If you care about your cardiovascular health in any capacity, this Detroit style pizza should be a treat, not a routine. But it’s beyond worth it to inhale a slice or two, especially when you make it at home!

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top angle view of a detroit style pizza with pepperoni and cheese this recipe

Dough

The dough for this pizza is a high hydration dough made with bread flour. The higher water content softens the gluten in the flour, which allows larger air pockets to form within the crust as it rises. Using bread flour, which has a higher protein content, keeps the crust from becoming too soft and preserves the gluten structure.

The result? A chewy, thick crust with a satisfying texture that holds up.

Cheese

Instead of mozzarella, Detroit style pizza is traditionally made with Wisconsin brick cheese. And if you’ve never heard of that, don’t feel bad! It’s not readily available in stores – I don’t even remember seeing it when we actually lived in WI. Thankfully, you can get it online both a pound at a time and in bulk.

Brick cheese has a tangy, buttery flavor and a higher fat content than mozzarella. One of the things that sets Detroit style pizza apart is the crisp, blackened cheese crust around the edges, thanks to the extra butterfat. As the pizza cooks, a lot of the fat from the cheese renders down and gets underneath the dough, frying the bottom of the dough until it’s crisp.

That being said, you can also use a combination of low moisture mozzarella and Jack cheeses for a similar flavor.

blackened crust on the side of a whole, square pizza

Pans

Ideally, just like the cheese, you’d get a traditional pan, too. The black coating on a Detroit pizza pan conducts heat extremely well. This makes it easier for that deliciously fatty cheese to form a blackened crust along the edges.

If you’re not wanting to splurge on a niche pan, just use a couple thicker, good quality 8 x 8 square cake pans.

Toppings

You can top your pizza with whatever you want, it’s the order of things that make a Detroit style pizza more authentic or not. Similar to Chicago style, the cheese goes on first, and it’s cubed, not shredded. Next, pepperoni as desired, followed with two or three thick stripes of sauce. After the sauce, add more pepperoni!

If you have veggies or anything else to add, do so before the sauce.

top view of a detroit style pizza with pepperoni and cheese

Baking

Preheat your oven as hot as it can be, which for most people is 550F. Position a rack on the lowest level of the oven. Depending on what you own, place a baking steel, stone or baking sheet on that rack and let it heat up with the oven.

You want the oven to be as hot as possible when the pizza goes in, so let it preheat for 45 minutes, AT LEAST. If you have an oven thermometer, use it to make sure things are at the right temp. When it’s time to bake the pizza, set the pan directly onto the steel/stone/sheet.

After 15 minutes, remove the pizza and allow it to rest for 10 minutes or so before diving in.

close up detailed shot of the pepperoni on top of the pizza
Print
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stack of square pizza slices with parsley and parmesan sprinkles

Detroit Style Pizza

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  • Author: Megan
  • Prep Time: 4 hours
  • Cook Time: 20 minutes
  • Total Time: 4 hours + 20 minutes
  • Yield: 12 slices 1x
  • Category: Dinner
  • Method: Oven
  • Cuisine: American, Italian
Print Recipe

Description

This pizza is loaded with cheese, sauce and crisp pepperoni.

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 2 cups + 2 TB bread flour
  • 1 tsp instant yeast
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup water
  • extra virgin olive oil (as needed)
  • 14 oz pizza sauce
  • 16 oz Wisconsin brick cheese, cubed (see link below recipe and in post)
  • 12 oz pepperoni

Instructions

  1. Add the flour, yeast and salt to the bowl of your stand mixer, whisk to combine, and then add the water. Mix on low speed with the dough hook until a shaggy ball forms, then stop the mixer and allow to dough to rest for 10 minutes.
  2. After resting, knead on medium low speed until the dough has formed a smooth ball, which should take about 10 minutes. It will stick to the bottom of the bowl and still clean the sides.
  3. Remove the dough from the mixer and form the into a tight, smooth ball. Place into the mixer bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled, about 2 hours.
  4. After the dough has doubled, add about 2 TB of olive oil to the pizza pan and turn to coat the dough in the oil. Press down on the dough with your hands and gently stretch it towards the edges of the pan. The dough won’t reach all the way at this point, so don’t force it.
  5. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and allow the dough to relax for a half hour before gently stretching again. The dough should now reach the corners. If not, give the dough more time to relax.
  6. When you can stretch the dough to reach just above the corners, cover the pan with plastic wrap again and set it aside while the oven preheats.
  7. Preheat the oven to 550°F, and place a sheet pan on the lowest rack in the oven. Allow to preheat for at least 30 minutes, and up to 45. Layer half of the pepperoni on top of the dough, followed by the cheese, and finally add three or four thick stripes of sauce over the top and the remaining half of the pepperoni.
  8. Bake the pizza on the hot sheet pan for 15 minutes, or until the cheese has formed a black crust on the edges and the top is lightly golden. Remove the pizza from the oven, and use a thin metal utensil to loosen the edges and pop the pizza from the pan and onto a cutting board. Slice and serve hot.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 slice
  • Calories: 311
  • Sugar: 0.2 g
  • Sodium: 808.2 mg
  • Fat: 19.6 g
  • Saturated Fat: 8.4 g
  • Trans Fat: 0.4 g
  • Carbohydrates: 19.9 g
  • Fiber: 0.7 g
  • Protein: 12.9 g
  • Cholesterol: 46.8 mg

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