Detroit-style pizza

Detroit-style pizza is a style of pizza developed in Detroit, Michigan. It is a square pizza similar to Sicilian-style pizza that has a thick deep-dish crisp crust and toppings such as pepperoni and green peppers, but is served with sauce over the cheese. The square shaped pizza is the result of being baked in a square pan, which is often not a pizza pan. Rather, industrial parts trays are often used, which were originally made to hold small parts in factories.

The crust of a Detroit-style pizza is noteworthy because in addition to occasionally being twice-baked, it is usually baked in a well-oiled pan to a chewy medium-well-done state that gives the bottom and edges of the crust a fried/crunchy texture. Some parlors will apply melted butter with a soft brush prior to baking. The resulting pizza has a chewy texture.

History

The origins of "Detroit-style" pizza can be traced back historically to Buddy's Rendezvous, which later became Buddy's Pizza. Over the next several decades, the chain grew and developed, cooks moved on, and in some cases they opened their own pizzerias. Cloverleaf, which was later founded by Gus Guerra as an Italian restaurant in Eastpointe, serves Detroit Style Pan Pizza as does Luigi's "the Original", Tower Inn in Ypsilanti, the Shield's Pizza chain, and Loui's Pizza in Hazel Park. In 2009, both Buddy's Detroit-style square pizza and Luigi's "the Original" of Harrison Township, Mich were singled out as two of the 25 best pizzas in America by GQ magazine food critic, Alan Richman.