In this post, I will show you how to make your own Detroit Style Pizza at home. Many people shy away from trying to make any pizza at home because they are afraid they will mess up the dough. Dough is easy, once you get the hang of it. Sure, it's much easier if you have a good counter mixer with a dough hook or food processor. However, if you have ever been to Italy and watched a real pizzaiolo make pizza Napoletana, you know that great pizza dough can be made without fancy gadgetry or equipment. A flat surface and a pair of strong hands is really all that is required. So, if you want to make dough and do not have a mixer or processor, follow the recipe but simply make a pile of flour on your counter, make a "well" at the center and add the water, sugar, salt and yeast to the well and start folding the flour into the well. Keep folding the dough in on itself until a nice round ball forms. Continue this for about 10 minutes, place the ball on the counter, cover with a towel and let it rise for 30 minutes to an hour, until approximately double in size. This is simplest way to make pizza dough and it's been done this way for hundreds of years.
Detroit Style Pizza Dough
Detroit style dough is a little more tricky, because it's sticky. Yes, I know, (chuckle) that rhymes. Detroit style (from here we will just refer to it as DSP) uses a higher hydration level, i.e., north of 70%. Traditional pizza dough uses a lower hydration level. For DSP, this means there is more water in the dough which is how the crust achieves its signature crispy, airy consistency. During the proofing process, small (and some large) bubbles form. When the crust bakes in the oven, those bubbles create little air pockets throughout the crust which gives it that amazing texture.
Another key difference between traditional and DSP crust is the proofing time. Some places will proof dough overnight. Some will start early in the morning, stretch dough in the pan, cover and let it proof/rise all day. I can make either work for me but sometimes I just want to complete the entire process within the same day. So, I will start forming the dough around 7-8am and plan to bake the pies between 5-6pm. That's a fair amount of time for the dough to proof, but you will be rewarded with a nice crispy, airy crust.
When you compare the two photos above, the first reflects what the dough looks like when you first place it in the pan. You start with a round ball and press it into the pan with wet hands (to prevent sticking and to keep the dough well-hydrated - simply touching the dough can transfer some of the water to your hands and result in a drier mix than desired). Stretch the dough by mashing it with wet hands 4-5 times and then leave it alone. Resist the temptation to touch the dough too much. You will force the bubbles out of it and end up with a flatter, less airy crust. If that's what you want, fine, but I don't recommend that.
The second photo reflects dough in the pan after it has had several hours to proof and rise. This is done with an air-tight cover or plastic wrap over the pan. You do not want air touching the dough while it is proofing. Otherwise, a hard crust will form which is No Bueno. You will know when the crust is ready to bake when the dough reaches the edges of the pan and you have lot of bumps and bubbles as illustrated above.
Sauce
Next, let's talk sauce. This is another important part of the recipe because sauce is such an integral part to the overall flavor of the pizza. As you would expect, the most important component involves quality tomatoes. I prefer San Marzano tomatoes from southern Italy. These tomatoes are on the slightly sweet, yet acidic side which is the perfect match for the cheese I use. Some people like their sauce to be even sweeter and will use tomatoes grown in California. To each is own, I say. Some nonne (Italian for grandmothers) will add sugar to their sauce to reduce acidity and make the sauce even sweeter. That's not for me.
There are several purveyors of San Marzano tomatoes in the U.S. The Cento Organic tomatoes pictured above are my favorite. The organic tomatoes usually cost 30% to 50% more than conventional tomatoes. We can argue about whether or not organic is worth the extra cost. However, I prefer no pesticides in my sauce, so I'll pay the extra freight.
I'll give you a recipe but you should know that making great sauce is fairly simple. For God's sake, don't buy pizza sauce in a jar or can. It's always better to make it yourself. Always. Simply dump the tomatoes and liquid into a sauce pan. Add sea salt, granulated garlic, dried basil and dried oregano (maybe some onion powder and red wine if you want), turn the heat on low and stir often with a wooden spoon or stainless steel whisk.
Tomatoes are acidic and reactive. Make sure you cook the sauce in a non-reactive pot and use non-reactive cookware. Otherwise, your sauce will take on a metallic taste. The key is to give yourself plenty of time to cook the sauce down. By cooking about half of the water out concentrates the flavors and allows the sauce to remain wherever you put it on the pizza. If the sauce is watery, it will run all over the pizza and can make the crust soggy. Obviously, that defeats the purpose of a lovely, crispy, crunchy, crust. Got it? Good!
Cheese
The cheese is, in my opinion, one of the most distinctive things about Detroit Style Pizza. Most places around the Detroit area use Wisconsin Brick or a mix of Brick and other cheeses such as Mozzarella, Monterrey Jack, White Cheddar, Provolone or some combination thereof. I have experimented with these all and many more, even limburger which tastes great but smells terrible. Who would eat something that would knock a buzzard off a gut wagon?
I think the most flavorful cheese that melts perfectly for pan pizza applications is 75% Brick, 25% Monterrey Jack. Feel free to experiment and come up with your own cheese mix. It is important to shred the cheese so it melts in perfect uniformity. Placing big slices of cheese on a pizza can cause uneven quantities of cheese, particularly where the slices overlap.
Some may disagree, but I think that using dry cheeses such as low-moisture mozzarella (as used in tens of thousands of pizzerias around the globe) is a poor choice for this style of pizza unless it makes up a small percentage of the cheese mix. In order to bake all of the ingredients properly and get a good "bark" around the edges of the crust, you need a cheese with a higher moisture content, just like the crust. Spread the cheese around the pan and add a little extra to the edges to the cheese touches the pan. This is where the magic happens. The thin metal pan super heats the cheese and crust creating a "char" or "bark" that I talked about. So, you get this wonderful caramelized cheese and crust mix that is crunchy and flavorful. At my house, we fight over the corner pieces because you get more bark.
Brick cheese can be difficult to locate outside of the Detroit - Toledo area. Restaurant Depot in Louisville (and in every major U.S. city) used to stock it, but last time I checked, they did not carry it. However, if you have a membership, talk to one of the buyers and ask if they can special order it - they can probably still get it. They used to carry the Great Lakes brand and it came in 6 lb loaves. In our restaurant, we used to buy several of these loaves per week just for our antipasto salads and cheese sticks. Thankfully, we found distributors who would create our exact cheese mix, shred it and seal it in 5 lb bags, 4 bags to a case. We used a lot of that cheese!
You could buy Wisconsin Brick online, but the retail prices + shipping can be expensive. When I was first starting out, I bought some from Widmer's Wisconsin Cheese Mart. However, at $12/lb + sales tax and shipping, the cost would make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. https://www.wisconsincheesemart.com/products/wisconsin-brick-cheese-widmers
You can find 2 lb loaves on Amazon for about $9/lb (still about 4x the wholesale price)
Better still, you can contact my friend Linda Michaels at the Detroit Style Pizza Co. in the D. Her web site currently lists a 6 lb loaf of Great Lakes Brick for $38 + tax and shipping (~$6.33/lb) - a much better price than the others and very nice people! In fact, she will also sell you a complete DSP making kit and their proprietary dough mix via their web site. Here is the link: https://detroitstylepizza.com/products/great-lakes-brick-cheese-6-lb-avg-loaf
When you start with a solid loaf or block of cheese, you'll need to cut it down into more manageable chunks mainly because you probably won't be using 40 lb at a time. My advice is to cut it into 2 lb chunks, seal it and freeze it. Freezing it does something cool to the cheese (no pun intended). Just like feta, freezing the cheese causes little fractures that make it easy to break into smaller pieces. After it thaws, you might even be able to crumble the cheese without using a shredder. However, I recommend using a shredder because you can ensure more even coverage and move the shred right up the edges to give you those little crisp cheese blades that jut out from the edges like grass. Shredded Wisconsin Brick cheese is a beautiful thing, man.
Plan to use about 8 Oz of cheese for a 4 square pan and 16 Oz for the 8 square pan. Take care not to over-cheese the pizza. If you want extra cheese, add it to the middle of the pizza. Over-cheesing the sides will probably cause the edges to "blow-out." This can make the process of getting the pizza out of the pan very messy and make your DSP more closely resemble lasagna than pizza.
Pans
When I first began experimenting with my own DSP recipe, I was ignorant to how important the right pan is to this style. I tried all sorts of pans including non-stick square cake pans from Williams Sonoma. They are awesome for baking a German chocolate cake, but they just did not work very well for DSP. Then I discovered this place near Detroit named Roselli Wholesale Foods at 14 Mile Road and Groesbeck Hwy. Not only did they carry the authentic blue steel pans and lids used at places like Buddy's and Loui's in Detroit, but they also carried brick cheese in 40 Lb blocks. You heard me, 40 pounds! In fact, they carry just about everything an Italian chef could need. If you go, take a cooler with ice and be prepared to spend a lot of time when you get home cutting down the block into manageable chunks, sealing and freezing them for future use.
Anyway, back to the pans. You can Google Detroit style pizza pans and several listings will pop up. Again, you can go to my friend Linda Michaels at Detroit Style Pizza Co - she can usually get the real deal - authentic blue steel pans - and she will season them for you. These pans are economical and work great. Frankly, I think this style of pan gives you the best bake. These pans do not clean up as easily as hard anodized pans and will rust if you allow them to come in contact with water. Don't let them touch soap or water. Just use a bench scraper to remove stuck solid bits and use an old rag or towel to wipe out anything that remains.
Here are two sources for pans:
https://detroitstylepizza.com/products/10-x-14-steel-dsp-pan
https://lloydpans.com/detroit-style-pizza-pans.html
Generally, DSP pans come in two sizes 8 x 10 and 10 x 14. We call the 8 x 10 a "four square" pan and the 10 x 14 is an "eight square" pan. Just so you're hip to the lingo, a "square" is a slice. Savvy? While you are buying the pans, don't forget the buy lids. They work great, don't cost much and make the pans stackable to conserve kitchen space. You need the lids to protect your crust from air during the dough proofing process.
The hard-anodized pans work great but they tend to be expensive and they do bake a little differently than the blue steel pans. Either will work fine as long as you take good care of them. Follow the manufacturer's instructions.
Oil
We don't add any sort of oil to the dough or sauce. However, it is common practice to spray the pan with a good high-heat vegetable pan release before spreading out the dough in the pan. This will keep the dough and cheese from sticking (so make sure to get the inside edges of the pan too). This also helps fry the crust and cheese to give it that amazing crispy crunch you want in DSP.
Here, there are many approaches. I have used pan release with much success. I have also used a very light coating of olive oil and this too works just fine. Frankly, for the best crust, lard works the best. I have coated pans with lard many times and there is just nothing on earth that gives you a better bake (or higher cholesterol - which, is why I do not use it). You might also experiment with clarified butter or Ghee. These two products sound the same but they are different. The great part is that either will add butter flavor to your crust without burning like butter. Plain butter, clarified butter or ghee can add a cool texture called "leoparding" to your crust. It's a really nice effect and adds a wonderful taste. You may need to experiment a bit to find the right amount, heat level, etc.
Yeast and Water
In pizza making and baking, there are many philosophies about types of yeast and pre-ferments like poolish. When I make pizza, I generally try to keep it simple. However, there are some advantages to using pre-ferments because they can make the dough easier to digest. A pre-ferment is an example of the starter one would use to make a bread like sourdough. But, I find that your grocery store variety of active dry yeast dissolved in 100 degree tap water with a small amount of sugar or honey to activate the yeast (and make sure the yeast is still good) works as well as anything I have tried. Testing the yeast is usually a good idea. There's nothing worse than going through a bunch a trouble to make pizza just to find the dough did not rise at all. Just watch the yeast and water for a little foam to form at the top of the measuring cup before you put it into your mixer.
The key is to "give the yeast plenty of time to feast" (I know, I know) and do its job. Time and temperature are the important elements here. The cooler the temperature and lower the humidity, the more time is needed. The warmer and higher the humidity, the less time is required.
If you live someplace where the tap water sucks like pretty much anywhere in Florida, I recommend using good quality purified tap from a bottle. Places like Louisville, Detroit and New York have great tap water and great tap water is awesome for baking. I have even used club soda and seltzer water to get more bubbles into the crust. When proofing your dough, you could probably go about 8-12 hours at room temperature but any longer, the dough will probably over-proof, lose air and become flat like a pancake. You don't want that in your DSP. If you proof the dough in a refrigerator, you could slow proof it for a couple of days. I have seen guys in the International Pizza Challenge double and triple proof their dough over a multiple day process. I'm not sure what that really gains you in terms of quality and taste, but I do know that there are many things that can go wrong when you stretch this process out over several days.
My advice for DSP at home is to either 1. Proof the dough balls inside a zip-lock bag in the refrigerator over night, remove the dough from the fridge several hours before you plan to bake, bring it to room temperature and spread into a well-oiled pan, cover with a lid and give it at least 4-6 hours to rise; or 2. Make the dough early in the morning, weigh and form the dough into balls (8 Oz for 4 Square size, 16 Oz for 8 Square size), spread the dough into the pans using wet hands, cover and let it sit for at least 4-6 hours until it looks like the photo under Dough above.
Give the yeast time to do its job. If the yeast is good, you'll know shortly. "Once you cover the pan, leave it alone, man." Oops, I did it again. Maybe I should write a song.
Toppings
This is where you can get crazy if you want to. Generally there are only a couple of rules and frankly, it's even good to break those sometimes. First, if using flat meats such as pepperoni, Canadian bacon or salami, I find it is best to place these right on top of the crust and under the cheese. This does a couple of things. The oils in the meats tend to sweat out during the baking process and help form a barrier that protects moisture generated by baking toppings such as veggies, from leeching into the crust and making it soggy. It also keeps these toppings from burning. Sometimes it's nice to have burnt pepperoni ends depending on what you're going for. So, let's make this a matter of personal preference.
The second rule - and this is fairly important. The more toppings you use, the longer the bake time. You also create more steam from a lot of veggies which can make your crust soggy. The other downside of a lot of toppings is the extra weight will push down on the dough and flatten out the crust. If that is a concern, you can "par-bake," or partially bake the crust so it firms up before you start adding toppings.
Here's a tip on cool topping combinations. You can create the most interesting pizzas when you think about some of your favorite dishes and apply the ingredients to your pizza. In my Detroit Style Pizza Restaurant post, I mentioned three really interesting pizzas I created previously: Cajun shrimp etouffee with andouille sausage and dirty rice, Greek gyro with tzatziki and the "El Taco Loui," a street taco pizza. Other creative combos that you may have seen in various restaurants include Buffalo chicken with ranch dressing, Pad Thai, sliced meatballs with whipped ricotta and fresh basil, chicken bacon ranch, and even the ubiquitous Detroit coney dog pizza created by my friend Angry Pete in San Diego. Just think about some of your favorite dishes and turn them into a pizza like I once did with my take on McDonald's Big Mac hamburger - two all-beef patties (ground beef), special sauce (thousand island dressing), pickles, onion, lettuce, cheese and sesame seeds. These toppings make an amazing pizza.
Now, Let's Make Some Detroit Style Pizza
Detroit Style Dough Recipe (makes two 16 Oz Crusts = 2 – 8-square or 4 – 4-square pizzas)
|
Ingredients |
Oz (Weight) |
Grams |
|
AP Flour |
12.67 |
359.28 |
|
Semolina Flour |
5.43 |
153.98 |
|
Active Dry Yeast |
0.14 |
3.85 |
|
Diastatic Malt Powder * |
0.07 |
1.92 |
|
Salt |
0.11 |
3.21 |
|
Dry Ingredients |
18.42 |
522.24 |
|
Water by Weight (approximately 100
degrees F) |
13.58 |
384.94 |
|
Hydration Level |
75.00% |
75.00% |
|
Total |
32.00 |
907.18 |
* Diastatic malt powder is one of those secret ingredients that can make the difference between a professional and an amateur result. Diastatic malt enzymes help your yeast to grow more fully while the dough is proofing (i.e., during fermentation). This helps ensure a great result in the oven. If not available to you, you can add 1/2 teaspoon of sugar or honey to some water and then add the yeast, stirring and waiting until the yeast “blooms” and then add the water, yeast and sugar mixture to the dough.
Make the Dough
1. Use a stand mixer if you have one. If not, you can make great quality dough mixing by
hand – Plenty of Pizzaiolos do it by hand with stellar results - it's just more work. However, using a stand mixer makes it much
easier. Be sure to check your mixer's specs to ensure your mixer is robust enough for pizza dough - you do not want to burn
up your motor.
2. Proof the yeast with a small amount of water and either diastatic malt or sugar and then add the mixture to the flour and other ingredients when the yeast is fully in bloom. If your yeast does not bloom, it may be dead. Get some different yeast.
3. Add the ingredients together in the mixer bowl. Combining them thoroughly is critical. Begin mixing on a low setting and let the mixer do the work of combining and mixing all ingredients for about 10 minutes. If everything looks good and smooth, turn up the speed and let it go for another 10 minutes. You may need to take a rubber spatula and force the dough back under the hook to ensure everything is mixing properly (turn off the mixer before you stick your fingers or utensils into the bowl, please). After about 20 minutes, your dough should be thoroughly mixed.
4. This recipe assumes you are going to bake the pizzas the same day as you make the dough. When thoroughly mixed, cover the bowl with a towel and let it rise for approximately one hour, then portion it into 8 or 16 Oz balls depending on whether you are making 4 or 8 square pizzas.
5. Next, using a brush or paper towel, lightly coat the inside of the pan with some extra virgin olive oil (just enough to make the pan shine but not so much that the oil pools or runs from side to side when you tilt the pan). Press the dough ball into your pan by hand-stretching and flattening the dough 5 or 6 times. After that, avoid touching the dough until you are ready to add the toppings and bake. Cover the pan with a plastic lid or kitchen wrap and let the dough proof in the pan from 4 to 6 hours. The longer the proofing and fermentation time the better because the dough will rise, adding air to the crust. Watch the room temperature during proofing. If too warm, it may over-proof too quickly. 70-72 degrees Fahrenheit is the Goldilocks zone.
6. Refer to the photos above under "Detroit Style Pizza Dough." When the dough has risen, spread out to the edges and corners of the pan like in the photo, it’s party time.
Make the Sauce
Pizza (Marinara) Sauce Recipe
Ingredients Quantity
San Marzano tomatoes 1-28 Oz Can
Dried basil leaf 1/2 Tablespoon
Dried oregano 1/2 Tablespoon
Granulated garlic powder 1/2 Teaspoon
Salt 1 Teaspoon
8. Before you can bake the pizzas, you should pre-heat your oven to between 500 and 550 degrees Fahrenheit. Use the conventional setting, not convection or speed settings. Excess airflow (as in the case of convection) will burn the cheese and toppings. Speed settings that combine convection and microwaves will create a burnt, rubbery, mess.
The photo above illustrates how the dough has stretched out to the edges and corners of the pan, flat meats (Canadian bacon) has been carefully places on top of the dough and I have started to add my cheese mix, ensuring the cheese touches the edges of the pan.
Bake the Pizza
10. If you have an oven that will reach 550-degrees (F), depending on the size and quantity of cheese and toppings, the baking process will generally take about 12 to 18 minutes. I usually set my timer for 9 minutes and spin the pizza 180 degrees in the oven at the 9-minute mark. This helps address the fact that the back of the oven is usually significantly hotter than the front and helps ensure a more even bake. These times are based on the GE electric oven in my kitchen. Every oven cooks a little differently. You may need to experiment until you understand what it takes to get the perfectly baked pizza from your own oven. If you own a gas oven or are operating in a particularly humid environment, there is a strong chance the baking process will take longer than the timeframe I listed above.
Test for Doneness
11. If you remove the pizza from the oven and test the cheese and edges for doneness and find it is not getting done, don’t despair. In these situations, I can offer a couple of suggestions. First, take your spatula and separate the edges of the pizza from the pan all the way around. Lift the pizza up and look at the bottom. If the cheese and toppings are close to done but the bottom lacks a golden-brown color, you can remove the pizza from the pan and “deck the pizza.” Here, once the crust and edges have set up, you can place the pizza directly on a pizza stone or other hard flat surface in the oven – this will help the bottom crust get done. Another technique is to simply separate the edges from the pan and place the pan back into the oven. This helps some of the heated air reach the edges of the pizza and is often all that is needed to bake the pizza the rest of the way.
If you use a lot of toppings (like the photo above), the pizza will take more time to bake than a simple pepperoni or cheese pie. The more veggies, the more steam is generated in the baking process which can have a detrimental impact on other pizzas you may be trying to bake at the same time. If you are baking with a lot of veggies, I suggest baking the veggie pie after your other pies are baked. I would also recommend against baking other pies in the same oven at the same time as your veggie pie. The steam will make the dough in your other pies soggy.
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