Mr. Cheap makes a Detroit Style pizza

[bobluvspizza]

Those Pizza Hut ads flooding the internet finally got to Mr. Cheap and he made his first Detroit style pizza last night. Inspired by the famous Hans B post #115 and the other 5 pages of contributions from this elite assemblage I went for it. Purchased a Lloyds' 10x8 pan because Amazon offered me a 20% discount. After missing the promised delivery date they sent me two and charged me for one. Thank you so much for your incompetence Amazon! (First World angst resolved) Took a trip to the "better" supermarket near me and bought Galbani whole milk Mozz and Cabot Monterey Jack bricks. No Wisconsin brick cheese was found and I went with brands I knew and trusted. They had Vermont pepperoni which I had never "paid up" for before. Stuff is great! Mr. Cheap really should step up his game.

High hydration dough scares and frustrates me. I used the wife's Kitchenaid mixer with the dough hook. Whether or not I got it mixed and kneaded the proper amount of time is debatable. It was still a sticky mess but I was determined to stick to the recipe. I managed to get it into a ball and put it in a bowl with probably too much corn oil and into the frig.

100% Bread Flour (an off brand... Mr. Cheap, remember) 170g
70% HYD Tap water room temp 120g
1% IDY 1.7g
2% Salt 3.4g
1.5% Sugar 2.6g (deviated from Hans' LDMP because mine is old and I didn't want to spoil the pie with a bad ingredient)

(I probably should have stayed with the #115 160g flour amount but I thought a thicker crust would be more to my liking, even though I never ate a Detroit pizza in my entire life unless Noble Romans from the 1970s counts)

14 Hours in the refrigerator overnight. 4.25 hours on the counter in the oily bowl in the morning. (should have put that sucker in the pan in hindsight and let it rise there)
Greased a brand new Lloyds 10x8 pan with butter flavored crisco and let the wet blob of dough sit for 2 hours. Stretched it to the four corners gently and let it sit for 4.5 more hours with a light sprinkle of oregano on top.

Mid-afternoon I cooked a sauce with an inexpensive 28oz can of crushed tomatoes and the usual spices: oregano, salt, pepper, sugar, garlic powder. I only had fresh basil so I cut up a few leaves. All in all not a bad sauce. I let it sit and then reheated it while the pie baked.

I diced the mozzarella and monterey jack into tiny cubes. A little under 4 ounces each. (Didn't weigh... just cut the 8 ounce bricks in half) I sliced by hand the Vermont pepperoni stick into probably a few pieces less than I should have.

Fired up the gas oven to 525 degrees (or whatever 525 degrees is in my oven)

I took care to pile up a good amount of the jack cheese around the perimeter for that burnt cheesy goodness. It worked, but shredding a bit for that purpose would have been easier in application. I then covered the dough with nearly all the mozzarella and the remaining jack cheese. The surface was completely covered so I left out just a bit of the 4oz of mozzarella. Calculating the cut pie would be six pieces I laid out the pepperoni accordingly. Dangit! I was caught a little short. Mr. Lazy then said go for it anyway instead of slicing off 3 or 5 more slices.

{beep beep} Oven ready and onto the center rack... 10 minutes later I take a peek: It's bubbling around the edges but neither looks or smells burnt, so I stick to the Hans formula and let it go 2 more minutes. Out of the oven, still frying underneath I cleared the edges with a spatula and much to my delight it slides right out onto a cooling rack. Took some pics (following) and moved it to a cutting surface. Dropped the sauce on the six pieces and went at it.

Conclusions:
1. More experience with the mixer and wet dough and I will feel better about the process.
2. Less oil in the landing zone, or do it in the morning and skip the frig entirely. (Mr. Lazy understands the beauty and science of the CF, but just wants to get the food in belly)
3. Scale back the flour to 160g and but better flour
4. For an Opus One it didn't suck. Other than the unmentioned failures while making the dough I call this a success.

Pictures to follow...

[bobluvspizza]

More pics... I placed the pepperoni on top to get the cupping and slight burnt edges. No hiding the grease!

[HansB]

Well done!

[bobluvspizza]

I lied... Two more. dough in the pan.

[bobluvspizza]

Well done!

Thanks to you maestro. As they say, I couldn't have done it without you.