Have you wanted to make pizza but worry it's too much work?

For 15 years, I’ve been making pizza from scratch. For 13.5 years, those pizzas were mediocre. In the last 1.5 years, I purchased all five of the pizza guides from Notorious PIE.

Those guides transformed me from a curious home chef to an opinionated, rock-solid pizzaiola.

I’ve used them as a jump off point for five different styles of pizza.

I’ve extended the principles to two other styles.

I’m > 8/10 rating on the following styles:

1. Detroit Deep Dish Guide
2. Bar Guide
3. Chicago Thin Crust (Extended From Bar Guide)
4. Sicilian (Extended From Link)
5. American Chain Guide a.k.a. Suburb Special
6. Stuffed Crust (Extended From American Chain)
7. Cracker Crust Guide a.k.a. Pizza Hut Thin N Crispy

Detroit Deep Dish is the easiest because it sidesteps 5 technical aspects of pizza making.

No Dough Stretching

Most people think of making Neapolitan style or New York style at home.

But both of these require dough stretching. Stretching has 2 goals: a circular end product and a well-formed crust. It’s highly technical.

You must ensure you get an even stretch while not touching the rim of the dough.

An unevenly stretched pie will result in pools of oil. And inconsistent texture.

I tried for 13.5 years and never got it right. Within the last 1.5 years, I have figured out how to get a round, even stretch for the American chain style.

But with Detroit Deep Dish, there is no dough stretching. After mixing and balling, the dough is placed in a greased pan that provides the shape.

This reduces the effort for a beautiful, well-constructed crust.

Simply Crushed Tomato

On most pizzas, the red sauce is uncooked.

However, the American chain style requires a mixture of crushed tomato, tomato puree, and tomato sauce to achieve the desired consistency on the cooked pizza.

And some Silician styles, like Luigi’s in Park Slope, call for a cooked red sauce.

Detroit Deep Dish is only lightly drained crushed tomato and seasoning.

Only one tomato product to open.

Instead of three.

Infinity (Cheese) Pool

On many styles, such as American chain style and cracker crust, it’s necessary to leave a visible crust.

This requires the cook to determine how wide the crust should be. To be careful not to cover it with sauce and cheese.

It can be difficult to determine whether the melted sauce and cheese combination will overflow.

With crustless pizzas, such as Detroit Deep Dish and Bar styles, this isn’t a concern.

Cheese is spread to the edge.

Crispy cheese that fries in the pan is celebrated.

And the delicate touch needed to not cheese the crust is sidestepped.

No Launching

Both NY and Neopolitan styles require launch from a peel to the oven.

If the dough is wet or the toppings are heavy, the pizza can stick to the peel. Or rip apart. The time spent topping it was in vain if the pizza didn't cleanly slide off the peel.

This has happened to me at least four times in the 13.5 year period. One time, a rip in the dough caused cold sauce to touch the hot ceramic stone and the stone cracked. I got an unevenly cooked pizza blob.

After 3+ hours of active work.

It’s demoralizing.

Detroit Deep Dish, among other pan-based pizza, sidesteps the launch entirely.

Just grease the pan, fill with dough, top, and bake.

Smaller Pan

Many pan-based pizzas, like Sicilians, Chicago Deep Dish, and Bar style are unwieldy to handle.

My Silician pan is 15”x10”, Chicago Deep Dish is 12” round, and Bar style is 14” in round.

Especially with how hot the pans are coming out of the oven, that size can be an issue.

Luckily, Detroit Deep Dish pans are 8”x10”.

Much easier to handle.

Not only due to the dimensions, but also the weight of the pizza.

In Closing

If you’ve ever been curious to make great pizza at home, don’t make New York or Neapolitan style.

Consider the Detroit Deep Dish.

It sidesteps many of the technical aspects of pizza making.

Without sacrificing the cheesy, airy, crispy pizza you’ve been dreaming about.

In my 15 years of pizza making, it’s the easiest style to make.

The perfect confidence builder for any aspiring pizzaiola.