Since I've finally made some brick cheese, I figured I'd use it to make some authentic Detroit style pizza, my favorite style. One of the main things that make this pizza unique are its use of brick cheese instead of the usual stretched curd. My go-to recipe for this kind of pizza is
J. Kenji Lopez-Alt's recipe, which I've found to make a very good pie.
First off, we start out with the bread flour, instant yeast (I used a bit less than half the called for amount to account for high altitude), and salt; by weight, if you please, because flour especially can vary widely in density and we don't want to mess up the hydration here.
It's pulsed in a food processor to evenly mix, though this recipe will work just as fine in a mixer or even by hand if you're okay with wrestling a high-hydration dough. I, personally, am not the biggest fan.
Water is added, and the dough goes around for a mix. While the recipe says a minute, this step can vary depending upon the strength of your food processor. What you're looking for is a dough that readily balls up and is silky smooth. Note that the silky smooth applies only to the texture, not the feel. This dough WILL stick like nobody's business and nothing can stop that. It's all just a part of working with a high-hydration dough. The hydration will pay off in the oven, though.
When the dough is ready, it's rolled into a smooth ball, placed in a bowl, and covered. I find the easiest way to do this is to stretch the outside of the ball towards the middle, pulling the 'skin' taut and pushing the slack into the middle of its underside with your thumb. You're unlikely to get it cleanly smooth; again, this is a sticky dough.
Let the dough rest and rise until about doubled in volume. This is also dependent upon the atmosphere, with higher temperatures and elevations leading to faster rising. Best to check on it every half hour, hour or so. For me, this took about an hour.
Another signifier of Detroit style is the pan; traditionally spare steel auto parts trays were used, but those don't really show up much nowadays and didn't have much scratch resistance. I'm using a 10x14 Lloydpans anodized and coated aluminum pan, but you could also use two 8x8 square cake pans. Either way, olive oil should be used to coat the inside; later on, this'll combine with fat from the cheese and give us a fried crust.
Stretching the dough to fit is incredibly easy; this is part of where the hydration helps us. The dough stretches and pushes nearly as easily as play-doh, so it's just a matter of spreading with your fingers. There's still gluten here, though, so you'll still have a point where the dough will no longer stretch. Not to worry, just cover the dough and wait a half hour and the dough will relax enough to stretch it the rest of the way. If it doesn't, just stretch it as much as it's willing to go and wait another half hour. Just make sure to stretch a little bit further than the edge so that it fits perfectly when it bounces back.
Cover the dough again and let it rest while you make the sauce. It's a comparatively simple one. Saute three cloves of garlic, two teaspoons of oregano, and a dash of red pepper flakes in a saucepan coated with a couple tablespoons of shimmering medium heat olive oil. Stir and saute until nice and fragrant, about 30 seconds, and add in a 28 oz can of good quality crushed tomatoes. Add a teaspoon each of garlic and onion powder and a tablespoon of sugar, and simmer down to about three cups of sauce, about 30 minutes. A good rule of thumb if your pan is shallow enough is to look for when you can draw a line with your spoon or spatula and tomato juice doesn't weep out into it before the sauce closes the gap. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 550 or as high as it will go, whichever is lower. Salt finished sauce to taste.
Lastly, the assembly. One more aspect of Detroit style, the assembly is somewhat backwards. First off, though, use your fingertips to poke the dough to even it out and remove any large bubbles that have formed. Next, the first thing down is pepperoni, right onto the dough. This is the standard, but if you want some crisp, save half your pepperoni for the top. Next is cheese, 12 ounces of brick, cubed, scattered on top, and spread to the very edge. When I opened the cheese, I got quite worried about coliform due to the holes, but sitting and thinking and looking at pictures of coliform contamination and especially taking a side slice makes me think it's probably just mechanical. Besides, it smells and tastes fine and pizza reaches an internal temperature of about 200, enough to rapidly kill any bugs that might be in there. Last on the pizza is the sauce; three strips, on top of whatever. You should only need about half. The rest you can use however you like, whether it be another pizza or the base for a pasta sauce.
The pizza is placed in the oven on the lowest rack and baked until browned on top and sides are black and bubbly; about 12-15 minutes. The pan will be ungodly hot, especially if you use a dark pan, so make sure to leave a folded towel or a rack or something down before you take it out to avoid destroying whatever surface you set it on.
Use a thin metal spatula to make sure the cheese isn't adhered to the sides of the pan and then carefully lift it out onto a cutting surface. Wait a few minutes before cutting the pizza to let it settle.
And, there we are, delicious Detroit style! Unfortunately, my own didn't turn out too well. The recipe link will show you how it OUGHT to look. I blame my old cottage cheese meso not acidifying enough. Next time, I ought to blend the rest of the wheel with something low moisture and storebought.
