Detroit-style pizza

Detroit Style Pizza in a Pizza Oven

Name: Detroit Style Pizza in a Pizza Oven
Yield: 4 pizza
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 940 g flour; 610 g water (65% hydration); 19 g salt; 4.7 g instant yeast; 19 g olive oil; 9.4 g sugar; 640 g full-fat mozzarella or brick cheese, torn or cubed; 320 g crushed tomatoes (for stripes after baking); 200 g pepperoni (optional, tucked under the cheese); 80 g olive oil (for the pan); Dried oregano, garlic powder (for sauce), to taste

Detroit, USA · rectangular · thick · cheese to the edge

Detroit-style pizza was born in 1946 at Buddy's Rendezvous, baked in blue steel automotive parts pans — the same pans are still used today. A high-hydration dough fills an oiled rectangular pan and proofs until light; the cheese (traditionally Wisconsin brick, now often full-fat mozzarella) goes all the way to the edge so it caramelizes against the pan walls into a dark, crispy frico. The tomato sauce goes on top in stripes AFTER the bake, not before — this is the defining rule. The result is a square of crunchy-edged, fluffy-centered pizza unlike anything else.

What sets it apart — The sauce goes on AFTER baking, in stripes. The cheese caramelizes against the pan edges into a crispy skirt. If you follow those two rules you have a Detroit pizza; break either one and you have something else.

How many pizzas?

makes 4 × 400g balls
1600 g total dough

The dough · baker’s %

Flourstrong 00 or bread flour940 g
Water65% hydration610 g
Salt19 g
Instant yeast×1.25 active-dry · ×3 fresh4.7 g
Olive oil19 g
Sugar9.4 g

Bake

260–290°C · 500–550°F15–18 min

Add cheese to the edge, then bake in the pan on the stone at lower heat. The cheese will caramelize against the pan walls. Pull when the edges are deeply browned and the base sounds hollow. Add sauce stripes after removing from the oven, not before.

Serving

Cut into rectangles. The caramelized cheese edge is the prize — fight for it.

Topping — scaled for 4 pizzas

Full-fat mozzarella or brick cheese, torn or cubed640 g
Crushed tomatoes (for stripes after baking)320 g
Pepperoni (optional, tucked under the cheese)200 g
Olive oil (for the pan)80 g
Dried oregano, garlic powder (for sauce)to taste

Brick cheese and red stripe

Cheese goes to the very edge — no gaps. Pepperoni (if using) goes under the cheese, not on top, so it crisps against the base instead of drying on top. After baking and resting 2 minutes in the pan, stripe the seasoned tomato sauce across the top in three parallel lines.

Ferment & prep: Mix a soft dough. Oil a 23×33cm rectangular steel pan generously (20g+). Press the dough in, stretching to the corners. Proof 1–2 h until puffed and filling the pan.