I’m not sure what inspired this but over Christmas I was just absolutely craving a Detroit pizza, having never had one before… For those of you who haven’t had the joy of trying a Detroit pizza, it’s a much breadier version of its Italian counterpart. Think along the lines of a focaccia with pizza toppings. The crust is thick & chewy with big air bubbles – it’s also rectangular. Basically all round delicious – a dream for bread lovers.
For this, I don’t have my own dough recipe as I’m not a bread-master but there’s lots of great options if you search for it. The toppings are a creation of my own though: my marinara, Italian seasoned sausage, red onions & a grating of pecorino once cooked. I’m getting hungry thinking about it…
Italian Sausage & Red Onion Detroit Pizza
Serves 4-6 (4 very hungry people) | 1 hour prep + proving time (depends on dough recipe used)
Ingredients
~700g dough of your choice (see notes)
1x my marinara sauce, cooked for pizza as per the instructions
1x my italian seasoned sausage
500g low moisture mozzarella grated (see notes)
1 red onion, thinly sliced
Grated pecorino to serve
Olive oil for greasing
Pan or pans totalling 1,500-,1600cm² – these need to be a baking tray about 2-3cm deep. I used 2 trays ~20cmx40cm each
Method
- Brush you pan(s) with olive oil. Split your dough in half and transfer to the pans. Rub more olive oil on top of the dough. Now leave to rest again covered loosely with cling film for ~1hour in a warm place.
- In the mean time, fry the sausage meat in a large pan with olive oil over a medium heat. Break into chunks, and cook until almost cooked through. You don’t want much too colour on the sausage as it will continue to cook in the oven. Set aside
- Preheat the oven to 230°C/210°C fan
- Push the dough to fill the pan & dimple with your fingertips.
- Sprinkle over the mozzarella then spoon over the, marinara in even strips. Next scatter over the sausage and sliced red onion.
- Bake until deeply golden (30-40 mins).
- Remove from the oven & leave to cool for 5 mins. Remove from the pan, sprinkle over the pecorino and serve!
Notes:
Dough – If you Google Detroit Pizza recipes there are lots of great options for doughs
Mozzarella – In the UK we can’t get blocks of low moisture mozz so we have to use the grated stuff. In this case you’ll need to wash the mozzarella to get rid of the starch (this is used to stop the cheese sticking to itself, but it’ll also stop you getting a nice melt). Put the cheese into a sieve and rinse under cold water until the water runs clear. Spread the cheese in a thin layer onto paper towels and leave to dry.
Bakes By Meg 