Detroit Style Pizza

Recipe by Braxton Lee Allred

Heat: Stovetop
Time: 5 min + chill/rise
Makes: Not recorded

The soul food of Detroit. Sicilian immigrants adjusted their traditional square pizza when they came over, and has become THE dish of the city. It is quite different from Chicago or New York style pizza because of the way you cook it, the extra spicy and garlicky pizza sauce, and focaccia-bread like dough. You can find pans designed to make this pizza for pretty cheap online, but you can alternatively cook it in a 12 inch cast iron skillet. Once you start it’ll be hard to go back to your normal pizza pie!

Ingredients

Garlicky Pizza Sauce:
Soft Dough:
24-30 Ounces (I like to do half of my
1 cup warm water favorite normal pizza sauce and crushed
1 package dry active yeast (2 ¼ tsp) or diced tomatoes)
1 teaspoon sugar Fresh Garlic to taste (I add 2-3 cloves
2 teaspoons olive oil because I like the sauce very garlicky)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tsp garlic
2 ½ cups bread or pizza flour
1 tsp red chilli flakes
2 tsp oregano
Toppings:
½ tsp basil
8-12 ounces sliced pepperoni
¼ to ½ grated onion
12-14 ounces brick cheese (Traditionally Fish sauce to taste, at least 1 tsp (secret
you use Brick Cheese, but we use 8 oz. ingredient!) Monterey Jack and 4 oz. cheddar)

Method

01
For the dough: in a bowl or machine mixer add warm water, sugar, and dry active yeast. Wait for 10-15 minutes, or until the yeast starts to foam up and you know it's alive. Add oil, salt, and flour. The dough should be kneaded until the dough is not stuck on the side. It should be very soft and supple, and you might want to add flour to it. DONT. Add olive oil to your pan, and add the dough. Spread to the edges, and allow to rise for 60-90 minutes or until the dough doubles in size.
02
Tomato Sauce: Heat saucepan with some olive oil on medium-low heat. Cook garlic, oregano, and basil and red pepper flakes until fragrant, and then add the grated onion (juices and all). Brown for 1-2 minutes, and then add the pizza saice, crushed or diced tomatoes, and fish sauce. Simmer for at least 15 minutes, and reduce to your prefered texture (I usually cook mine for an 1 hour to get a really meaty texture). Usually this makes a little extra sauce but it saves well and goes great with a grilled cheese sandwich whenever you want :).
03
Preparing the Pizza: Preheat oven to 500-525 degrees. Take out the dough and bring your dough to the edges of the pan with your fingers (don’t worry about flattening the
04
dough). Add pepperoni saving some slices for the top, then cover with the cheese, making sure your adding more cheese to the edges of the pan. Ladle the sauce on top, either in random sports or in 3 rows. Add the rest of the pepperoni, and then sprinkle some extra oregano for a finish. Cook for 15 minutes, or until the cheese is golden-black on the edges, and the sides are well browned. Allow the pizza to sit for at least 5 minutes before serving. The pizza easily slides off the cooking surface, and is easy to serve that way. Enjoy!