Detroit Pizza

A pizza with a slightly thicker crust that is cooked in an oven dish instead of pizza stone. Applying the cheese up to the very edge of the dough (in contact with the oven dish) causes the outer crust to fry in the rendered cheese fat and intensely crisp up. 

Ingredients

For a 1120cm2 metal oven dish:

• 500g bread flour

• 375ml warm water (~75% hydration)

• 3g dough enhancer (optional)

• 10g olive oil

• 10g salt

• 10g instant yeast

Toppings:

• Low moisture mozzarella (or brick cheese)

• Cheddar

• Additional toppings of choice

Pizza Sauce:

• Olive oil

• 3 cloves minced garlic

• Dried oregano

• Red pepper flakes

• Garlic powder

• Onion powder

• Sugar

• Salt

• Tin of chopped tomatoes

Directions

Forming the dough:

1. The dough for this pizza is a scaled down version of the focaccia recipe and uses the same oven dish. Whereas the focaccia has a thick crumb, this pizza base is slightly thinner to account for the pizza toppings. Combine flour, oil, dough enhancer and sugar in a bowl and add to food processor.

2. Combine warm water, yeast and salt in a glass/bowl and stir to mix. Then add to food processor.

3. Process for about 30 seconds and check for window paning to signify gluten development. This is quite a lot of dough, so it may need to be processed in 2 batches depending on the food processor size.

Dough rise & gluten development:

4. Add the sticky processed dough to an oiled bowl (add flour to hands or dough to ease with handling, but not too much) and cover.

5. Leave the dough for 20 minutes and then perform a ‘stretch and fold’. This involves lifting one side of the dough as high as possible (without tearing) and then folding back onto itself. Do this for each of the 4 sides, and leave to rest for another 20 minutes. This is one set of stretch and folds. Stretching and folding (in combination with the high hydration dough) accelerates gluten development which gives the aerated and fluffy interior.

6. Perform an additional 3 sets of stretch and folds, leaving at least 20 minutes between each set.

7. Place covered bowl in fridge if fermenting overnight, or leave out at room temperature if cooking same day.

8. The dough can be left in the fridge for up to 7 days. Performing a additional few stretch and folds will increase gluten development, but is not necessary.

Forming the pizza:

9. Generously oil and salt the bottom of the oven dish and tip the dough into it. Massage the dough into the corners as much as possible without pressing down too hard and de-gassing. If the dough is springing back, leave for 10 mins and knead the final parts into the corners. Leave to rise/proof for another hour or so.

10. Create the pizza sauce by gently frying the garlic, and then adding the crushed tomatoes and dry ingredients. Leave to simmer very gently for up to an hour.

11. Apply a layer of cubed low-moisure mozzarella (or brick cheese, if available) and cubed cheddar. Add the cheese layer before the sauce layer. Make sure to distribute the cheese cubes completely across the dough, including the very edges of the dish. This is essential for browning the outer crust. 

12. Add the pizza sauce is 3 even lines length-ways across the dough. Add any toppings of choice.

Cooking the pizza:

13. Add to a preheated oven and cook until it is deeply browned (approximately 20 minutes, but this is variable). Pierce with a knife to check that the internal dough is cooked. 

14. Leave to rest for about 15 minutes. Slice and enjoy.