How to Make Detroit-Style Pizza With Crispy Frico Edges at Home

You've had it from Buddy's: a square with a lacy, fried frico edge and a tall, airy inside. Then you try it at home and pull out a pale, gummy slab welded to the pan. We've baked dozens of trays and hit every one of those failures, so this Detroit pizza recipe skips them.

A true Detroit pizza is a deep dish, but not the fork-and-knife Chicago kind, and not a denser Sicilian or grandma. Inside it's open and bready, with brick cheese pushed to the edges of a square pan for the frico and the sauce on top.

Ingredients

Here's everything in our Detroit pizza recipe, and why each piece earns its spot. Our Detroit pizza dough recipe runs high in water on purpose, so expect the dough to feel a little sticky.

Bread flour (~300 g / 10.6 oz): Around 12.7% protein is the sweet spot. It builds enough gluten to hold the high water and gives you that chewy, open crumb. King Arthur bread flour is our easy pick, and a high-gluten flour like All Trumps or Sir Lancelot pushes the chew further. Swap in about 15% semolina if you want a little extra color and an easier-handling dough.

Lukewarm water (~213 g / 7.5 oz): That's roughly 70% hydration, the wet dough that gives Detroit its tall, airy holes. More water means more steam in the bake, and steam is what blows those big pockets open. If it's your first Detroit, start near 70%; push to 75 to 78% once you're comfortable for an even airier crumb.

Instant yeast (1.5 tsp), fine salt (9 g), sugar (1.5 tsp): Small amounts, big jobs. The yeast lifts the dough, the salt tightens the gluten and sharpens flavor, and the sugar feeds the yeast and helps the crust brown.

Olive oil, in the dough and a generous coat in the pan: A little in the dough keeps it tender. The coat in the pan is the important part, because it shallow-fries the bottom of the crust as it bakes. If you want a crispier bottom and a cleaner release, swap the pan coat for a neutral high-smoke-point oil, butter, shortening, or beef tallow.

Brick cheese (~12 oz), the heart of the whole thing: Wisconsin brick is the standard. Its high butterfat melts and browns into the frico without scorching, and it's milder than cheddar with a touch more funk than mozzarella. Use young brick, since aged brick turns sharp and pungent.

Brick is hard to find outside the Midwest and runs about $7 to $15 a block, so order it online (Widmer's ships it) if your stores come up empty, or use the substitute ladder below.

No brick on hand? A 50/50 blend of low-moisture mozzarella and Monterey Jack is the go-to, or mozzarella with mild cheddar for a supermarket version.

White American Muenster works too, but skip European or French Muenster. That one's a soft, stinky, washed-rind cheese with no relation to the American kind, and it'll wreck the pie. Butterkase gets close to brick's mild funk if you can find it.

Cube or shred is your call: cubes melt into molten pools inside, shreds spread into an even frico. Either way, shred your own block for a smooth interior melt, because bagged pre-shredded carries anti-caking starch that scorches and welds to the pan. If you want a dramatic edge, a little pre-shredded only at the very wall can actually help the frico crisp up.

Cooked, thick, seasoned tomato sauce (~1 cup): Simmer it down with oregano, garlic, a pinch of red pepper, and maybe a little sugar. It goes on top as racing stripes, or even after the bake, never edge-to-edge under the cheese where it would steam the crust soggy.

Toppings: Pepperoni is the classic, tucked under the cheese so it insulates the dough from grease and renders flavor right into the crust.

What's the Secret to a Crispy Frico Edge

The secret to a crispy frico edge is two simple moves: get the cheese all the way to the pan wall, and fry the bottom instead of just baking it. Nail both, and your homemade detroit style pizza finally gets that signature edge.

What the frico crust actually is

The frico crust is the ring of cheese that melts against the hot pan wall and caramelizes into a lacy, shattering crown. It comes down to browning, the Maillard reaction, which needs real heat and a dry surface to kick in. Brick cheese has enough butterfat to toast golden instead of just burning black, which is exactly why it's the classic choice for a Detroit pizza crust.

Carry the cheese to the edge

Cheese-to-edge is the whole frame. Stretch the dough into the oiled square pan but leave a thin gap at the walls, then pack cheese into that gap and push it up the side. That's how you build the tall border crust of caramelized cheese that makes a Detroit a Detroit. If your edge comes out weak or patchy, you didn't get enough cheese pressed against the wall.

Fry the bottom, don't just bake it

A pale, soft bottom is dough that baked but never fried. The fix is oil plus a screaming-hot, conductive base under the pan. We bake the oiled pan right on a preheated steel, and it's the single biggest upgrade for a home oven.

Doppio Living's 16" x 14.25" x 0.25" A36 carbon steel ($99.97 on Amazon, pre-seasoned and Made in USA) conducts heat roughly 18 to 20 times faster than a ceramic stone. So it floods the pan base with heat and fries the bottom instead of letting it steam pale.

That 16" x 14.25" footprint fits a 10x14 Detroit pan or two 8x8s sitting right on top. If you want the full breakdown of how a steel beats a pizza stone, we get into it elsewhere.

One heads-up: a dark or anodized pan sitting on a preheated steel soaks up a lot of bottom heat fast, so you may need to dial the oven down a touch to keep the base from going past golden into burnt.

Crisp the bare crust right on the steel

Want the crispest possible bottom? After the pizza is baked, slide it out of the pan and set the bare crust right on the steel surface for 30 to 60 seconds, up to a few minutes. It blasts the undercarriage and crisps off any last softness. Treat this as a finishing move, not the main event, because the pan-on-steel bake already does most of the work.

Common Mistakes When Making Detroit Pizza

The most common mistakes when making Detroit pizza come down to three things: trapped moisture, the wrong heat, and the wrong cheese. Here's how to spot each one and fix it.

1. A gummy layer under the cheese

That gray, gummy band right under the cheese is unbaked dough where the moisture had nowhere to go. Wet dough topped with sauce and cheese steams instead of setting, because a wet surface can't climb past 212°F until it dries out.

Par-bake the bare dough for 6 to 8 minutes first so the crust dries and sets before the toppings land. A full room-temperature proof and a thicker sauce help too, since cold fermenting builds flavor but not air pockets.

2. A pale, soft bottom

If the bottom is pale and soft, the pan likely went in cold with no preheated steel underneath. Preheat your steel on the lower rack and bake the pan right on it, so the base meets hot metal from the first second. Still soft? Give it the naked-crust finish on the steel, the same trick that fixes a soggy bottom on a regular pie.

3. The frico burns before the center cooks

If the cheese edge blackens while the middle is still raw, your oven is simply too hot for dough this thick. Drop to 450 to 475°F and bake longer. This is the most useful fix we know: every time we lowered the temperature, the pizza got better, because a thick Detroit style deep dish needs time more than blistering heat. Par-baking first gives the center a head start too.

4. The pizza welds to the pan

A pizza cemented to the pan usually means pre-shredded cheese, an under-oiled pan, or both. The anti-caking starch on bagged cheese burns and fuses to the metal instead of caramelizing clean.

Shred your own block, oil the pan generously, and switch to a solid fat like butter or shortening for an even cleaner release. If you're reaching for a scraper to free it, that's your cue to oil heavier next round.

5. The dough won't reach the corners

High-hydration dough springs back because the gluten is tight, not because there isn't enough of it. Press it toward the corners, and if it fights you, walk away for 5 to 10 minutes and push again. It'll relax and stay put. Forcing it just tears the gluten and leaves you with a lopsided oval.

Pro Tips for Detroit-Style Pizza

These are the proactive moves that take a good Detroit style pizza from solid to special, beyond just fixing what went wrong.

1. Reach for a dark, conductive pan: A blue steel pan or hard-anodized aluminum like LloydPans holds and throws heat for darker, crispier edges. No special pan yet? A dark 8x8 cake pan, or two of them, is a solid starter and actually packs in more frico edge per slice.
2. Bake one pie at a time: Crowding the oven drops the temperature and steams the crust. One pan on the steel gets you the crispest result, so resist doubling up.
3. Take the cheese all the way to the very edge: That wall of cheese pressed against the pan is the entire frico frame. Be generous right at the border.
4. Sauce on top, not under: Racing stripes over the cheese, or sauce spooned on after the bake, keep the dough rising and the bottom from going soggy. Sauce under the cheese is the fastest way to a gummy crust.
5. Build it bottom-up: Pepperoni under the cheese insulates the dough and renders fat straight into the crust. If you like that move, another pan pizza to try leans on the same steel.
6. Steel over stone: Preheat your pizza steel about 45 minutes at 500°F and bake the pan right on it so the bottom fries instead of steams. Our 1/4-inch A36 steel ($99.97 on Amazon) holds enough heat to recover fast between pies. New to it? Here's a primer on preheating your steel, and how to keep your steel seasoned over time.
7. Plan for a lower temp if your oven runs hot: Start at 500°F, but if the edge always races ahead of the middle, set up to drop to 450 to 475°F partway through so the thick center can catch up.
8. Rest on a wire rack about 5 minutes before cutting: It lets the cheese set and keeps the bottom from steaming itself soft on a cutting board. Cut with a rocker or a heavy chef's knife, never a pizza wheel.

Freeze your shredded cheese for an upgrade: Frozen cheese melts slower, so the frico caramelizes right as the dough finishes instead of burning ahead of it.

Detroit-Style Pizza

A tall, airy square with a fried golden bottom and a lacy frico edge of caramelized cheese. Baked in an oiled square pan set right on a preheated steel, with brick cheese carried to the walls and sauce on top. This fills one 10x14 pan, or split it between two 8x8 pans for even more frico edge.

Prep Time

About 30 minutes active, plus rise and ferment

Cook Time

18 to 22 minutes (including the par-bake)

Servings

One 10x14 pan or two 8x8 pans, about 8 squares

Category

Pizza

Cuisine

American

Ingredients

• 300 g bread flour (10.6 oz)
• 213 g lukewarm water (7.5 oz)
• 1.5 tsp instant yeast
• 9 g fine salt (0.3 oz)
• 1.5 tsp sugar
• Olive oil, for the dough and to coat the pan
• ~12 oz brick cheese (or low-moisture mozzarella + Monterey Jack), cubed or shredded, taken to the edges
• ~1 cup cooked, seasoned tomato sauce
• Pepperoni or toppings of choice

Directions

1. Mix the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt. Add the water and a glug of olive oil, stir to a shaggy dough, and let it rest 15 to 20 minutes so the flour fully hydrates.
2. With wet or oiled hands, do 3 or 4 sets of stretch-and-folds right in the bowl, a few minutes apart, until the dough smooths out.
3. Cover and bulk rise until puffy, about 1 to 2 hours at room temperature. For deeper flavor, cold ferment in the fridge overnight, then let it warm up before shaping.
4. Coat the pan generously with oil. Press the dough toward the corners. If it springs back, rest it 5 to 10 minutes and push again.
5. Cover and proof in the pan until puffy and reaching the corners, about 45 to 60 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, set your steel on the lower rack and preheat the oven to 500°F for about 45 minutes.
7. First, par-bake the bare, oiled dough on the steel for 6 to 8 minutes, until it sets and turns lightly golden. This sets the base so the bottom won't go gummy.
8. Pull it out, lay cheese all the way to the walls, and tuck pepperoni under the cheese if using. Add the sauce in racing stripes over the top.
9. Now bake on the steel another 8 to 12 minutes, until the frico edges are crisp and dark and the center is cooked through. If the edges brown too fast, drop to 450 to 475°F and give it more time.
10. For an extra-crisp bottom, slide the bare crust out of the pan and onto the steel for 30 to 60 seconds.
11. Rest on a wire rack about 5 minutes, then cut into squares with a rocker or chef's knife. Prefer sauce after baking? Spoon it on warm once the pizza is out.