It's easy to get overwhelmed with in depth articles explaining how to make foods that involve a lot of specialty equipment and ingredients (all with Amazon affiliate links too, of course!) but it's not necessary to get all worked up over some of these things. The article I am referencing is this very long one from Serious Eats on making Detroit style pizza. I was introduced to Detroit style pizza when a restaurant opened in Columbia that specialized in it. Sadly, that restaurant is long gone, but my desire for this unusual type of pizza remains.
Detroit pizza is a very dense pizza known for its thicker dough and unusual order of ingredients on the pizza, but it's known for having an almost burnt, lacy edged crust, and the crust itself is fluffy and pillowy. Then there's an inordinate amount of cheese on there, and finally, it's topped with the most sensational smelling tomato sauce that'll have anyone who comes over wondering where your nonna is hiding.
My recipe and methods are based on the Serious Eats article, but I'm bringing you the version that will leave you with no qualms over using a regular cake pan instead of a slope edged steel pan, or a suggested mozzarella/Jack cheese combination instead of pricy Wisconsin brick cheese. Consider this the less anxiety inducing recipe, but also definitely consider it a weekend recipe because the dough needs to rise and rest several times before baking.
Easy Detroit Style Pizza
Ingredients
Dough
- 2-2 ¼ cups bread flour (yes, bread flour, not AP flour)
- 1 tsp instant yeast
- 1 tbsp kosher salt
- 7.75 ounces filtered water
- olive oil for greasing pan
Sauce
- 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp sugar
- dash red pepper flakes
- salt to taste
Everything Else
- 8 ounces Monterrey Jack cheese
- 5 ounces mozzarella cheese
- 18-14 slices good quality pepperoni
Instructions
Dough
- Combine 2 cups of flour, yeast, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Put on the dough hook attachment.
- Add water to the flour mixture and mix on low speed until dough comes together into a rough ball. Turn the mixer off and let the dough rest for 10 minutes.
- Mix at medium-low speed until dough forms a smooth, silky ball, about 10 minutes longer. (It should stick to the bottom of the bowl as it kneads rather than riding around the edges.) If it doesn't come together because it's humid, add the remaining ¼ cup flour as needed.
- Remove dough hook, form dough into a tight ball, set in the bottom of the mixer bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and set aside in a warm place until dough has roughly doubled in volume, about 2 hours.
- After the two hours, grease the bottom of a metal 9x12 sheet cake pan with the olive oil (do not substitute a glass or disposable aluminum pan here, the metal is important). You can also use two 8' round metal cake pans as well.
- Dump the dough in the pan(s) and roll the dough in the oil. Use your hands to stretch and press the dough towards the edges. It won't make it, don't tear the dough trying. Cover the pan(s) in plastic wrap and let rise for 30 minutes.
- Remove the top rack from the oven. Move the lower rack to the lowest setting and put a pizza stone on that rack. Turn the oven on to 525 F (or 550 if your oven goes that high).If you don't have a pizza stone and you have a flat bottom oven, remove the lower rack too, and place the pan directly on the bottom of the oven. If you don't have a pizza stone and a flat bottom oven, shove it in and hope for the best I guess.
Sauce
- Heat 2 tablespoons (30ml) olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
- Add minced garlic, oregano, and pepper flakes and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add tomatoes, garlic powder, onion powder, and sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes. Season with salt as needed.
Put the Pizza Together
- While the sauce is simmering, the oven heating, and the dough resting, chop up your cheeses into small ½" cubes. Slice the pepperoni if needed.
- Once the rough has finished its 30 minute rest, use your hands to get the dough to the edges of the pan(s), it should make it this time. Lay the pepperoni slices on top of the dough.
- Pile the cheeses over the pepperoni, evenly distributing the jack and mozzarella cheeses.
- Spoon the sauce in three even lines down the length of the pan, or in a bulleye shape if using circles. You won't use all of the sauce, save the rest for pasta.
- Put the pan(s) in the very hot oven on the pizza stone or bottom of the oven. Bake for 12-15 minutes — closer to 15 if you don't have it at 550 F, and closer to 12 if you DO have it at 550. The cheese will be melted and bubbly and you may be able to see some burned black edges at the top. This is a good thing.
- Once done, remove from heat and set on a trivet to cool until its able to be cut. Use oven mitts when handling the extremely hot pans. Use a metal spatula to cut and serve.
- This pizza reheats pretty great in the microwave.
Look at that thicc crust. It's light and airy for pizza, which makes for easy eating with the heavier ingredients piled on top.
