**The shrinking suggests the dough needed more relaxation before stretching.** Tearing can happen when you keep pulling against that resistance, although flour strength and fermentation may also have contributed.

Here’s what I would check:

- **Temperature and handling.** Two hours out of the fridge may leave a large dough mass cold inside. Kneading in extra flour or forming a tight ball just before shaping can also make it resist stretching. Divide and ball the dough ahead of its final rest. If it springs back during shaping, cover it and wait another 15–30 minutes. [King Arthur’s stretching guide](https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2024/02/14/how-to-stretch-pizza-dough) explains this relationship between handling, gluten tension, and rest.

- **Fermentation time versus yeast quantity.** One teaspoon of active dry yeast followed by eight hours at room temperature and two days refrigerated could produce excessive fermentation, especially in a warm kitchen. This is a possibility, not a definite diagnosis: weakened, overfermented dough tends to become slack, sticky, and fragile. Use a recipe designed for that schedule; [Ooni’s cold-proof recipe](https://ooni.com/blogs/recipes/cold-prove-pizza-dough) adjusts the yeast for a 24–72-hour refrigeration period.

- **Flour and water measured by weight.** Assuming US fluid ounces, your water was about 355 g. Four cups of flour could be about 480 g using [King Arthur’s conversion](https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart), giving roughly **74% hydration**. Heavily scooped cups could contain considerably more flour, lowering that percentage. Your actual hydration is therefore uncertain. Weighing ingredients will make troubleshooting much easier.

- **Flour strength and gluten development.** Use flour intended for pizza or bread. Knead until the dough is smooth and a rested piece can stretch into a thin membrane before tearing. Weak flour or insufficient gluten development can make stretching difficult.

For your next batch, use a weighed recipe around **60–65% hydration**, with yeast and timing specified for a two-day cold ferment. Keep the dough covered, let the individual balls become soft and relaxed, and use a light dusting of flour for shaping. Press from the center outward, preserve the rim, and stretch gently over your knuckles. Pause when it resists.

**Which flour did you use, and did you form the dough balls before or after the two-hour rest?** Those details would help distinguish tight dough from weak dough.