Recently, I took my mom and son Luke to a new place that opened in Baltimore, Underground Pizza. There was a big write up in the recent edition of Baltimore magazine, and I decided I wanted to check it out since Underground runs a pop up on Sundays through Annapolis.
We were early arrivals at the restaurant, and everyone was very friendly. Although all the selections sounded amazing, we decided to go with the Quattro Stagioni, which is a sampler pie. Traditionally, this is a pie in Italy that is translated as the “four seasons” and has mushrooms on one quarter, artichokes on another, olives, and ham in the third quadrant, and prosciutto on the fourth quarter. It is one of my favorite pizzas when I order a traditional Neapolitan pie. At Underground, this pizza has wild mushrooms, pesto, pepperoni, and Italian sausage. It’s a work of art and very colorful! My mom, who knows her way around bread making and pizza, wondered why the pizza was taking so long after we had been waiting 30 minutes. Little did we know that the preparation of this particular pizza is somewhat complex and requires time!
The pizza came out piping hot on a rack cut into eight squares. We had decided to go a little wild and also order the “Nonna,” which has caramelized onions, vodka sauce, fennel pollen and Italian sausage. The flavor profiles were delicious, but we were in for a greater shock once we decided to dig in.
What was surprising for us, was how light the dough for the pizza was when we tasted it. I expected it to be heavy, like a Sicilian pie or Chicago style pizza, which is very delicious, but extremely heavy! Not so, in the case of the Detroit pizza. The best part was the end of the crust, which I normally skip. It had a layer of fried cheese around it that was surprising and heavenly. It tasted almost like a frico, which is an Italian cheese crisp – one of my favorite snacks in the world!
Naturally, the second I got home after this outing; I became obsessed with making my own Detroit pizza. I watched a number of videos and read all about it. I really didn’t know much about it but learned that it was invented in Detroit at Buddy’s, a neighborhood bar owned by Gus Guerra. He enlisted the help of his wife, Anna, who borrowed a dough recipe from her Sicilian mother. This is interesting, since my mom is very familiar with Sicilian pizza, but feels it is fairly heavy and doesn’t enjoy it. Known as sfincione, it has a thicker crust almost like a focaccia and is baked in a rectangular pan. When I was a child, I thought my mom’s homemade pizza based on Sicilian style recipes was the best thing I had ever eaten. But that’s because my mom didn’t make it the way they do in Sicily, with breadcrumbs on top of the tomato sauce and caciocavallo cheese. To a child, that would not have been the bee’s knees, so I’m glad she stuck with pepperoni and mozzarella, which tasted like the nectar of the gods to my inmature palate!
But this Detroit pizza is very intriguing. The key ingredient in a proper Detroit-style pizza is the pan. The characteristics of the pizza – the soft and airy square crust, the crunchy exterior, the caramelized cheese that edges the pizza – are all due to the deep pans in which the pizzas are baked. The pans are a thick steel that are more similar to a cast iron skillet than a cake pan. Apparently, Gus got his initial batch of pans from a friend who worked in a factory that used the pans for spare parts.
I knew in making my own Detroit style pizza that I would need to have the right pan. Amazon to the rescue. They sell a Lloyd pan, which is perfect for making a Detroit style pizza, as it has flared edges and a deep body. I secured one in the standard 10 x 14 size. It arrived only a few days later along with another important ingredient for the Detroit pie, brick cheese. As a second-generation Italian American, I admit, I was dubious about the brick cheese, but I wanted to be authentic. As I was raised in the UK when I was young, I still had nightmares about the cheddar cheese I encountered on pizzas with pineapple and shuddered when recalling the memories. Brick cheese is originally from Wisconsin and is a high-fat aged cheese with a uniquely tangy, salty, buttery flavor that lends the deep-pan Detroit pizza its buttery taste and more important its crispy, lacy, blackened edges. The cheese is sort of a toss up between low skim mozzarella and Monterey Jack.
I researched how to make the dough for many days and finally decided to go with the King Arthur Flour recipe that I found online using Bread Flour. My sister once took me to the headquarters of King Arthur in Vermont, and admittedly, we spent a few happy hours there to John’s great disappointment, waxing poetic about all the wonderful baked goods and fabulous products for sale in the store. As a fan of the flour, I tend to trust their judgment as a company and decided to try it out after reading several positive reviews online.
I got up early and started the recipe on a Saturday, using my trusty Kitchen Aid mixer to knead the dough. It went well and required some timed steps, but the dough rose and was stretchy and pillowy just as I had hoped. When the time came to lay it out in the pan, I was a bit nervous and watched a few videos to make sure I was following the right technique. The folks behind Emmy Squared have a good video that showed how they removed air pockets before placing the toppings on the pie that was helpful. The one question came down to whether I should grate the cheese or cube it. I ended up deciding to cube it after poring over a lot of research. The most important thing, however, is making sure the cheese goes up against the edges.
I stuck with traditional ingredients, with one exception: I love heat and enjoy Calabrian peppers. I did not place them on the entire pizza, as it would have incurred the wrath of Ryan, my eldest child, who is not a fan of spicy foods (despite eating them every single day when I make them), but they went on half of the pie. The one thing that also needs to happen is that the pepperoni needs to go on the pizza before the cheese. I did half first, then the cheese, then more pepperoni on top of the cheese before I dolloped on three racing stripes of pizza sauce.
This pizza requires concentration and specifics that are unique and worth mentioning. I placed the completed pizza in the oven at 500 degrees and proceeded to bake it for 12 minutes. I looked at the 12-minute mark, and it was not burning, but the edges were definitely a dark brown, so I left it in for a few more minutes. In all honesty, I probably could have increased the temperature to 525 degrees and cooked it a bit longer. Those burnt looking edges are very deceptive. What looks like something that is black and burned beyond edible, is actually black gold in the form of delicious crusty cheese.
To lift the pizza out of the pan after it has sat for 10 minutes, you will need a really thick spatula. It is easier than you might think. I placed it on a cookie rack just like they did at Underground pizza to serve after I cut it. The reaction was pretty great, although the “experts” stated that it needed more time in the oven. I should mention that as I reported in my story on New York, we are a family that visits all the best pizza joints around the country and therefore, they are a tough crowd to please!
All in all, I really enjoyed this style of pizza, and it was fun to make. I learned a lot and really encourage you to try it if you have never had it before! It’s really delicious and that cheese around the edges is really a thing of beauty!
Ingredients
King Arthur’s Detroit Pizza Dough
2 1/2 cups (298g) King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 tablespoon Pizza Dough Flavor, optional; for added flavor
1 teaspoon (6g) salt
1 cup (227g) lukewarm water
olive oil, for greasing the pan
Kara’s Pizza Sauce
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsps. dried oregano
One 28 oz. can crushed San Marzano tomatoes
1 tsp. sugar
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Toppings
12 ounces pepperoni, sliced
12 oz. Wisconsin brick cheese, cut into 1/2" cubes
Calabrese Pepperoncino (I like Cento brand)
Method
1. To make the dough: Mix and knead all the dough ingredients using a mixer with a dough hook until a shaggy dough forms.
2. Cover the dough, allow it to rest for 10 minutes, then knead it again until it becomes smooth and elastic (if you’re using a bread machine, skip the rest and allow the machine to complete its kneading cycle).
3. Form the dough into a ball, place it into a lightly greased bowl, cover, and allow to rest until doubled, about 2 hours.
4. Drizzle 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a Detroit-style pizza pan. Gently stretch the dough into the edges and corners of the pan until it starts to shrink back and won’t stretch any farther.
5. Cover the pan and allow the dough to rest and relax for 15 to 20 minutes before stretching it again. Repeat the rest one more time, if necessary, until the dough fills the bottom of the pan.
6. Cover the dough and allow it to rest for 30 to 45 minutes while you prepare the sauce. In the meantime, position a rack at the lowest position of the oven, and preheat the oven to 525°F.
7. To make the sauce: Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat Add the minced garlic and oregano and saute until fragrant, for about a minute. Add the tomatoes and sugar and season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 30 minutes.
8. Set aside to cool at room temperature until you are ready to top your pizza.
9. Make the pizza: Adjust the oven by placing rack in the lowest portion of the oven. Grease the pizza pan with olive oil.
10. Gently press the dough down with your fingers to release some larger air bubbles. Top the dough with an even layer of pepperoni, followed by the cubed cheeses making sure to spread them to the edges of the pan.
11. Dollop the sauce over the surface of the pizza or spread it into three lengthwise rows.
12. Transfer the pizza to the bottom rack of the oven and bake until the cheese is bubbly, and the edges have turned nearly black, about 12 to 15 minutes.
13. Remove the pizza from the oven, run a spatula around the edges to loosen it from the pan, and let it rest for 10 minutes, or until you can handle it. Transfer the pizza to a cutting board, cut, and serve.
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