Detroit Style
intro
Iconic square cheesy pizza from Detroit, Michigan, with a thick airy focaccia crust, crispy fried frico cheese edge, curled pepperoni cups, and signature dolloped tomato top.
Ingredients
Steps
Mix the pizza dough
In a large mixing bowl, combine 320g bread flour, 7g instant yeast, and 8g kosher salt. Stir in 240ml warm (40°C/105°F) water and 15ml (1 tbsp) olive oil until a shaggy, sticky dough forms with no visible dry flour pockets. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature (21°C/70°F) for 2 hours, until the dough doubles in size and has small bubbles across its surface.
Prep the square pan
Pour the remaining 30ml (2 tbsp) olive oil into a 23x33cm (9x13 inch) heavy-gauge aluminum square pan (traditional blue steel Detroit-style pan preferred), tilting to coat the entire bottom and 1cm up the sides evenly. Do not wipe away excess oil, as this creates the signature crispy fried crust edge during baking.
Stretch and proof dough
Gently transfer the risen, bubbly dough to the oiled pan. Use oiled fingertips to press and stretch the dough evenly across the entire pan bottom, dimpling the surface as you go. If the dough springs back repeatedly, let it rest for 5 minutes before resuming stretching, until it reaches all pan edges. Cover loosely with oiled plastic wrap and let proof for 15 minutes at room temperature while you preheat the oven to 260°C (500°F) with a rack in the middle position.
Layer cheese to edges
Once the dough is done proofing, sprinkle all 340g of shredded brick or mozzarella cheese evenly across the dough, making sure to spread cheese all the way to the very pan edges to create the crispy, golden frico crust when baked. Do not leave a bare border of crust, as is traditional for Italian-style pizza.
Top and bake pizza
Arrange all 113g of thick-cut pepperoni slices in an even layer across the cheese, spacing slices 1cm apart so they crisp into curled cups as they cook. Dollop 30ml (2 tbsp) spoonfuls of the 180ml pizza sauce in 3 even rows across the pepperoni (6 total dollops, the traditional Detroit-style red top application, with no sauce spread under the cheese). Place the pan on the middle oven rack and bake for 15 minutes at 260°C (500°F), until the cheese at the edges is deep golden and crispy, sauce is gently bubbling, and pepperoni slices are curled into cups with rendered fat bubbling in their centers.
Rest and serve pizza
Remove the pan from the oven, and immediately sprinkle with 28g grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and 1g dried oregano. Let the pizza rest in the pan for 5 minutes to set, then run a thin knife around the pan edges to loosen the crispy frico crust, lift the whole pizza onto a wooden cutting board, cut into 8 equal square slices, and serve hot.
Tips
2.Use thick-cut (3mm) pepperoni instead of thin deli slices; thin slices will burn at high heat instead of curling into the classic grease-holding crispy cups.
3.Skip spreading sauce under the cheese—this traditional 'red top' method of dolloping sauce on top of the cheese before baking prevents the thick crust from turning soggy.
OMG, I made this for our weekly family dinner last night and it was a total hit! My kids kept asking for seconds before they even finished their first slice. The crispy cheese edge is chef’s kiss, way better than the takeout Detroit style we usually order. Only thing I messed up was stretching the dough too thin on one corner, oops.
Game changer! Brought this to our neighborhood potluck last weekend and the whole pan was gone in 10 minutes flat. Everyone kept asking where I got the recipe, I felt like a total pro. Cook time felt a little long but 100% worth the wait for that fluffy, crispy crust.
I was nervous about the medium difficulty rating since I’m pretty new to baking bread, but this recipe was so easy to follow! I prepped the dough Sunday night and baked it up for Monday dinner, zero stress. The pepperoni cups that get all crispy in the middle? SO good, I could eat those straight off the pan. Only tiny complaint is I wish I’d bought the right size square pan, my round cake pan made the crust a little thicker than pictured.
Grew up on NY slice, was skeptical that a Detroit style pie could live up to the hype, but wow – this recipe converted me. The crispy frico crust edge, the sauce dolloped on top, the thick pillowy dough? Absolute perfection. I added a little extra oregano and red pepper flake to the sauce and it hit just right.
This looks absolutely insane! Has anyone tried making this with gluten free bread flour? My husband has celiac and I’ve been searching for a good Detroit style GF recipe that doesn’t turn out dense or crumbly. If it works with a 1:1 GF flour swap I’ll be making this every Friday for pizza night, no cap.
Made this in my dorm’s tiny apartment oven last week and even with my janky old baking sheet it turned out SO good! My roommates and I split the whole pan between the three of us while we studied for midterms, best study break meal ever. 10/10, will be making this every other week for sure.
I need everyone to know that the cheese pull on this pizza is insane. I took a video for my food Instagram and it got 200 likes, all my followers are asking for the link now. Pro tip: use a mix of low moisture mozz and a little bit of white cheddar for extra depth of flavor, trust me.
Wait, the total cook time says 2 hours 45 minutes – most of that is inactive dough rise time, right? I’m trying to plan out our Saturday night dinner timeline so I don’t have hangry kids banging on the oven door asking when it’s done. Looks too good to mess up the timing!
Leftovers of this are even better the next day! I heated a slice up in my air fryer at 400 for 3 minutes and the crust got even crispier than it was fresh out of the oven. Meal prepped two pans this week so I have quick lunches all work week, game changer for my busy schedule.
I’ve never made pizza dough from scratch before and I was so intimidated, but the step by step instructions for this recipe were so clear! My dough rose perfectly, the crust was light and fluffy, even my super picky sister said it was better than our local pizza joint’s Detroit pie. So proud of myself!
Quick question! Do I need to use the cup-and-char pepperoni for this to be authentic? I only have regular sliced pepperoni in my fridge right now and I don’t feel like running to the grocery store in the rain. Will it still turn out good if I use what I have?
I swapped the suggested quick sauce for my family’s homemade Sunday marinara and it was a match made in heaven. The thick crust stands up so well to a heartier sauce, no soggy middle at all. Served this with garlic bread and Caesar salad for our extended family dinner last Sunday, everyone went back for thirds.
Okay, full transparency: I burned the first batch of this because I got distracted playing with my dog and forgot to set a timer. But it smelled so good while it was baking that I made another batch the next day, set three timers, and it was perfect. Worth every minute, even the slightly charred first attempt got picked at by my dog lol.
Made this for my office potluck yesterday and I had three people slide me their Venmo asking me to make them a whole pan for their families. It’s that good. The crispy cheese edges are addictive, I had to stop myself from picking at them before I brought the pan in to share.
Added a drizzle of hot honey on top after baking and oh my GOD, it’s the best sweet-savory combo ever. The spice from the pepperoni, the sweet honey, the salty crispy cheese? I could eat an entire pan by myself, no shame. 10/10, will be adding hot honey every single time I make this from now on.
This is way cheaper than ordering delivery for my family of four! All the ingredients cost me less than $15 total, and we had enough leftovers for lunch the next day. Way better quality than the $30 delivery pizza we usually get on Friday nights, this is our new go-to for sure.
I never eat pizza crust but I ate every single bite of the crust on this pizza. The buttery, crispy, cheesy edges are so good I was scraping the pan to get every last crumb. Who even am I right now?
Tasted great, but my smoke alarm went off twice while baking because the cheese dripped a little onto the bottom of my oven. Definitely put a baking sheet on the rack below the pizza pan next time to catch drips, lesson learned. Flavor was 10/10 but the smoke alarm chaos knocked a couple points off for me.