Published: 2026-04-24 | 13
Here's a take that'll annoy purists: Detroit-style is the most fun pizza to make at home. Easier than NY. Easier than Neapolitan. No pizza peel. No stretching. No launching onto a screaming hot steel. You press a shaggy dough into a rectangular pan, top it, bake it. That's it. If you've never made pizza before in your life, start here. You'll think you're cheating.
But to do it right, you need two specific things, a real anodized steel pan (Lloyds Pans, not a regular baking dish) and actual brick cheese (Wisconsin brick, not shredded "mozz blend"). Skip either and you're making a pan pizza, not a Detroit.
A Lloyds 10×14 anodized aluminum Detroit pan is $30-40. A regular metal baking pan is $15. People ask if Lloyds is worth it constantly. The answer is yes, and here's why specifically.
Lloyds pans are pre-seasoned at the factory with a PSTK (permanent stick-resistant coating) that creates the exact non-stick surface Detroit-style demands. A regular baking pan isn't properly seasoned, your pizza sticks, your cheese-edge frico won't release, you end up tearing the bottom crust when you pull it out.
Also the dimensions. Real Detroit-style pans are specific: 10×14 inches with 2.5-3 inch walls. Random baking pans are usually 9×13 with 2-inch walls. The extra inch of depth matters for how the crust rises and the cheese edge forms.
Discount code DPOVEN-15 at lloydpans.com (15% off).
Detroit-style pizza uses Wisconsin brick cheese. It's sometimes called "stinky brick" because of its aroma (similar to Limburger but milder). It melts into creamy pools, gets a golden-brown crust when pushed against the pan, and has a sharper flavor than mozzarella.
Widmer's Brick is the most widely-available authentic Wisconsin brick cheese. Order online if you can't find it locally (most grocery stores don't stock it).
Substitutes in order of preference:
Whichever cheese you use, always shred it fresh from a block. Pre-shredded bagged cheese has anti-caking coatings that prevent clean melt and stop the frico edge from forming.
Makes enough for one 10×14 Detroit pan (one full Detroit pizza, 8 squares).
Most pizzas go: dough → sauce → cheese → toppings → bake. Detroit-style goes: dough → cheese → toppings → sauce on top → bake. It's backwards.
The reason: the cheese creates a barrier so the sauce doesn't soak into the dough. The sauce bakes on top into a concentrated, almost paste-like consistency that adds a bright finishing note without drowning the crust. And it looks iconic, those three red sauce stripes are the visual signature of Detroit-style.
The sauce recipe:
Sauté garlic in oil 1 minute, add pepper flakes, add tomato + paste + seasonings, simmer 10 minutes until thick. Cool before using. Makes enough for 3-4 Detroit pies; freezes well.
Under the cheese, always. Traditional Detroit-style places the pepperoni directly on the dough, then covers with cheese. Why? As the pepperoni cooks, its fat releases and bastes the dough from below, you get flavor in every bite instead of just on top. The cheese also protects the pepperoni from drying out under 15 minutes of heat.
Use cup-and-char pepperoni (Ezzo or Hormel Rosa Grande) for maximum flavor. Regular flat pepperoni doesn't cup up properly when buried under cheese, it just stays flat and soft.
All three are pan pizzas baked at similar temps, but the dough thickness, cheese placement, and sauce method are all different. Don't conflate them.
You can, but your cheese edge won't release cleanly and the dimensions are wrong. A proper 10×14 Lloyds Detroit pan is the single piece of equipment Detroit requires. Use code DPOVEN-15 at lloydpans.com.
Widmer's Brick is the standard, available via widmerscheese.com (ships direct) or at specialty cheese shops. Most regular grocery stores don't carry it. If you can't find it, 75% low-moisture mozz + 25% Monterey Jack is a decent substitute.
4-6 hours at room temperature. It should double and fill about 3/4 the depth of the pan. Don't push past 8 hours, the dough will over-proof and collapse during the bake.
Yes, the stone goes on the middle rack under the pan to provide a hot base. Works almost as well as steel since the pan insulates the dough from direct stone/steel contact anyway.
Three possible causes, not enough cheese pushed against the walls, pre-shredded bagged cheese (anti-caking coating prevents frico), or the pan isn't hot enough. All three fixable.
No. The oil is what creates the fried-crispy bottom crust and allows the cheese frico to release. 2 tablespoons minimum. Olive oil, canola, or neutral oil all work.