How do I make restaurant quality pizza? I've been making my own pizza dough for years but almost always the results are stodgy and thick dough. Ideally I'd like to make thin, crispy pizza bases with those bubbly bits.

Measurements for flour and water always go out the window when my hands are sticky so that might be one issue. A friends advice was to add a tablespoon of semolina to the flour to add texture.

It's safe to assume that the measurements I'm using are probably wrong so I won't list them. 


I mix the flour, water, salt, olive oil and yeast together.  
Add more
water or flour depending on stickiness.  
Fold and knead it for around
10 minutes.


Once I'm happy it's well kneaded and there's no pockets of dry flour I put it in a bowl and put a damp cloth over the top. I leave it in a warm place like an airing cupboard to rise for 3-4 hours.

Normally the dough rises a lot, maybe too much? I roll the dough as thin as possible. I've sometimes tried pre-baking the bases for 5 minutes before putting the sauce and toppings on. This helps getting them a bit crisper.

I've also tried roasting vegetables before putting them on top since I fear they make the dough soggy if added when raw.

Will using a pizza stone make a huge difference? 

Please give me details of your method, the ingredients, measurements and equipment you use
The most common problem is that your consumer oven is not as hot as a professional stone oven. Pizza stones are created to replicate this effect, but there's no way to really achieve the same result if you cannot heat your stone to the same temperature as a professional pizza oven.

My advice to get better results is:


Preheat your oven to the highest available temperature 20 - 30 minutes before actually baking the pizza. Use upper and lower heat rather than convection.
Put the baking tray in the oven to preheat as well. That's the only way you can get the bottom of the pizza crispy in a short time.
If you use a pizza stone, preheating takes longer. Follow the instructions given with the stone.
In addition to rolling the dough, pull and stretch it with your hands. Yeast dough is very elastic and takes some insistance to roll out as thin as you'd want in a pizza.
Don't pile your pizza with too much topping.


The actual baking should be done in approximately 5 minutes. If it takes longer, the temperature of your oven is too low.

There are pizza baking devices out there that can achieve a decent result (if you go for quality rather than a cheap price) and safe you preheating your entire oven.