. So much lighter. Plan on trying this with whole wheat flour. Hope it works!
Aubrey
Any advice on how to get the dough and loaded pizza from the parchment to the super hot upside down skillet?
tworedbowls
Hi Aubrey! I just plunk the parchment onto the cast-iron skillet and bake the pizza on the parchment — no need to slide it out. Hope that helps!
aubrey
Ah! Yes! Awesome! I looked at the pictures of your pizza and assumed you had baked it without the parchment. I can TOTALLY leave it on the parchment! Any issues with the final pizza sticking to the parchment paper?
tworedbowls
Yay! No, not at all — it should come right off. I hope you love the pizza if you try it!
kylie @ immaEATthat
This looks perfect. I’m a thin crust person ALL THE WAY. Will have to keep in mind for our next pizza night!
Bet @ Bet On Dinner
This crust is so good! I have a yeast dough I really like but sometimes you just want that thin crispy crust. 🙂 I did 1.5x the recipe but next time I’ll double it for our family of 4 since my husband and I were basically fighting over the last piece (I mean, our girls may be 1.5 and 4 but they can put down some pizza – especially when it’s this good!). And I’ll probably experiment with using half whole wheat flour, too, to see if I can get away with it. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Prete Woman
This pizza was amazing!!!!!! When I lived in milano there was a place called Spib down the street from me and they served thin crust cracker style pizza it was such an amazing reminder of my time there. I will definitely make this recipe again! Thanks for sharing.
gfron1
Gawd! The photography on this is so inviting. Thank you, and such an easy recipe. I love thin crusts and always struggle to get that cracker texture. This was the best I’ve tried.
Amber H.
Thank you for the recipe. We moved to a Southern state that knows nothing about pizza. We’ll try it this weekend.
Back home we had restaurant that specialized in a “Chicago” style pizza that was delish. The secret was in the dough. It wasn’t a thick, bready, chewy crust; instead it was a relatively thin (1/8″) crispy, almost cracker consistency bottom crust. It was a 1-1/2 to 2″ deep pie that was mostly cheese and toppings. The sides were molded and folded into the black Chicago pizza pan to double the thickness of the bottom. We’ve been looking for a crisp pizza dough recipe to try as a Chicago pizza. I think this may work.
Sandy Henderson
Jus put crust in oven on top of pan…topped with Alfredo pesto and parm. Can’t wait! Also added herbs to the dough
Mary
Thanks so much for posting about your great recipe for cracker style thin crust! 1 st time I made it turned out excellent! Thanks so much and great pics
Jeffrey
Great recipe! I make this at least once a week.
Damien Duckett
Recipe followed to the letter…. Experienced cook, burnt knuckles, pizza that can’t be transferred…. Failure of a recipe. Congrats. Waste of time and money on a Friday night. First time I’ve ever had to leave a negative review on a recipe.
Marie
I’m trying this tonight!
Beckie Putnam
I had gastric bypass surgery almost 5 years ago. I lost a lot of weight and I have kept it off. I don’t eat much bread product at all. But healthy pizza toppings are so easy and I just needed a thin crust recipe. This sounds perfect]
Barbara Porter
I love this recipe we make it every Friday!!! I was wondering can u make this ahead of time and freeze it and thaw it out when your ready to use it and can you make it the nite before so you can roll it out in the evening
Marty
I am trying this pizza recipe for the first time. I love thin crust pizza cooked on my egg grill. This should turn out great. I made the crust then put it in the fridge over night. I will tell you how it turns out. Thanks for the recipe.
Renee
Tried your crust tonight since my daughter has been very vocal in her dislike of my yeast based crust recently. Keeping the crust on parchment paper made transfer to and from the pizza stone a breeze. Added chicken, artichokes, and cheese and had the first meal in nearly a week that she did not complain about!
★★★★★
DiBenedetto, L.
Excellent recipe. I usually do extra hydrated yeast dough (biga) which is very time consuming. But I was pressed for time and the family wanted pizza so I gave your recipe a try. Will be a new go to. Thanks for sharing.
★★★★★
Patrick Elliott
Don’t waste your time on this piece of sh!t recipe. NO way is this recipe even close to a “cracker crust”. It is more like a friggin flavorless hard flour pie crust, and tasteless. I threw the second dressed pizza in the trash after tasting the first. I don’ have any idea how recipes like this get so much steam… I guess most people don’t really know really good cracker pizza crust. Sorry, just my honest opinion.
Carmen VanVliet
You obviously didn’t follow the recipe if you thought this was tasteless. I have made many cracker crust pizzas, and this was one of the best.
I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree. But please, people, don’t be scared away by this review. I wasn’t
and am so glad! It was delicious.
★★★★★
Chloe
This recipe worked fantastic for a thin and crunchy pizza crust! I used olive oil instead of canola and replaced half of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat and it turned out great! Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
andyw
Just made this per instructions, as I was excited about a no yeast cracker crust.
Nasty. Wasted evening.
★
kim
great crust. I found that pre-baking the crust for about 3 minutes on the hot stone till it is lightly browned keeps it very crispy all the way through where otherwise the middle wasn’t very crispy. At this point, it can be bagged and stored, and still turn out crispy when topped and baked the next day.
★★★★★
C J Schram
Made 3 10 x 6 personal pan pizzas with this dough recipe! Used all ingredients but the salt. Live on the Sonoran Desert and have to use more water here as the humidity is so low and the flour is much dryer. Rolled out fabulously and is a very forgiving dough. Great taste to the crust! It’s definitely a keeper recipe. Made Smoked Chicken, mushroom, onion and cheese pizzas. Made homemade pizza sauce omitting the salt.
★★★★★
Carmen VanVliet
Just made this recipe as printed – no changes. I have to say it was the best thin crust pizza ever! No sticking on the parchment paper – so easy. My husband and I both has our own 10″ pizza. Next time I will double or triple the recipe for a large pie.
Can’t go wrong with this if you follow the instructions!😉
★★★★★
Kella
Every time I want a thin crispy crust, I come back to this. Delish. Thank you!
★★★★★
ron
looks yummy
★★★★★
Tanis Woods
I know that I’m a little late to the party but I just discovered this recipe and it is fabulous. I made it with no changes and it will become my go crust recipe
★★★★★
Moe
Hello! This sounds so yummy I want to try it. However I have lots of food intolerance, including vegetable oil & canola oil, wheat, soy, corn, tomatoes, peppers, etc.
Could I just 1:1 swap almond or coconut flour or even riced cauliflower for the wheat flour? What oil could I use in lieu of the canola oil?
I usually use olive, almond or coconut oil.
tworedbowls
Hi Moe, you can certainly use any other kind of neutral oil in this recipe, but I’m afraid I don’t know what you could use in place of the flour. I’m so sorry and hope you find another cracker-style pizza crust recipe to help you!
ann
Super easy and tastes great. Do not get excited if your dough is very sticky that is normal, just roll it between parchment paper like Cynthia explains it will work out just fine….Thanks Cynthia,
With Love,
ann
★★★★★
Keith
Just what I was looking for
Lynn gerhardt
My husband loves thin crust. This recipe honestly looked too easy to be true. BOY WAS I WRONG! in the best possible way. This crust was easy to make and OMGOSH… So lovely. It was light, the perfect texture and … My husband put sooo many toppings I was sure it would be an epic fail but the crust held up to his mountain of toppings. I sooo recommend this recipe.
★★★★★
Lynn gerhardt
Hello! My husband loves thin crust. This recipe honestly looked too easy to be true. BOY WAS I WRONG! in the best possible way. This crust was easy to make and OMGOSH… So lovely. It was light, the perfect texture and … My husband put sooo many toppings I was sure it would be an epic fail but the crust held up to his mountain of toppings. I sooo recommend this recipe.
★★★★★
Lynn
Hello! I was looking for a thin crust for pizza for my picky husband. This recipe looked simple enough. Almost too good to be true.. LOL. It was very simple to make with the directions provided. My husband created his own masterpiece of a pizza and put way too many toppings. It was truly the leaning tower of pizza.. LOL. I thought for sure he totally ruined that poor crust. IT WAS AMAZING!!! Even with all those toppings, it held itself and it was such a lovely crust. We will be making this again.
★★★★★
di
just reading
becky
Had cracker crust while out one day and it was so light and delicious. Going to give this a try at home.
★★★
Dianne
This sounds good. Going to try this.
Anonymous
Maybe I did something wrong but it did not turn out crispy. I may try again.
Gayle Lendabarker
cant wait to try
Lisa
Sounds lovely cant wait to try it!
★★★★★
Anonymous
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Gretchen Folk
I have made this cracker crust recipe twice. It is easy and wonderful! I made two 10 inch pizzas. They were delicious.
★★★★★
elaine adams
looking forward to trying
elaine adams
looking forward to trying
Anonymous
Can this be cooked in a propane or wood fired pizza oven