Detroit-Style Pizza
A thick, airy rectangle baked in a well-oiled steel pan, with pepperoni under Wisconsin brick cheese spread to the very edge so it fries into a dark, crispy crown, and sauce spooned on top in stripes.
Buddy's Pizza says that in 1946, at Buddy's Rendezvous on Six Mile and Conant on Detroit's east side, Gus Guerra made his first square pizza, baked in "forged-steel pans borrowed from local automotive plants". For its 75th anniversary Buddy's listed what makes it authentic: blue steel pans once used in auto factories to hold small parts, a double-proofed dough stretched to the corners, pepperoni under the cheese, Wisconsin brick cheese spread edge to edge, and stripes of tomato sauce on top (FSR, 2021). Buddy's own history says the style was influenced by square Sicilian pizza. Who supplied the recipe is DISPUTED (see Rules).
🇺🇸 This one is American
A thick, airy rectangle baked in a well-oiled steel pan, with pepperoni under Wisconsin brick cheese spread to the very edge so it fries into a dark, crispy crown, and sauce spooned on top in stripes.
🇮🇹 The original
In Naples, pizza is a soft, thin-centered disc with a puffy, blistered rim, topped with tomato, mozzarella and basil and baked in about 90 seconds in a wood-fired oven. See the Pizza Napoletana Margherita recipe.
Why it works the kitchen science
Cheese against the pan wall
Brick cheese is rich in fat, so where it touches the hot oiled steel it fries into a dark, crisp, lacy edge.
Sauce on top in stripes
The sauce stays bright and thick instead of soaking the airy crust, and the cheese between the stripes can brown.
Step by step
- Step 1
Stir the flour, yeast, salt and water together until no dry flour remains. Rest 10 minutes, then knead about 10 minutes by hand (or 5 in a stand mixer) until smooth. Cover and let rise at room temperature about 2 hours, until roughly doubled.
- Step 2
Make the sauce: heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat, add the garlic, oregano and pepper flakes and cook 1 minute, until fragrant. Add the tomatoes, garlic powder, onion powder and sugar and simmer 30 minutes, stirring now and then, until reduced to about 3 cups. Season with salt. Keep half; refrigerate or freeze the rest.
- Step 3
Pour the 2 tbsp oil into a 10 x 14-inch Detroit-style pan (or two 8 x 8-inch metal cake pans) and turn the dough in it to coat. Press it flat, cover and rest 30 minutes, then stretch it into the corners. If it springs back, rest 10 minutes more and try again.
- Step 4
Set a rack in the lowest position and heat the oven to 550°F (or its highest setting).
- Step 5
Lay half the pepperoni over the dough. Scatter the cheese over it right to the edges so it touches the pan walls all the way round, then add the rest of the pepperoni.
- Step 6
Spoon about 1 1/2 cups warm sauce over the cheese in 3 long stripes.
- Step 7
Bake 12 to 15 minutes, until the cheese at the edges is black and bubbly. Run a thin spatula around the edge, slide the pizza onto a cutting board and cut into 8 squares.
Detroit-Style Pizza
Serves 4 (2 squares each) · one 10 x 14-inch pizza, 8 squares · 3 hr 45 min total
Dough
- 2 1/2 cups (300 g) bread flour
- 1 1/2 tsp (5 g) instant yeast
- 1 1/2 tsp (9 g) table salt
- Scant 1 cup (220 g) water
- 2 tbsp olive oil, for the pan
Sauce (makes about 3 cups; you'll use half)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- Pinch red pepper flakes
- 1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp sugar
- Salt
Topping
- 12 oz Wisconsin brick cheese, cut in 1/2-inch cubes (or 6 oz Monterey Jack or young cheddar plus 6 oz low-moisture mozzarella)
- 4 oz sliced pepperoni
Method
- Stir the flour, yeast, salt and water together until no dry flour remains. Rest 10 minutes, then knead about 10 minutes by hand (or 5 in a stand mixer) until smooth. Cover and let rise at room temperature about 2 hours, until roughly doubled.
- Make the sauce: heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat, add the garlic, oregano and pepper flakes and cook 1 minute, until fragrant. Add the tomatoes, garlic powder, onion powder and sugar and simmer 30 minutes, stirring now and then, until reduced to about 3 cups. Season with salt. Keep half; refrigerate or freeze the rest.
- Pour the 2 tbsp oil into a 10 x 14-inch Detroit-style pan (or two 8 x 8-inch metal cake pans) and turn the dough in it to coat. Press it flat, cover and rest 30 minutes, then stretch it into the corners. If it springs back, rest 10 minutes more and try again.
- Set a rack in the lowest position and heat the oven to 550°F (or its highest setting).
- Lay half the pepperoni over the dough. Scatter the cheese over it right to the edges so it touches the pan walls all the way round, then add the rest of the pepperoni.
- Spoon about 1 1/2 cups warm sauce over the cheese in 3 long stripes.
- Bake 12 to 15 minutes, until the cheese at the edges is black and bubbly. Run a thin spatula around the edge, slide the pizza onto a cutting board and cut into 8 squares.
Adapted from Serious Eats, "Detroit-Style Pan Pizza" by J. Kenji López-Alt (2017, one 10 x 14-inch pizza, serves 4). King Arthur Baking's "Weeknight Detroit Pizza" is an alternative that parbakes the crust. The pepperoni amount is ours (Kenji allows up to 12 oz). Serious Eats. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
Tips
- Brick cheese is a mild, high-fat Wisconsin cheese; look for it at a cheese counter or online. Jack plus mozzarella is the usual swap (Serious Eats).
- A dark pan is best. A glass dish won't give you the fried edge.
- Let the pizza sit 2 minutes before cutting so the cheese edge sets and releases from the pan.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Pepperoni under the cheese. Documented (Buddy's 75th-anniversary list). King Arthur's recipe puts it on top, so home recipes vary.
- Brick cheese, edge to edge. Documented (Buddy's; Serious Eats). Buddy's says crumbled, not shredded.
- Sauce in "racing stripes". Documented: Buddy's says stripes; Wikipedia uses "racing stripes".
- Pans from the auto plants. Folklore: Buddy's says the pans were borrowed from automotive plants to hold nuts and bolts, and Wikipedia cites Cook's Country saying they were made as drip trays or parts trays. No primary record was found; treat it as company lore.
- Whose recipe it was. Disputed: Buddy's credits Gus Guerra with employee Connie Piccinato; PMQ's Cloverleaf history credits Guerra's Sicilian mother-in-law; a genealogist calls that a rumor and credits his wife Anna's family dough.
- "The first known square pizza in the U.S." Disputed: that is Buddy's own claim, and its own page says the style was influenced by Sicilian square pizza.
- When the bar opened and when Guerra left. Disputed: Wikipedia says the bar was a 1936 speakeasy; PMQ says a 1944 partnership. Guerra's sale of Buddy's is given as 1953 or 1946.
Every other pizza
Pizza Napoletana Margherita
The Naples original: a soft, hand-stretched dough with a puffy, charred rim, topped with hand-crushed tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil and olive oil, and nothing else.
Pizza Marinara
Naples' other classic, and the older idea: tomato, sliced garlic, oregano and olive oil on a soft, charred crust. No cheese, and no seafood either.
Sfincione (Palermo-Style Sicilian Pizza)
Palermo's tall, spongy pan pizza: cheese and anchovies pressed into the dough, a sweet onion and tomato sauce on top, and a crunchy blanket of oregano and toasted breadcrumbs.
Roman Pizza al Taglio with Potato and Rosemary
Rome's sheet-pan pizza by the slice: a very wet dough, cold-risen for a day, baked airy and crisp, topped with paper-thin potatoes, rosemary and olive oil, and cut into rectangles with scissors.
New York-Style Pizza
The big, thin, foldable slice: a cold-fermented bread-flour dough with a little sugar and oil, a smooth cooked tomato sauce and grated low-moisture mozzarella, baked hot and long until the cheese spots brown.
Grandma Pizza
Long Island's thin square pan pie: an oiled sheet-pan crust, mozzarella first, then raw tomatoes tossed with garlic, olive oil and oregano spooned on top.
New Haven White Clam Pizza
New Haven's famous "apizza": a thin, charred crust with olive oil, garlic, oregano, grated Pecorino Romano and fresh littleneck clams, and no mozzarella.
Chicago Deep-Dish Pizza
A tall, flaky, buttery crust baked in a round pan, filled with a thick layer of mozzarella and topped with a chunky tomato sauce and Parmesan. Eat it with a knife and fork.
Chicago Tavern-Style Thin-Crust Pizza
Chicago's everyday pizza: a cracker-thin crust, a sweet herby sauce to the very edge, fennel-flecked sausage and mozzarella to the rim, cut into little squares.
St. Louis-Style Pizza
A cracker-thin crust rolled out with a pin, a sweet oregano sauce, toppings to the edge and gooey, smoky Provel cheese, cut into squares.
California-Style BBQ Chicken Pizza
The pizza that told America anything goes: barbecue sauce instead of tomato, smoky gouda and mozzarella, roasted chicken, red onion and fresh cilantro.
Weeknight Skillet Pizza
Store-bought dough crisped in a skillet on the stove, then finished under the broiler: a crackly-bottomed cheese pizza in about 35 minutes, no stone and no preheating.
Pan Pizza, Inspired by Pizza Hut
Inspired by Pizza Hut's Pan Pizza, not an official recipe: a thick, no-knead dough that rises in an oiled cast-iron skillet and bakes with a golden, almost fried bottom and cheese right to the edge.
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