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Detroit-style pan pizza has the fluffiest, crispiest dough, and it’s loaded with sauce and cheese. It’s one of my favorite styles of pizza, and you don’t have to travel to Detroit to get it because it’s super easy to make at home!
I love serving it with salad and buffalo wings for a complete meal!
You’re going to love this easy recipe because it doesn’t require a pizza stone or pizza oven. All you need is a 9×13 baking dish and a few ingredients!
Table of Contents
INGREDIENT NOTES
See the recipe card below for ingredient quantities and complete instructions.
- Flour – I highly recommend bread flour for this recipe but you can sub all-purpose flour. I made it both ways and both were good, but the bread flour provided a crispier, chewier dough.
- Sauce – Homemade or store-bought is fine. You can also use vodka sauce instead.
- Cheese – You could use all mozzarella if that is what you have, provolone could be substituted with fontina. Traditionally, in Detroit pizza, they use a cheese called Wisconsin Brick, but that can be hard to come by as it is not commonly sold in grocers throughout the country. If you can find it, use that, but otherwise, mozzarella is a great substitute.
TOP TIPS
- Reducing the pizza sauce is important as it removes some of the water content. If the sauce is really wet, you could end up with a soggy pizza. You can also ladle the sauce over the pizza once it comes out of the oven.
- Add the cheese before the sauce so the dough doesn’t get wet and soggy. Adding the cheese first helps the crust turn out crispier.
- Add plenty of olive oil to the pan so the bottom gets crispy. Put extra cheese around the edges too, so it gets crispy and buttery when it melts. Detroit-style pizza is supposed to have a crispy crust, and the cheese helps make that happen.
- Use a 9×13 metal cake pan or Detroit pizza pan if you have one. The darker the pan, the better the heat transfer and the crispier/darker the bottom and edges of your pizza will be.
WHAT OTHER TOPPINGS CAN I ADD?
Pepperoni pizza is the classic Detroit style, but like with any pizza, the toppings which are best are the ones you love.
Let your tastebuds guide you. I personally love extra cheese, caramelized onions, sausage, and fresh basil.
STORAGE
Leftovers can be placed in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. This pizza is best reheated in an air fryer at 370F for 4 minutes or until the cheese becomes melty.
You can also reheat in an oven at 370F for about 6 minutes. A microwave can be used as a last resort, it will make the pizza a bit soggy, but it only takes about 45 seconds to warm up.
YOU CAN ALSO FREEZE IT…
I usually cut the pizza into squares and freeze them flat on a baking sheet in the freezer. Once frozen, I place the frozen pizza squares into a zipper top bag and keep in the freezer for up to three months.
Best to let the pieces thaw before trying to reheat.
Tried this recipe? Please leave a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. And consider following me on Facebook or Pinterest!
Detroit Style Pan Pizza
Equipment
- 9×13 baking pan
Ingredients
Pizza Dough
- 2 ¼ cups bread flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons instant yeast
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup warm water, not hotter than 115F
- Olive oil to grease pan and bowl
Pizza Sauce
- 1 tablespoon 30ml olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning
- 28 oz can crushed tomatoes, I also tried canned whole tomatoes and pureed them with hand blender. It worked but the crushed tomatoes were better.
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon sugar, or to taste
- Salt and pepper to taste
Pizza Toppings
- 7 oz Cup and char pepperoni, divided
- 10 oz mozzarella cheese
- 3 oz provolone
- Fresh basil and red pepper flakes, optional
Instructions
How to make the dough:
- In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer add in the flour, instant yeast, and kosher salt. Mix with a spoon, then add in the warm water. Use the spoon to mix the water in to form a shaggy dough (about 30 seconds of mixing with the spoon). Now, using the dough hook attachment turn mixer on medium speed and mix for 5 minutes (on my KitchenAid Mixer I used level 4 speed). You will have a smooth elastic and moist dough. Remove the dough hook and place the dough in a clean bowl which has been lightly greased with olive oil. (The dough is quite sticky, so moisten your hands with water to prevent it from sticking).
- Let the dough rise in a warm place for 30 minutes or until it has doubled in size. If you don’t have all this equipment, cover your bowl of dough with plastic wrap and leave it in a warm place to rise until it has doubled, it will take longer than 30 minutes depending on how warm it is.
- Once the dough has doubled, add about 3 tablespoons of olive oil to the bottom of a dark empty 9×13 metal cake pan or Detroit pizza pan if you have one.
- Place the dough in the pan. Use your fingers to gently dimple and stretch the dough towards the edges. Do not force it to the point of tearing. The dough will not be able to reach the edges on the first stretch, this is normal. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and set aside to rest allowing the gluten strands to relax a bit before stretching again.
- After about 15 minutes of resting, try to stretch the dough to the edges again. I only needed this one 15 minute rest, but if your dough still won’t reach the edges, let it rest again for another 15 minutes then continue stretching. Once fully stretched to the edges cover with plastic wrap and set it aside to allow it one final rest, while you make the pizza sauce.
How to make the sauce:
- Heat a medium/large saucepan over the stovetop set to medium/high heat. Once hot, add in the olive oil and then the fresh garlic and Italian seasoning. Sauté for about 30 seconds or until it becomes fragrant.
- Add in the crushed tomatoes, sugar, garlic and onion powder. Stir and bring to a simmer. Allow the sauce to simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes with occasional stirring. While the sauce is reducing, preheat the oven to 500F and make sure the rack is at the lowest level. If you have pizza stone you can place it on the bottom rack.
Assembling the pizza (use ½ the sauce made in this recipe)
- Add some of the cheese cubes around the perimeter touching the edges of the pan.
- Place about ½ of the pepperoni evenly down on the dough.
- Add the rest of the cheese cubes so they are evenly dispersed all over the pizza.
- Use a large spoon to spread the pizza sauce in three evenly spaced strips along the length of the pizza, one down the middle and one on each side.
- Add the rest of the pepperoni to the top of the pizza.
- Place the pan pizza onto the lowest rack and bake for 12-15 minutes. The edges should be dark and crispy, the cheese in the middle melty, and the pepperoni should be cupped.
- Remove from the oven and allow it to rest for a minute or two before cutting and serving.
Notes
- Reducing the pizza sauce is important as it removes some of the water content. If the sauce is really wet, you could end up with a soggy pizza. You can also ladle the sauce over the pizza once it comes out of the oven.
- Add the cheese before the sauce so the dough doesn’t get wet and soggy. Adding the cheese first helps the crust turn out crispier.
- Add plenty of olive oil to the pan so the bottom gets crispy. Put extra cheese around the edges too, so it gets crispy and buttery when it melts. Detroit-style pizza is supposed to have a crispy crust, and the cheese helps make that happen.
- Use a 9×13 metal cake pan or Detroit pizza pan if you have one. The darker the pan, the better the heat transfer and the crispier/darker the bottom and edges of your pizza will be.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
