The BEST Detroit-Style Pizza at Home
I make this Detroit-style pizza nearly every Friday for dinner, and it is always a hit. Friday pizza night has basically become a Polychrome Goods tradition, and this easy homemade Detroit-style pizza recipe is the one everyone asks for: a golden, crisp bottom; a light, fluffy, focaccia-like center; charred pepperoni; and those dark, crunchy cheese edges that make every corner piece disappear first.
If you have been searching for the best Detroit-style pizza at home, an easy pan pizza recipe, a food-processor pizza dough, or a crispy cheese-crust pizza that actually works in a regular home oven, this is it. You can make the dough in a food processor, stand mixer, or by hand—or use store-bought pizza dough. But honestly, making your own pizza dough is SO easy, and the airy, focaccia-like crust is worth it.
Jump to the printable recipe ↓
My flour pick: 00 flour. Bread flour gives you a little more chew, and regular all-purpose flour absolutely works too. The goal is a soft, slightly sticky, focaccia-like pizza dough—not a firm ball like a New York-style dough.
Easy Homemade Detroit-Style Pizza
Makes one 10 × 14-inch pizza or two 8-inch square pizzas | Rise: 1–2 hours | Bake: start checking at 12 minutes
For the Dough
- 2 very generous, overflowing cups 00 flour (about 300 g), bread flour, or all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon instant or active dry yeast
- 1 cup lukewarm water
- ¼ teaspoon sugar, optional, for waking up the yeast
- 1 generous tablespoon kosher salt—I use Diamond Crystal; use less if your salt is finer or denser
- About 2 tablespoons olive oil, canola oil, or vegetable oil, for the pan
To Finish
- 1 block Monterey Jack cheese, cut into small cubes
- 1 whole bag shredded whole-milk mozzarella
- 1–1½ cups Rao’s Pizza Sauce, or any thick pizza sauce you like
- Pepperoni or any toppings you love
I love the Monterey Jack and whole-milk mozzarella combination, but almost any good melting cheese will work. And yes, you can use the whole bag of mozzarella.
Shop the Pizza Ingredients
Affiliate disclosure (paid links): As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
- Flour: Caputo 00 pizza flour on Amazon, bread flour at Whole Foods, or all-purpose flour at Whole Foods
- Yeast and sugar: SAF instant yeast on Amazon and sugar at Whole Foods
- Salt: Diamond Crystal kosher salt on Amazon
- Pan oil: olive oil at Whole Foods or canola or vegetable oil at Whole Foods
- Pepperoni: pepperoni at Whole Foods
- Cheese: Monterey Jack at Whole Foods and whole-milk mozzarella at Whole Foods
- Sauce: Rao’s Pizza Sauce on Amazon
Whole Foods selection and delivery availability vary by ZIP code.
Four Ways to Make the Dough
1. Food Processor—My Favorite
If using active dry yeast, stir it into the lukewarm water with ¼ teaspoon sugar and let it sit for 5 minutes. Add the flour and generous tablespoon of kosher salt to the food processor and pulse to combine. With the machine running, pour in the water and yeast. Process until the dough forms a ball, about 30 seconds, then let it ride around the blade for another 30 seconds.
MY TIP: Instant yeast can go directly into the flour, but I still like to wake it up in the water first. If it does not look foamy or active after 5–10 minutes, start over with fresh yeast.
2. Stand Mixer
Combine the flour, yeast, and kosher salt in the mixer bowl. Add the water and mix on low until a rough dough forms. Rest for 10 minutes, then knead with the dough hook on medium-low for 8–10 minutes, until smooth, silky, soft, and tacky.
3. By Hand
Whisk the flour, yeast, and kosher salt together in a large bowl. Stir in the water with a wooden spoon until a shaggy dough forms. Rest for 10 minutes, then knead on the counter for about 10 minutes, until smooth and stretchy.
4. Store-Bought Pizza Dough
A 1-pound ball of store-bought pizza dough works beautifully. Take it out of the refrigerator, place it in a lightly oiled bowl, cover it, and give it plenty of time to warm up and rise—usually 2–3 hours, depending on how cold it is. You want it soft, puffy, relaxed, and easy to stretch. If it keeps snapping back, it needs more time.
MY TIP: Store-bought dough still needs to rise. Cold, tight dough straight from the refrigerator will not give you the same light, fluffy Detroit-style crust.
Know Your Dough
The finished dough should be soft and tacky, but it should not paste itself to your fingers or the inside of the processor or mixer bowl. If it is too sticky or wet, add flour 1 tablespoon at a time. If it is too dry, add water 1 tablespoon at a time and keep mixing.
Transfer homemade dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and leave it somewhere warm for 1–2 hours, until it has doubled in size.
MY TIP: The dough MUST roughly double in size. If it does not, your yeast may be dead—or the room may be too cold—and the crust will not be as light and fluffy.
Pan, Top, and Bake
Oil the Pan
Add about 2 tablespoons of oil to a proper 10 × 14-inch Detroit-style pizza pan, a deep cake pan, or two 8-inch square cake pans. Olive oil tastes great, but canola or vegetable oil has a higher smoke point. It really does not matter which one you use—the oil just needs to be there to crisp and almost fry the bottom of the pan pizza.
Turn the dough in the oil, then gently press it toward the edges. If it springs back, cover it and rest for 20–30 minutes before stretching again.
Build the Pizza
First, cover the dough with a full layer of pepperoni. Next, scatter the Monterey Jack cubes and the whole bag of shredded whole-milk mozzarella over the first pepperoni layer, pushing plenty of cheese all the way to the edges.
MY TIP: Always shove a few cubes of Monterey Jack directly into every corner and along the edges. Those cubes melt against the pan and create the dark, crispy cheese crown that makes Detroit-style pizza so good.
Add a second layer of pepperoni on top of the cheese. Finally, spoon Rao’s Pizza Sauce—or any thick pizza sauce—over everything in stripes. The exact order is: pepperoni → cheese → pepperoni → sauce.
WHY THE SAUCE GOES ON TOP: It looks a little backwards, but it works. Putting the sauce on last helps keep the light, airy crust from getting soggy while the cheese and pepperoni crisp underneath. The sauce stays bright and punchy on top, and you still get some in every bite.
Bake It Hot
Place the pan on the second-to-bottom oven rack and bake at 525°F. Start checking the pizza at 12 minutes.
MY BIGGEST TIP: It WILL be smoking. Do not pull it just because you see smoke. Stay nearby, turn on the hood, and wait until the cheese around the edges looks DARK AND CRISP. The center needs that time to cook through and become light and fluffy.
If the top is browning too quickly, loosely cover it with foil for the final few minutes. If you prefer less smoke, lower the oven temperature and bake the pizza longer. It is ready when the edge is deeply caramelized, the center is set, and the bottom is golden and crisp.
Run a thin metal spatula around the edges, lift the pizza onto a cutting board, slice, and get a corner piece before everyone else does.
Serious Eats’ Detroit-Style Pizza Alternatives
This recipe was inspired by J. Kenji López-Alt’s excellent Detroit-Style Pan Pizza recipe at Serious Eats. Their testing offers a lot of useful alternatives, so here they are in one place:
- Dough methods: Use a food processor, stand mixer, or knead by hand. A long no-knead ferment also works, but it produces a more rustic, open, focaccia-like crumb.
- Flour: Serious Eats prefers bread flour for a chewy, open crumb. All-purpose flour makes a more tender crust. I prefer 00 flour, and all three work.
- Yeast: Instant yeast can be mixed directly with the flour. Active dry yeast can be dissolved in the water first. I like blooming either one so I know it is alive.
- Pan: A dark 10 × 14-inch Detroit-style pan gives the strongest edge browning. Two deep, seasoned or nonstick 8-inch cake pans are a very good alternative and give you extra corner pieces.
- Cheese: Wisconsin brick cheese is the traditional choice. Serious Eats’ closest supermarket substitute is a roughly 50/50 mix of low-moisture mozzarella and young Monterey Jack. Cheddar can also be used around the edge for a grilled-cheese-like crust.
- Sauce: Make a thick sauce from canned crushed tomatoes, garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, onion powder, and optional sugar, simmered until reduced. Or use Rao’s Pizza Sauce—or any thick jarred pizza sauce—to keep Friday dinner easy.
- Sauce timing: Spoon the sauce over the cheese before baking so everything cooks together, or warm it separately and add it after baking.
- Pepperoni placement: Serious Eats presents under, over, or both as options. I always do both in this exact order: a full pepperoni layer, cheese, another pepperoni layer, then sauce. Natural-casing pepperoni curls and crisps especially well.
- Toppings: Pepperoni is classic, but any favorite pizza topping works as long as very wet toppings are cooked or drained first.
- Oven temperature: Bake as hot as your home oven comfortably goes—typically 500–550°F. Lower the temperature and extend the bake if you want less smoke.
- A crisper bottom: Place the pan on a preheated baking steel. Serious Eats also discusses using the floor of an appropriate oven; check your oven manufacturer’s guidance before trying that method.
- If the top cooks first: Cover the top loosely with foil and keep baking until the center and bottom are finished.
More Pizza Fun from Polychrome Goods 🍕
Printable Recipe: The BEST Detroit-Style Pizza at Home
A crispy-edged, focaccia-like homemade Detroit-style pizza layered with pepperoni, Monterey Jack, whole-milk mozzarella, more pepperoni, and Rao’s Pizza Sauce.
Yield: One 10 × 14-inch pizza or two 8-inch square pizzas
Prep: 20 minutes | Rise: 1–2 hours | Bake: 12–18 minutes
Shop the Ingredients
Affiliate disclosure (paid links): As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
- Caputo 00 pizza flour on Amazon, bread flour at Whole Foods, or all-purpose flour at Whole Foods
- SAF instant yeast on Amazon, sugar at Whole Foods, and Diamond Crystal kosher salt on Amazon
- olive oil at Whole Foods or canola or vegetable oil at Whole Foods
- pepperoni at Whole Foods, Monterey Jack at Whole Foods, and whole-milk mozzarella at Whole Foods
- Rao’s Pizza Sauce on Amazon
Whole Foods selection and delivery availability vary by ZIP code.
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 2 very generous, overflowing cups 00 flour (about 300 g); bread flour or all-purpose flour also works
- 1 teaspoon instant or active dry yeast
- 1 cup lukewarm water
- ¼ teaspoon sugar, optional, for blooming the yeast
- 1 generous tablespoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt; use less if your salt is finer or denser
- About 2 tablespoons olive, canola, or vegetable oil
For the Pizza
- 8–12 ounces pepperoni, divided into two layers
- 1 8-ounce block Monterey Jack, cut into small cubes
- 1 whole 8-ounce bag shredded whole-milk mozzarella
- 1–1½ cups Rao’s Pizza Sauce, or any thick pizza sauce
Instructions
- Wake up the yeast. Stir active dry yeast into the lukewarm water with the sugar and wait 5 minutes, until active or foamy. Instant yeast can be added directly to the flour, but blooming it first confirms that it is alive.
- Make the dough. Pulse the flour and kosher salt in a food processor. With the machine running, pour in the yeast water. Process until a ball forms, about 30 seconds, then let it ride around the blade for another 30 seconds. The dough should be soft and tacky, not pasty. Correct wet dough with flour and dry dough with water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
- Let it rise. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and leave somewhere warm for 1–2 hours, until roughly doubled in size.
- Heat the oven and oil the pan. Put a rack in the second-to-bottom position and heat to 525°F. Add about 2 tablespoons oil to a 10 × 14-inch Detroit pan or divide it between two 8-inch square cake pans.
- Stretch the dough. Turn the risen dough in the oil, then press it toward the corners. If it springs back, cover and rest for 20–30 minutes before stretching again.
- Add the first pepperoni layer. Cover the dough with a full, even layer of pepperoni.
- Add the cheese. Scatter the Monterey Jack cubes over the pepperoni, deliberately shoving cubes into every corner and along the edges. Cover with the whole bag of shredded whole-milk mozzarella, all the way to the pan edges.
- Add the second pepperoni layer. Arrange another full layer of pepperoni over the cheese.
- Finish with sauce. Spoon Rao’s Pizza Sauce over the pepperoni in stripes. The finished order is pepperoni → cheese → pepperoni → sauce. It looks backwards, but adding the sauce last helps keep the airy crust from getting soggy while everything underneath crisps.
- Bake. Start checking at 12 minutes. It WILL smoke. Stay nearby and keep baking until the cheese edges look DARK AND CRISP and the center is cooked through. Loosely cover with foil if the top browns too quickly, or lower the temperature and bake longer for less smoke.
- Unpan and serve. Run a thin metal spatula around the edges, lift the pizza onto a cutting board, slice, and serve immediately.
Dough Method Alternatives
- Stand mixer: Mix until rough, rest 10 minutes, then knead with the dough hook on medium-low for 8–10 minutes.
- By hand: Stir into a shaggy dough, rest 10 minutes, then knead for about 10 minutes.
- Store-bought: Use a 1-pound dough ball and let it warm, relax, and become visibly puffy outside the refrigerator for about 2–3 hours before stretching.
THE ORDER TO REMEMBER: PEPPERONI, CHEESE, PEPPERONI, SAUCE. Then bake until those edges are genuinely dark and crisp.
