Detroit Style Pizza Pie

This recipe is based entirely on the Serious Eats version, but I edited it down for reasons I hope are self-evident.

Ingredients

For the dough:
  • 300g bread flour
  • 5g instant yeast
  • 9g salt
  • 220g water (a little less than 1 cup)
For the toppings:
  • 12 ounces of brick cheese, cubed; or 6 ounces of mozzarella combined with 6 ounces of Monterey Jack
  • Pepperoni
  • Sauce

Recipe

  1. Mix flour, yeast, and salt in the mixer's bowl.
  2. Add water.
  3. Mix on low speed until dough comes together into a sticky mess at the bottom of the mixer, about 10 minutes.
  4. Continue to mix at medium-low speed for about 10 more minutes. It should stick to the bottom of the bowl as it kneads.
  5. Form dough into a ball (use flour on your hands), set in the bottom of the mixer bowl.
  6. Cover with plastic wrap, and set aside in a warm place until dough has roughly doubled in size, about 2 hours.
  7. Get a 9×13 metal pan (“official” Detroit pizza is 10×14 I guess).
  8. Pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil into pan.
  9. Take your dough and coat it in all over in the oil.
  10. Start stretching out the dough towards the edges of the pan, but note that it will not stretch the whole way. Don't tear the dough.
  11. Once you have it as stretched as far you think it's going to go, cover the pan with plastic wrap and let it sit in a warm place for another 30 minutes.
  12. Set oven rack to lowest position.
  13. Preheat oven to 525°F.
  14. After the 30 minutes, the dough should be able to stretch (with a little bit of coaxing) to the edges of the pan.
  15. You can add the toppings in traditional pizza order, or do it Detroit Style with the pepperoni first, then cheese, then more pepperoni, then three or so lines of sauce across the length of the pie. The cheese should go all the way to the edges (no exposed crust)!
  16. Bake for 15 minutes. Cheese at the edges should be dark and crispy, and the rest of the cheese should be starting to brown.
  17. Remove from pan and cut into squares.

This article was updated on May 2, 2023