Detroit Pepperoni

Rectangular, pan-baked, crispy at the edges from caramelised cheese, soft and airy in the centre. The sauce goes on top of the cheese, not underneath. The frico cheese crust at the edges is the point. Use a 23 x 33cm blue steel or anodised aluminium pan if you have one; a 23 x 33cm metal baking tin works well too.

The Dough

1. Combine flour and yeast. Add water and mix until combined. Rest for 15 minutes.
2. Add salt and mix well. The dough will be very wet: 76% hydration. This is correct.
3. Mix in a stand mixer with a dough hook for 8 minutes on medium until the dough is smooth and stretchy. It will still be sticky.
4. Cover and ferment at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours until noticeably puffed and bubbly.

Building the Pizza

1. Pour the olive oil into the pan and spread to coat the sides and corners.
2. Tip the fermented dough into the pan. Gently spread it toward the edges using your fingertips dipped in the pan oil. If it springs back, leave it for 15 minutes and try again.
3. The dough should reach the corners. Cover loosely and rest for 30 minutes.
4. Cut or tear the mozzarella and brick cheese into pieces and scatter over the dough, pressing pieces to the very edges and corners of the pan. This is where the frico crust forms: the cheese must touch the metal.
5. Lay the pepperoni slices over the cheese.

The Sauce

Simmer crushed canned tomatoes with garlic and olive oil for 15 minutes. Season with salt and oregano. Cool slightly. The sauce goes on last, after the cheese and pepperoni.

1. Spoon the sauce in three or four stripes across the top of the pepperoni. Do not spread it: the stripes are traditional and allow the cheese to brown and char in the gaps.

Baking

Preheat the oven to 240°C (fan 220°C). Bake for 16 to 20 minutes on the bottom shelf. The edges should be visibly caramelised and dark: this is the frico. The cheese on top should be golden-brown. The interior, when you lift a corner with a spatula, should be golden and crispy on the base.

Rest in the pan for 5 minutes after baking. The frico continues to crisp as it cools slightly.

Run a thin spatula around the edges to release the frico, then slide the whole pizza onto a cutting board. Cut into 6 or 8 rectangles.

Method

Detroit pizza lives on frico — the shattered, caramelised cheese crust that forms where mozzarella meets hot metal. Everything else serves that goal.

Mix flour and yeast, add the warm water, and rest for 15 minutes without salt. This pizza-dough-hydration autolyse lets the flour fully hydrate; you're aiming for 76% hydration, which means a slack, sticky dough that will trap steam and create the signature airy crumb. Add salt after the rest, mix on medium speed with a dough hook for eight minutes until the dough clears the sides of the bowl — it should be smooth and elastic but still tacky. Ferment at room temperature for one to two hours. You want visible puffing and a dimpled surface; the dough doesn't need to double.

Oil a 23 × 33 cm blue steel or anodised aluminium pan generously. Tip the dough in and stretch it gently with oiled fingertips toward all four corners and edges — the oil prevents sticking and is essential for the frico later. If the dough springs back aggressively, rest it for 15 minutes under a cloth and try again. Once it reaches the edges, leave it to relax for 30 minutes uncovered; this second rise builds gas in the dough.

Tear low-moisture mozzarella and Wisconsin brick cheese into uneven pieces and scatter them across the dough, pressing each piece firmly so it makes contact with the pan's metal surface. Lay cup-and-char pepperoni over the cheese. Simmer canned tomatoes with crushed garlic and a pinch of olive oil for 15 minutes, season with salt and dried oregano, then cool slightly. This concentrates flavour and prevents the sauce from rehydrating the crust. Spoon the sauce in three or four stripes across the pepperoni, leaving gaps where pizza-cheese can brown and char unobstructed — do not spread it flat.

Bake at 240°C (fan 220°C) on the bottom shelf for 16 to 20 minutes. Watch for the frico: the edges should be visibly dark and caramelised, almost charred at the corners. The cheese on top turns golden-brown, and when you lift a corner with a spatula the base should be crispy and golden. Rest the pizza in the pan for five minutes; the frico continues to crisp as it cools. Run a thin spatula around the edges to loosen the crust, then slide the whole pizza onto a board and cut into six or eight rectangles.