**Rising-crust frozen pizzas generally use raw, frozen dough, rather than a par-baked crust.** Your intuition is right: once baking has set the dough’s structure, it cannot rise substantially again. A commercial crust manufacturer explicitly distinguishes its par-baked crusts from its raw, “self-rising” crusts. [Manufacturer’s product guide](https://www.akcrust.com/hubfs/Downloadable_pdfs/A_and_K_Product_Overview_Guide.pdf)

The trick is often **yeast plus chemical leavening**:

- **Yeast** supplies fermentation flavor and, depending on the manufacturing process, some of the rise before freezing or during the early stages of baking. Freezing does not necessarily kill it.
- **Chemical leaveners** release carbon dioxide as the dough warms and bakes. Heat-activated systems make it possible to bake directly from frozen without a separate thawing and proofing stage.
- **A strong, extensible gluten network** holds the gas while the dough expands; baking then sets that expanded structure.

One patented frozen-pizza process uses yeast largely for flavor and chemical leavening for the actual lift. That is one approach, rather than a recipe shared by every brand. DiGiorno’s published rising-crust ingredients, for example, include both yeast and baking soda, along with added wheat gluten and dough conditioners. [Self-rising dough patent](https://patents.google.com/patent/US20030049359A1/en), [DiGiorno ingredients](https://www.goodnes.com/digiorno/products/rising-crust-pepperoni-pizza-24-oz/)

That also explains the texture you describe: **height and density are different things**. Dough with enough well-retained gas can be tall yet light and chewy. Simply using a thicker layer of poorly aerated dough produces a much more bread-like result.

To approximate it at home, I would first reproduce the texture using fresh yeast dough. Industrial reliability when baking straight from frozen is a separate challenge.

For one roughly 12-inch/30-cm pizza, try this starting formula:

| Ingredient | Amount |
|---|---:|
| Bread flour | 300 g |
| Water | 195 g |
| Salt | 6 g |
| Sugar | 6 g |
| Oil | 9 g |
| Instant yeast | 3 g |

1. Knead until smooth and elastic. Cover and let rise until noticeably puffy, roughly 1–2 hours depending on temperature.
2. Gently stretch onto a lightly oiled pizza pan. Leave the rim thicker, and avoid crushing its bubbles with a rolling pin.
3. Cover and let the shaped dough rise another 30–60 minutes, until puffy.
4. Add a moderate amount of sauce and toppings. Bake in a thoroughly preheated **450°F/230°C oven**, preferably with the pan on a heated stone or steel, until the bottom is browned and the center cooked—start checking around 15 minutes.

Bread flour, gentle shaping, and a rise after shaping help produce a lofty crust with a light interior. [King Arthur’s pizza guidance](https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/pizza), [Thick-crust shaping and proofing](https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/now-or-later-pizza-crust-recipe)

For a closer experiment with the commercial mechanism, add **4 g of double-acting baking powder** to that formula. Treat this as a starting experiment, not an exact commercial clone; use baking powder rather than adding unbalanced baking soda. The powder supplies additional lift during baking, while the yeast dough preserves the chewy pizza texture.