AndrewHay.es

✳ Detroit-style pan pizza

Andy's
perfect
pan pizza.

A thick, airy crust with crisp edges, baked in a sheet pan. Browned sausage goes under the cheese.

Go to the recipe
Golden, thick-crust pan pizza with crisp pepperoni, red onion, and melted cheese; a lifted corner reveals the airy crumb.
Pan13 × 18 inchesOne rimmed half-sheet
Rise2–3 hoursAt room temperature
Oven550°FPreheat for 30 minutes
BakeAbout 10 minutesUntil the bottom is golden

Overview

The steps

Most of the time is the 2–3 hour rise.

  1. 01 / PrepMix the doughStand mixer or food processor
  2. 02 / RiseLet it rise2–3 hours in the oiled pan
  3. 03 / AssembleAdd the toppingsSauce, sausage, cheese, pepperoni, onion
  4. 04 / BakeBake on a low rack550°F · about 10 minutes
  5. 05 / CoolCool on a wire rackKeeps the bottom crisp

For one 13 × 18-inch pan

Ingredients

Weigh the dough ingredients. Use plenty of toppings and a thin layer of sauce.

An illustrated grocery lineup: bread flour, olive oil, tomato sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni, and red onion.

Tap to check off as you go.

01 The dough
02 Toppings
03 After baking
Equipment

A 13 × 18-inch rimmed sheet pan · kitchen scale · stand mixer or food processor · skillet · plastic wrap · small spatula · wire cooling rack · pizza cutter or knife

The full recipe

Method

Mix the dough in a stand mixer (preferred) or a food processor.

01

Prep

Mix the dough.

Stand mixer · dough hook

  1. Whisk together the flour, salt, yeast, and 20 g olive oil in the mixer bowl.
  2. Add the water. Mix on medium until the dough comes together and no dry flour remains.
  3. Increase to medium-high and mix until smooth and stretchy, about 6 minutes.
  4. Look for dough that pulls away from the sides but still sticks to the bottom of the bowl.

Preferred: a noticeably fluffier, lighter crumb.

Food processor · blade or dough blade

  1. Combine the flour, salt, yeast, 20 g olive oil, and all the water in the processor.
  2. Process until the dough forms a ball that rides around the blade.
  3. Continue processing for 30 seconds, then move on to the oiled pan.

Works well. The mixer gives a fluffier crumb.

The dough is adapted from J. Kenji López-Alt's Spicy Spring Sicilian pizza at Serious Eats.

02

Rise · 2–3 hours

Oil the pan, stretch the dough, and let it rise.

  1. Pour the remaining 40 g olive oil into the 13 × 18-inch rimmed pan. Spread it over the entire inner surface with your hands.
  2. Turn the dough in the oil until coated. Gently spread and stretch it toward every edge and corner. Let it relax as needed; sometimes gently pulling it just beyond the corners lets it settle back into place.
  3. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 2–3 hours, until relaxed, puffy, and spread across the pan.
03

During the rise

Prepare the toppings and heat the oven.

  1. Brown the sausage in a skillet until cooked through, breaking it into crumbles.
  2. Thinly slice the red onion. Slice the mozzarella and pepperoni if needed; reserve a little mozzarella for the very top.
  3. About 30 minutes before baking, set the oven to 550°F and position a rack low in the oven.

The lowest shelf usually works best. In some ovens the second-lowest works better; watch the bottom crust.

04 / Assemble

Toppings, bottom to top

The sausage goes under the cheese.

Exploded pizza assembly, built upward: oiled pan and risen dough, thin sauce, browned sausage, generous mozzarella, pepperoni, red onion, and a light final layer of mozzarella.
Bottom to top, finishing with a little mozzarella.
  1. 1

    Sauce

    Spoon over the risen dough and spread with the back of the spoon. About 10 spoonfuls; keep it thin.

  2. 2

    Browned sausage

    Spread the cooked crumbles over the sauce.

  3. 3

    Most of the mozzarella

    Lay the slices over the sausage.

  4. 4

    Pepperoni

    Cover the cheese closely. The edges curl and crisp as it bakes.

  5. 5

    Red onion

    Scatter lightly over the pepperoni.

  6. 6

    The rest of the mozzarella

    A light final scattering over everything. Save the hard cheese for after the oven.

05

Bake · 550°F · about 10 minutes

Bake until the bottom is golden and crisp.

Bake on the lowest shelf, or second-lowest if your oven does better there. You're looking for bubbling, browned cheese, crisp curled pepperoni, and a golden-brown, crisp bottom.

Lift a corner with a small spatula to check underneath. Start checking around 10 minutes; the exact time depends on the oven.

Remove from the oven and sprinkle with Pecorino Romano, Parmesan, or your chosen hard cheese.

06 / Cool

Cool on a wire rack.

Transfer the pizza to a wire rack immediately. Left in the pan, the bottom traps steam and goes soggy.

Let it cool so the cheese and crumb can set, then move it to a cutting board and slice into squares.

Notes

From past batches

01 / Common mistakes

Use bread flour and go light on sauce.

Bread flour, a light hand with the marinara, and checking the bottom before it overbakes. Changing the flour, over-saucing, and leaving it in too long made an early batch harder to judge.

02 / Best batch

The fluffiest one so far

A particularly good batch used the stand mixer, 8 g yeast, 50 g oil in the pan, and a 14-minute bake. The texture was noticeably fluffier. Those are useful variation notes; the base recipe above keeps 40 g pan oil and checks from about 10 minutes.

03 / Leftovers

Air-fry the leftovers.

The air fryer is our favorite way to rewarm a slice and re-crisp the bottom. Heat until the cheese is warm and the crust is crisp again.

04 / Optional

Roasted garlic topping

Trim the bulb to expose the cloves, add olive oil and salt, and air-fry at 380°F for about 20 minutes, until soft. Squeeze out the roasted cloves and add as an extra topping.

To try next time

Dough & pan: Try a 20-minute rest before stretching, or a deeper pan for more crispy edge.

Toppings: Hot Italian sausage, mini pepperoni, Grande whole-milk low-moisture mozzarella, or a little Romano under the mozzarella.

Oven: Compare maximum temperature, venting, and moisture between ovens. The gas-versus-electric moisture idea is still a question to test, not a settled rule.

References