"Detroit Style" - Buddy's or Shield's

[foreplease]

That looks good to me. I'm somewhat surprised at the nice browning you were able to get with what appears to be an aluminum pan. However you did it, it looks fine. Welcome to the forum and thanks for a great first post.

[u4ea]

That looks good to me. I'm somewhat surprised at the nice browning you were able to get with what appears to be an aluminum pan. However you did it, it looks fine. Welcome to the forum and thanks for a great first post.

Thanks Tony! I baked it at 350 F for about 20 minutes on the bottom rack, I find if I bake it at  400-500 F and not on the bottom rack the middle is still doughy and not cooked enough. BTW, it was an aluminum pan but I just bought a steel pan unfortunately it's steel colored and not blue. Are there any more Loui's fans out there looking for the "Loui's holy grail" ?
Looking forward to other Detroit style pizza connoisseurs posts. 
Have a great day!
u4ea

[apizza]

That looks good to me. I'm somewhat surprised at the nice browning you were able to get with what appears to be an aluminum pan. However you did it, it looks fine. Welcome to the forum and thanks for a great first post.

I have a couple of pans that look like aluminum but are actually aluminized steel. Their results are much better than all aluminum, more like the pictures.  u4ea does a magnet stick to your pan?

[u4ea]

Yes it does!
I thought it was aluminum, but it's at least partially iron/steel!
Great catch Marty!
Who knew?

[wilson502]

I have a more general question. I noticed some places will cook the sauce/heat the sauce and put it on the pizza after the pizza is baked with no sauce on it. Is there a meaningful difference to cooking/heating the sauce separately vs putting it on top of the cheese and cooking it with the pizza?

[HansB]

Your preference. Buddy's originally put the cooked sauce on the pizza post bake and still does. Detroit Style Pizza Company does too. Cloverleaf and Loui's sauce before bake. I mostly sauce before bake.

Try both and see what you prefer.

[2_Ton_Tony]

I grew up about a mile from the original Detroit Buddy's. Although IMO it was the best pizza in town then, they have faded...Como's in Ferndale is knocking out the best Detroit style pizza for me now. A while back I transcribed this recipe from Cook's Country on PBS, Buddy's gave them access to their kitchen and it really comes out nice IF you use brick cheese. Don't be afraid to let the edges get very well done, I have my best result's with the convection oven on and a full fifteen minutes. I put pepperoni on the dough first and then often add some on top after the sauce stripes go on. Watch your rising dough closely, I have had it rise in as fast as an hour and sometimes two hours depending on your room temp. I use a hard anodized aluminum pan with sloped edges and it always pops right out after letting the finished pizza rest as noted. I also have always used bread flour although my next attempt will be with Caputo 00.  Enjoy!

Buddy's pizza recipe from Cook's Country
https://www.cookscountry.com/videos/3971-detroit-style-pizza



Sauce:
1 cup of crushed tomatoes
1 tbs fresh chopped basil
1 tbs olive oil
1 clove of chopped fresh garlic
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
½ tsp sugar
½ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp salt

Dough:
Prepare the nonstick 9x13 baking pan by adding 1 tbs of olive oil and brushing it up the sides and into the corners.
2 ¼ cups of all purpose flour
1 ½ tsp sugar
1 ½ tsp rapid-rise yeast
Mix these ingredients with a whisk, then add them to a mixer on low speed with a dough hook attachment for two minutes after adding 1 cup of room temp water. Cover the mixer bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough sit for ten minutes. This is an important step for the autolyse/resting period before kneading. I had to scrape down the sides of the bowl while mixing the dough to get it all combined.
After letting it rest add ¾ tsp of salt and knead it in the mixer on medium speed for 8 minutes, if you notice that the dough is not cleaning the sides of the bowl after a few minutes of kneading you can slowly add up to a tablespoon of flour until it firms up.
Set the finished dough into the baking pan for 15 minutes, covered with plastic wrap.
After the rest, dip your fingertips into olive oil and press the dough out evenly in the pan. If you can't get it into the corners don't worry, after the long rise it'll fill them.
Wrap the pan with plastic again and let the dough rise for 2-3 hours until it has tripled in size. If it's in a warm environment keep an eye on it, it'll rise more quickly. Preheat your oven to 500 degrees with the rack in a lower position.
Add 2 ½ cups of shredded cheese ( I use one pound of brick cheese shredded) across the entire surface of the dough and be sure to get it up to the edges of the pan and corners. This will be important for having crispy edges after baking. (brick cheese is best, although Monterey Jack is suitable.)  Add the sauce as shown in the video and then follow with your favorite toppings. If you use pepperoni place it directly on top of the dough under the cheese, all other ingredients go on top.
Bake it for 15 minutes at 500 degrees F; I used the convection setting to ensure even baking although if you don't have that setting you can rotate the pizza halfway through the baking process to ensure even cooking. A few extra minutes of baking time will give you and more crispy pizza. If you use convection, 15 minutes will be perfect
After removing the pizza from the oven make sure to leave it in the pan to set for at least five minutes, then use a knife to be sure that the edges aren't stuck on the sides. Use a spatula to help lift the pizza onto a cutting board for slicing.

[Longs]

The America's Test Kitchen recipe is (almost) the one I use for Detroit style pizza.  I modified it just a bit. My dough is very basically a copy of the America's Test Kitchen version although I don't usually use a stand mixer.  I worked at Whirlpool for a few months shy of 30 yrs and bought a heavy duty Kitchenaid stand mixer 20 yrs ago just for making pizza dough.  Mine got lots of use for many years and still works just fine but now I tend to just do no-knead doughs with maybe 1/3 the amount of yeast and let it cold ferment in the refrigerator for 48-72 hours before letting it get back up to room temp and panning it.  Now my wife actually uses the stand mixer more than I do.

I also use a different pan, just an el-cheapo $6 Walmart baking pan with lid. The plastic lid helps keep my dough from drying out as it rises in the pan.  It works just fine and is very easy to clean afterwards. 

I think I have mentioned it here before but I lived in Michigan all my life until I was 64 yrs old and I had never heard of Detroit style pizza until the America's Test Kitchen episode.  Of course, I lived on the Southwest-side of the state about a mile and 1/2 from Lake Michigan and that area is heavily influenced by being much closer to Chicago.  But even Chicago deep-dish was nothing I ran across in my area.  It was mostly typical New York style pizza. 

I never looked for Wisconsin brick cheese back when I lived in SW Michigan but it might not be difficult to find there, I'm just not sure.  I live in South Carolina now and, like America's Test Kitchen, Monterrey Jack cheese is the best I can do here.  I like it just fine and often use it now instead of mozzarella even when I make New York "style" pizzas at home.  I like the more tangy taste of Monterrey Jack a lot better than any of the mozzarella I have tried here in S.C.  I do tend to keep 8-ounce blocks of both on-hand but I am becoming less impressed with mozzarella as time goes on.  I usually add some thinly sliced onion, hot Italian sausage and pepperoni to my Detroiters, too.....and on special request from several of my wife's girlfriend....pineapple.  I don't use pineapple often but I do like it sometimes.   

[matermark]

I buy Brick cheese from Simply Cheese in Indiana. I buy at least 5 pounds at one time to spread the shipping over each pound, and they are vacuum sealed and last refrigerated, for me, over a year--I don't worry what the date says as long as it is sealed and passes the eye test.

[Timpanogos Slim]

I buy Brick cheese from Simply Cheese in Indiana. I buy at least 5 pounds at one time to spread the shipping over each pound, and they are vacuum sealed and last refrigerated, for me, over a year--I don't worry what the date says as long as it is sealed and passes the eye test.

I bought an entire loaf from Widmer's in November and vacuum sealed it in chunks.

I agree that a good jack cheese can be pretty good on this and other styles of pizza. I don't have a favorite jack cheese yet. I used to make sourdough pizzas with jack cheese, mushrooms, and a ton of garlic. I think i was using a local brand at the time.

tillamook? boar's head? idk.

Utah is in the grips of extra innings of winter. I need to take advantage of the last few really cold nights to smoke some cheese this week. Epic quantities of snow are predicted tomorrow, and more snow tuesday and wednesday, though easter sunday is supposed to be in the 60's.

[matermark]

I have read/heard that Widmer's is a longer aged Brick cheese, meaning it may have an odor, not like limburger cheese but still detectable, do you notice any? Conversely, I've read that a "young" or mild Brick cheese doesn't have these issues of odor or aged taste. I instead changed course and sought out mild Brick cheese. I think mozzarella, provolone, mild Brick and even Monterey Jack have some similarities as mild tasting... it's been at least a few years since I bought any Brick, must check the back of my fridge to see if I used it all up...

[matermark]

I bought an entire loaf from Widmer's in November and vacuum sealed it in chunks.

I agree that a good jack cheese can be pretty good on this and other styles of pizza. I don't have a favorite jack cheese yet. I used to make sourdough pizzas with jack cheese, mushrooms, and a ton of garlic. I think i was using a local brand at the time.

tillamook? boar's head? idk.

Utah is in the grips of extra innings of winter. I need to take advantage of the last few really cold nights to smoke some cheese this week. Epic quantities of snow are predicted tomorrow, and more snow tuesday and wednesday, though easter sunday is supposed to be in the 60's.

Buffalo had a Hi over 60F Saturday, 50+mph winds, temps tumbled into the 30's a couple hours later. Many 'burbs were without power & cable even Sunday morning. Haven't seen any snow in over a week or more... some 'burbs get snow and the city doesn't...

[Timpanogos Slim]

I have read/heard that Widmer's is a longer aged Brick cheese, meaning it may have an odor, not like limburger cheese but still detectable, do you notice any? Conversely, I've read that a "young" or mild Brick cheese doesn't have these issues of odor or aged taste. I instead changed course and sought out mild Brick cheese. I think mozzarella, provolone, mild Brick and even Monterey Jack have some similarities as mild tasting... it's been at least a few years since I bought any Brick, must check the back of my fridge to see if I used it all up...

I have allergies so my sense of smell isn't the best, but i have not detected any offensive odor from the 'mild' widmer's brick. They do offer aged versions and warn that those versions stink.

I was pretty disappointed when i discovered that the little tub of aged brick spread i ordered is like 85% cheddar.

[Michael Scott]

Cooked off some square pies this weekend. Same day and overnight dough. No pre-cook on the sauce, no saucing post cook. Blue steel pans, 520 convection bake (new oven), WI brick that I've had vac packed in my fridge forever.

I don't believe any of the original DSP places ladle sauce on after cooking - not that it doesn't work or can't make a great pizza.