Detroit-Style Pizza
This was the first time that I have ever made a Detroit-style pizza, and it was honestly the best pizza that I have ever made…. and I’ve made a lot of pizzas. I topped this pillowy-pizza-goddess with pancetta cubes, homemade fresh tomato sauce, Havarti and cheddar cheese, and pepperoni. You can obviously top this with whatever pizza accoutrements that you’re into. It was so good that I don’t even have the vocabulary to articulate.
I used Jim Lahey’s pizza dough recipe, and I cut off about 1/4 of the dough because I thought a whole batch would be too much for one pizza. If you look at the pizza in the picture, if that is still too thick for you (even though Detroit-style is thicker) you could cut the dough in half and do two pizzas- it’ll still be pretty thick.
Pizza Ingredients
About 5 oz Cheddar Cheese, 1/2 inch cubes
About 5 oz Havarti Cheese, 1/2 inch cubes
4 oz uncured pancetta, cubed
20 pepperonis
1 cup Fresh Tomato Sauce
All toppings are custom to your preferences, use more or less of whatever you’d like!
Jim Lahey Pizza Dough
My Pizza Cookbook (affiliate link)
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 teaspoons fine sea salt
1 1/2 cups cool water
This recipe can make 2 Detroit-style pizzas, or if you like a pizza as thick as the pizza in the picture above, then just cut off 1/4 of the dough and use the rest for the pizza. You can use the remaining dough for a smaller, normal pizza, or a mini bread!
Instructions
In a medium bowl, thoroughly blend the flour, yeast, and salt. Add the water and, with a wooden spoon and/or your hands, mix thoroughly.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and allow it to rise at room temperature (about 72°) for 18 hours or until it has more than doubled.
Drizzle 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil into a 9”x13” pan. Scrape dough out into pan and cut off 1/4 of the dough & set aside (you will not be using that dough) or if you are making 2 Detroit Pizzas, cut the dough in half and oil 2 pans and complete these steps with both pans.
Gently stretch the dough into the edges and corners of the pans until it won’t stretch any further and then cover the pan and let rest for 20 or 30 minutes. After that time has passed, stretch the dough again until it reaches the edges- if it doesn’t in the second round, let it rest again for another 20 minutes and repeat this process a third time. Once the dough is stretched to the edges of the pan, cover the dough and let it rest again for another 30-45 minutes.
Preheat the oven oven to 500°F and set the rack in the lowest position in the oven. Make the sauce and get the toppings ready!
Fresh Tomato Sauce
This makes about 2 cups of tomato sauce. I probably used 1 cup on the pizza. This would be enough for 2 Detroit-style pizzas
Ingredients
4-5 vine-ripened tomatoes/smaller tomatoes
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon oregano
1/4 cup olive oil
3 teaspoons anchovy paste
2 large cloves garlic, grated
This is the best tomato sauce ever!!! It doesn’t taste like traditional pizza sauce, it taste like fresh marinated tomatoes. It’s very bright and acidic and the anchovies give it major umami flavor. You can mess with the ingredient amounts- make it and then taste it and add in whatever else you’d like. It tastes more like a pureed bruschetta- so good on pizza!
Pizza Construction:
I put the pancetta directly on top of the dough, then layered the cheese, then topped tomato sauce in 3 lengthwise rows, and then added the pepperoni on top. Make sure to distribute the cheese to the edges of the pan.
Add the pizza to the bottom rack of the oven and cook until the cheese is bubbly and the edges of the pizza are almost black/caramelized- about 12-15 minutes. Remove from oven and use a spatula around the edges/sides of the pizza to loosen it from the pan and let rest for 10 minutes.
Transfer to cutting board and cut and enjoy!
Top with spicy honey if you’re feeling it!
