Detroit Style Pizza.

Combine flour, instant yeast, and salt in a bowl.

• Whisk thoroughly. You want the yeast evenly distributed.
• IDY can go straight in, no blooming needed.
• Keep salt and yeast separated until the flour buffers them.

Add water and olive oil, mix until no dry flour remains.

• Use room-temperature water.
• Mix by hand or on low speed until a shaggy ball forms.
• Dough should feel soft but not sticky.

Knead until the dough is smooth, elastic, and evenly mixed.

• Detroit dough is medium hydration, easier to handle than focaccia.
• Knead until the surface is smooth and slightly tacky.
• Dough temperature should finish around 24-26°C.

Cover and bulk proof at room temperature for 2 hours.

• Cover the bowl tightly.
• Leave in a draft-free spot at 22-24°C.
• Dough should roughly double.

Divide into 2 equal pieces. Oil two 10×14 inch steel pans generously.

• 2-3 tbsp of oil per pan: the edges need to fry, not bake.
• Blue-steel Detroit pans are ideal; a cast iron skillet works too.
• Place each piece seam-side down in its pan.

Press each piece into its pan, cover, and proof 1 hour. It will spring back. Press again halfway through.

• Oil your fingertips and press the dough toward the corners.
• After 30 min the dough will relax. Press again to fill every corner.
• By the end, the dough should just reach all four walls.

Top with brick cheese to the edges, then sauce in stripes down the middle.

• Cube the cheese so it melts into the dough (~1cm cubes).
• Press cheese into the dough along all four edges: it must touch the pan to caramelise.
• Add sauce in 3 parallel stripes ONLY: this is Detroit's signature look.

Bake at 260°C for 15 min until the edges are deeply caramelized.

• Place the pan on a preheated steel or stone for extra bottom heat.
• Ready when the cheese edges (frico) are deeply burnished.
• If the top is pale, broil for 30 seconds at the end.

Run a knife around the edge immediately and lift onto a rack to cool 5 minutes.

• Slide a thin knife all the way around before the cheese sets.
• Lift out onto a wire rack. Pans retain too much heat.
• Rest 5 minutes so the slices hold together when cut.