In 1946 Gus Guerra started baking Sicilian-style squares at Buddy’s Rendezvous in Detroit, in blue-steel pans that had lived other lives in the auto shops. The cheese ran to the edge and fried into a frico crust. Sauce went on after, in stripes.
You want a deep rectangular pan, a wet dough, and brick cheese if you can find it. Wisconsin brick melts like a dream. The corners are the prize. Fight nicely.
Ingredients
Pick one dough — homemade or a store-bought ball.
Homemade dough
- 400 g bread flour
- 300 ml water (75%)
- 10 g salt
- 5 g instant yeast
- 15 g olive oil, plus more for the pan
Premade dough
- 450–500 g store-bought pizza dough (about 1 lb), pressed into the pan
Sauce and toppings
- Brick cheese or mozzarella and white cheddar, cubed
- Cooked tomato sauce
- Pepperoni (optional)
Products & ingredients
What this pie actually wants. Flour, tomatoes, cheese, and tools — Amazon links, so this blog can keep going.
Store-Bought Pizza DoughCheck Amazon.comPremade Dough
Check Amazon.com
Check Amazon.com
Check Amazon.com
Low-Moisture MozzarellaCheck Amazon.comToppings
Cup & Char PepperoniCheck Amazon.comToppings
Check Amazon.com
Ooni Koda 16 Pizza OvenCheck Amazon.comPizza Oven
Ooni Pizza Oven GlovesCheck Amazon.comHeat Gloves
Check Amazon.com
As an Amazon Associate, The Slice Guy earns from qualifying purchases. Prices and stock live on Amazon.
Nutrition
If you buy the kit on this page
- Serving
- 1/4 pizza
- Calories
- 350
- Protein
- 16 g
- Carbohydrates
- 39 g
- Fat
- 15 g
- Sodium
- 860 mg
Pack labels of those brands (or USDA where a brand does not print a panel), times the grams in this recipe. Drain the mozzarella, swap a tin, or skip the oil and they move.
Labels used: Caputo Pizzeria 00, Diamond Crystal kosher salt, Partanna extra-virgin olive oil, Low-moisture mozzarella, Cento San Marzano tomatoes, Cup-and-char pepperoni.
How to make and cook it
Bought dough? Skip “Make the dough.” Let the ball sit out 1 hour, then start at “Cook the pie.”
Make the base
- 01Mix 400 g bread flour, 300 ml water, 10 g salt, and 5 g yeast into a sticky dough.
- 02Stretch and fold twice over an hour.
- 03Oil a 9×33 cm (13 in) steel pan generously.
- 04Press the dough in, rest 20 minutes, press to the corners.
- 05Proof until puffy, 2–4 hours.
Or use premade dough
- 01Let a store-bought ball sit out for 1 hour until it is relaxed.
- 02Flour the bench.
- 03Stretch it to size — from here it is the same as homemade.
Add sauce and toppings
- 01Cheese all the way to the edges.
- 02Pepperoni if you like.
- 03Sauce goes on after the bake, in stripes.
Cook
Oven
- 01Heat the kitchen oven to 260°C (500°F), rack in the lower third.
- 02Bake 15–18 minutes until the cheese is browned and the corners look almost burnt.
- 03Stripe hot tomato sauce over the top.
- 04Rest 5 minutes.
- 05Lift out.
Gas pizza oven
- 01A deep pan is not what a gas pizza oven was built for.
- 02If the pan fits, drop the flame to medium and bake 8–12 minutes with the door off, turning the pan, until the frico forms.
- 03Watch the top.
- 04Stripe sauce.
- 05Rest.
- 06Lift.
Wood-fired oven
- 01Use a cooler zone or let the floor fall to about 315–345°C (600–650°F).
- 02Pan on the floor, 8–12 minutes, turning.
- 03Do not park it under a live flame.
- 04Stripe sauce.
- 05Rest.
- 06The corners should shatter.
