Pan Pizza Dough
Ingredients
Baker’s Percentages
- 100% bread flour
- 70% warm water
- 3% olive oil
- 2% active dry yeast
- 1.4% kosher salt
- 1.2% white sugar
Sample Batch
- 682g bread flour
- 475g warm water
- 14g active dry yeast
- 18g olive oil
- 9.6g kosher salt
- 8g white sugar
- 54g olive oil for pans
Process
Whisk yeast and sugar into warm water to proof for at least ten minutes. During this time, set an oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit, turning it off after ten minutes and keeping it shut to maintain heat.
Combine flour and salt. Add olive oil to proofed yeast liquid, then add flour and salt and mix to combine. Knead for 10-15 minutes with a bread hook on slow in a stand mixer, or 25-35 minutes with olive oil coated hands, until dough sticks to the bottom of the bowl but not the sides and passes the window pane test. The dough should be wet and sticky—do not add additional flour.
Allow dough to rest briefly (a minute or two should do the trick), then transfer to oiled pans that will be used for baking. Stretch dough into the shape of the pan being used to bake it, as much as possible, and cover. Proof dough in the oven, which should by now be very warm but not hot, for 60-90 minutes, until at least doubled.
Remove dough from oven, punch down with finger tips to create nice wells for sauce, and top with sauce, cheese, and other pizza toppings as desired. Bake on the bottom rack of an oven preheated to 500 degrees Fahrenheit for 12-15 minutes, until crust is golden brown.
Remove from oven, allow to rest in pan for a minute or two, remove from pan using a large flat spatula and transfer to cooling rack. If possible, allow to cool for at least five minutes before cutting and serving.
Notes
Approximately 3g of flour covers 1 square inch in a 2 inch deep pan, meaning the sample batch above makes enough dough for two 115 square inch pans. I generally opt for a 12.75″×9″×2″ rectangular aluminum cake pan, but a 12″ circular aluminum cake pan or cast iron pan would likely also work well. I oil such a pan with approximately 27g (or about 2 tablespoons) of olive oil, but more or less could probably be used to taste.
The water used to proof the yeast should be about 110 degrees Fahrenheit, or as warm as you can get it before it actually feels hot. For me, when I hold my hand under water that is this temperature it feels as though my hand is starting to sweat.
For toppings, I like to use a generous quantity of pizza sauce with a splash of additional olive oil and a bit of garlic powder, crushed red pepper, and dried oregano, along with around 7oz of blended mozzarella and provolone cheese per 115 square inch pan of dough. I find that freezing the cheese for a couple of hours before using it to top the pizzas slows the melting and browning process slightly, giving the dough more time to cook to the desired level of doneness.
When adding cheese, I begin with the crust and work my way in for a Detroit-style crispy cheese crust. I also like to top the pizzas add a bit of grated Parmesan before baking, for good luck (and an extra punch of cheesy flavor). I almost always just use the cheap stuff you can get in a plastic shake bottle.
If the same oven is being used to proof the dough and bake the pizza, preheating the oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit as soon as the dough is done proofing is acceptable. Allowing the dough to rest briefly at room temperature before or after adding toppings to give the oven time to come up to 500 degrees should not have a negative impact on the final product.
I find that pizzas made in this way taste very similar to Pizza Hut pan pizza, but better (although probably not much more healthy).
Olive oil is good fat, right?
Credit
Dough ratios and process adapted from Chef John’s excellent Detroit-Style Pizza blog post and video.