The BEST Detroit Style Pizza recipe is cheesy and chewy with crispy edges! The toppings are spread all the way to the edges and it is baked to perfection. Nothing beats a slice of this!
Make dough: Stir all ingredients together in a bowl or stand mixer. Knead for several minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.
First rise: Place in a well-greased bowl, turning once in the bowl to coat in oil, then cover and allow to rise for 2 hours. (Don't skimp on the rise times!)
Press into pan: Oil the bottom and sides of a pizza pan*. Stretch dough into a rectangle and lay into pan(s). Cover and rest for 15 minutes, to allow the gluten to relax. Without handling the dough too much, gently spread the dough all the way to the edges of the pan, poking it into the corners, in a flat even layer (there’s no “crust” edge in Detroit pizza).
Second rise: Rise again for 2 hours, or until the dough has risen about 1/3 way up the pan.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. I recommend baking the pizza on a pizza stone, or if you don't have a pizza stone, use a baking sheet, and allow it to preheat in the oven.
Add cheese: sprinkle cheese all over the dough, making sure it covers all the way to the edges.
Add sauce: spoon pizza sauce into 2-3 lines/stripes going down the pan, over cheese—you don’t want to cover all the cheese in sauce.
Add pepperoni, laying it in a single layer over the top. Lightly sprinkle parmesan on top.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until cheese is golden and bubbly. Cool for a few minutes in the pan before slicing into squares.
Video
Notes
Make Ahead Instructions: Make pizza dough and refrigerate overnight or for several hours, for the "first rise". Remove from fridge and allow to come to room temperature before pressing into the pizza pan. Freezing Instructions: Make and knead pizza dough wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and place in a freezer bag for up to 3 months. Thaw completely in the refrigerator then allow to come to room temperature and rise for about an hours before pressing into the pizza pan. Bread Flour: I highly suggest using bread flour, and not substituting all-purpose. The dough layered with all of the toppings doesn’t hold up as well with all-purpose.Cheese: Authentic Detroit-style pizza uses diced pieces of Brick Cheese which is a Wisconsin style cheese. I can’t get it in my area, so I use Low moisture mozzarella. I recommend buying a block of cheese rather than pre-shredded from the store, and grate it on the large holes of your box grater.Pepperoni: Natural casing pepperoni will cup and char as it cooks, and is delicious! I use this Boars Head pepperoni found at my local grocery store. You can substitute regular thin pepperonis.Sauce: If you’re going through the work to make this homemade dough, you HAVE to make my EASY pizza sauce for this recipe—it will make the difference between good, and AMAZING Detroit pizza!Pizza Pan: You can find Authentic, pre-seasoned steel Detroit Style Pizza Pans here (highly recommend!). If you’re not ready to commit, you can use a metal 9x13 inch baking pan. I’ve tested both with success, but the crust does get crispier with the true steel pan. If using a regular metal baking pan, I suggest baking the pizza pan on a hot pizza stone.