Glenn and I both grew up in the greater Detroit area…Glenn in the City of Detroit, and me in the suburbs. Though we grew up in different parts of the city, we both grew up on Buddy’s Pizza. In the spirit of carrying on traditions, our kids have also grown up on this pizza. Legend says that Detroit-style pizza, a descendent of Sicilian-style pizza, can be traced back to Gus Guerra. In 1946, Gus owned what was then a neighborhood bar (some say a blind pig), Buddy’s Rendezvous. Soldiers were returning from World War II with a “taste” for the pizza they enjoyed while overseas. Gus enlisted the help of his wife, Anna, who started making a dough recipe from her Sicilian mother. The Sicilian dough, topped with cheese then the tomato sauce (yes, the cheese is under the sauce), would become the “standard” for Detroit style pizza.
The original location was (and still is) in the city limits and there are additional locations in the suburbs. Eventually, Gus sold Buddy’s Rendezvous and subsequently opened Cloverleaf Bar and Pizzeria not far away. Thankfully, he and his wife continued their tradition of Sicilian/Detroit Style pizza. Shield’s Pizza offers a very similar pizza in style and taste…though different too. Even the larger chain pizzerias in our area (Jets, Hungry Howie’s) have added Detroit Style, or deep dish, pizza to their menus. But personally, I prefer Buddy’s.
The key ingredient in a Detroit-style pizza is the pan. The components that “make” Detroit pizza…the soft and airy square crust, the crunchy exterior, the caramelized cheese that edges the pizza…are thanks to the pans in which the pizzas are baked. The pans are a thick steel, more similar to a cast iron skillet than a cake pan. The story goes that Gus got his initial batch of pans from a friend who worked in a factory. The pans were used to collect spare parts on the assembly line. Let me add, that thanks to these pans, the corner slice has always been the “most wanted” in our family of four.
At Buddy’s, you don’t (and can’t) order your pizza in small, medium or large. You order either a 4-square or an 8-square. The “assembly” of the pizza is crucial. One needs to use the heaviest pan (preferably steel) in their arsenal. The pan is oiled, and the dough is stretched to fit the bottom and sides at about 1/2-inch thickness. The pepperoni is placed on top of the dough, topped by a generous helping of shredded Wisconsin brick cheese. Any toppings used (other than pepperoni) go on top of the cheese. Finally, the sauce is dolloped on top of the cheese. The pizza is then baked to perfection.
Though we can get a Buddy’s pizza easily Monday-Friday of any week (the university Travis commutes to is directly across the street from a location of the restaurant), I just had to see if we could come close in flavor and texture at home. And close we came.
I don’t own a steel pan, so I chose the heaviest one(s) in my kitchen. The resulting crust didn’t have the looks of Buddy’s, but it sure tasted pretty darn close. I found a copycat recipe, here. I found the dough was a bit too dry (to truly taste like Buddy’s) and not quite crisp enough. Other information I found, including a magazine article about this style of pizza and TV news segments, stated “start with a wet dough”. Through experimentation of my own, and of my blogging buddy Ronit of Tasty Eats, I incorporated both spelt flour and fine semolina. Voila…that was much closer to the “real” thing. As you can see below, after the initial mixing, the dough should remain quite sticky.
Buddy’s pizza sauce has a tomato and basil base. I used the “bones” of the sauce I found here. After the first round of pizza, we decided the sauce needed to be a bit sweeter. So I added a bit more sugar and a bit of red wine. It worked and tasted extremely close to the original. Note: The sauce recipe below will yield enough for 4 large pizzas. The recipe can be cut in half and will be sufficient for 2 pizzas. It also freezes very well and will cut down on your pizza making time for the second round.
Detroit Style Pepperoni Pizza
What you’ll need:
For the pizza dough:
- 1½ cups warm water (about 110° F)
- 1 package fast-acting yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup bread flour
- 1/2 cup spelt flour
- 1/2 cup fine semolina, plus more for dusting
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Oil, for greasing bowl
For the pizza sauce:
- 2 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes or tomato puree
- 3/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
- 2 Tablespoons Italian seasoning (dried variety)
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 Tablespoon fresh garlic, minced
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup red wine
For the pizza:
- Oil or shortening for the pan(s)
- dough recipe
- sauce recipe
- 8 ounces Wisconsin brick cheese, shredded (approximate per pizza)
- 4 ounces pepperoni (approximate per pizza)
- toppings of choice if venturing outside of pepperoni
How it’s made:
For the pizza dough:
Pour 1/2 cup warm water (110-115°F, use a thermometer) in the bowl of stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the yeast and sugar; stir to dissolve. Let sit until foaming, 5 to 10 minutes.
Add the remaining water. Add the flours, semolina and salt all at once and mix on low speed until the mixture comes together. Increase to medium speed and mix for about 8 minutes, stopping the mixer to feel the texture of the dough periodically. The dough should be forming a ball around the dough hook, yet still sticky and not real “tight”.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly fine semolina coated surface and knead a few times until slightly elastic. The dough should hold together for a few seconds before spreading slightly. Place in an oiled bowl, cover and let rest for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile make the sauce…
For the sauce:
In a large saucepan or a dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and cook 1-2 minutes.
Add the tomatoes, basil, dried herbs, sugar, salt, pepper and wine.
Once heated through and bubbly, reduce heat to low and simmer. Sauce will thicken and reduce. Keep warm.
For assembly:
Grease a rectangular pan (8×10 works nicely for a 8-square pizza) with oil. If using a 8×10 pan, split the dough into 2 sections. Adjust dough amount accordingly for larger/smaller pans. Gently push the dough into the pan bottom and up about 1-inch on the side; the dough will be about 1/2″ thick.
Once the dough is in the pan, cover the dough with pepperoni (don’t be stingy, I used about twice the amount than I showed in the photo above). Top the pepperoni with 1/2 of the shredded cheese. Spread the cheese all the way to the edge of the pan and the dough. (Allowing the edges to crisp perfectly when baking.) Cover the pan loosely with a damp towel and allow to rest at least 1 hour, or up to 2 hours.
For baking:
Preheat oven to 450°F.
After the 1-2 hour rest time for the dough, “adjust” the dough in the pan if needed. Make sure the bottom is completely covered and the dough is about 1-inch up the sides of the pan.
Dollop the warm sauce randomly onto the pizza, staying away from the edges. Bake in the top third of the oven about 20 minutes, or until crust is browned and crispy.
Bake the remaining crust with additional sauce and toppings.
Serve pizza with additional, warm sauce on the side as desired.
Dough and sauce recipe adapted from, here.
I can’t wait to try this, please help me with more info about the pans if you can. I know they make a big difference from using different kinds over the years. Steel…. Is that what they are labelled typically or is stainless steel the same thing? Bedbath&beyond has a stainless steel aluminum pizza pan, lol. I’m sooo confused. Thx Nancy, jojo.
Hi Jojo! The pans used in the restaurant are steel. I’ve yet to find one in any retail store. Stainless steel would be different. I recommend the absolute heaviest pan (weight wise) you can find. I’ve achieved the best results using the bottom portion of my broiler pan…hope that helps! Good luck 😀
Found an assortment of proper steel pans at commercial restaurant store! Very reasonably priced. Pizzas turned out wonderful mmmmm yummy! Happiness.
Yay!! I’m so happy to hear you had positive results! Thanks for the tip on the pans…I’ll have to do a little investigation myself!
Made this the other day for my hubby who is a Buddy’s pizza lover – he loved it! So glad I can now give him a taste of his home town even if we are in California. Thanks Nancy!!
Yay!!! I am SO happy to hear this homemade version can fill a void…at least until the next visit home to Detroit! Thanks for sharing your great, and successful, news. ❤
A very interesting read 🙂
Thanks…just a bit of history to share the story of this Detroit gem. 🙂
We have a Detroit Style Pizza place by us that we just love! I love that I can now make it at home! Thanks for the recipe 🙂
I’m so happy I could provide you with a make at home alternative, Sarah! Enjoy. 😀
I am a big fan of deep dish pizzas with a thick crust. can’t believe you did everything from scratch 🙂
Aren’t they fabulous, skd? This was so good, I didn’t mind the effort to create this from scratch pizza. 🙂
They sure are 😛
Love any kind of Pizza, this Pizza crust looks amazing, Nancy 🙂 I can imagine it smells wonderful too 😉
Thank you, Linda. The crust, the aroma, the taste — it’s all wonderful. 🙂
Thanks for sharing! Making me hungry–looks so amazing. Will definitely make 🙂
You are very welcome – and thank you! I’m happy to hear it passes the “look” test, Liz…I hope it passes your “taste” test too!!
Even if I’m Italian, I’m very open to all of kind of pizza!!! Detroit pizza looks very yummy!
That means a lot coming from you, Margherita! Thank you so much…you made my day. 🙂
Yum! I need to try making this! I’m pinning it so I don’t forget! 🙂
I hope you get the opportunity to make it, Nancy. “Yum” says it all – thanks!
Omg – if I can create this at home you have just made Paul a very happy man!!! He is a Buddy’s Pizza loyal patron every time we visit Detroit and he swears pizza here in California just doesn’t compare. Wish me luck as I try to make this for him.
Yay! No luck needed…you CAN make this with ease. 🙂 I hope it passes Paul’s taste test!
Wow sinfully tempting pizza Nancy…yummm
🙂 Sinful, yet so worth the indulgence! Thank you, Chitra!
Oh my!!! That looks amazing!! 😃
Thanks! It’s definitely a tasty pizza. 🙂
Gosh! This is sinful Nancy. Jets pizza was so good. This is deep dish with more fun :).
Yes, it is quite sinful, and I had more of this pizza than I should have with all of my recipe testing…oops! 🙂
😉
Oh wow, I had never even heard of Detroit pizza before. I’ve had pizza in Naples, and Rome, and both were quite different and both were delicious, but this is something else! I love that it goes against all the rules I had learned so far: thick crust, cheese before sauce, etc. I love it all, and am bookmarking this to try it out some day. Thanks for the inspiration!
It is quite different, Darya – which is half the reason we love it so much…the other being the taste. 🙂 I do love a good thin crust pizza too. When I think of time spent in Italy, a prosciutto and olive topped pizza I had always comes to mind – yummy! I’m happy to hear I was able to provide a bit of Monday morning inspiration!
Well, it is late afternoon here and already getting dark! But I am happy to find inspiration at all times of the day 😀
😀
Ohhhhh… seeing this in the morning means the end of my strict decision to start dieting today! 😀
Great sketch by the way! 🙂
Hahhah…sorry…tomorrow is a new day. 😉 Thanks!
Yes, that’s a phrase I’ve been using a lot! 😀
You and me both, Ronit. I’ve come to the conclusion I have no self control (at all), but I eat really, really well!
I love, love, love pizza and this looks so good even in the morning. I can eat in hot, warm, cold – you name it! We have a lot of good places to get pizza but not a Buddy’s. I just might have to make your version 🙂
Thank you, Judi. 😀 Ahh…the versatility of a pizza can be appreciated any time of day or at any temperature! You may not have a Buddy’s in your area, but you do have Cottage Inn…a frequented pizzeria by us when our daughter attended U of M. So many varieties of pizza and so little time!
That is the only pizza Gene would eat – we had a favorite waitress at the Cottage Inn on Washtenaw before it closed and would eat there every few weeks 🙂
Based on the pizza I had there, Gene had good taste! (He married you after all, right?) ❤
I’ve never had Detroit pizza. It looks incredible, cheese before sauce. Love it!!! Nancy this pizza is amazing.
Thank you, Suzanne. I can’t begin to count the times gatherings among family and friends have been shared with pizza like this…now I can make it at home too. 🙂
How about a new twist to Thanksgiving? Wouldn’t the reactions be fun? Spare the Turkey.
I’m sure “Tom” would be very pleased if we switched up the menu. 😉
What the…?! How could you do this to us so early in the morning, Nancy? Now I’ll have pizza in my head all day long. Not just any pizza, this thick crusty Detroit Pizza. Cruel, cruel woman! 😄 It looks out of this world! Just so appetizing. I love the hand drawn illustrations, too! Very nicely done, Nancy! 😍
Hah..thanks, Angie! Just consider this my suggestion for lunch today. 🙂 As much as I love a good, thin crust Neapolitan style pizza…I love Detroit style too!
Now the world knows what a great artist I am…hehe.