The first time I laid my lips on spicy salami pizza with honey was at Oven & Shaker in the Pearl District in Portland, Oregon. The crispy crust, layered with melty mozz and tomatoes, topped with perfect round discs of salami and then gloriously drizzled with honey. HEAVEN. It really sealed the deal for my forever love affair with pizza and I was hard pressed not to eat an entire pie to myself on frequent happy hours to O&S. If you ever find yourself in Portland, here’s my list of favorite pizza places! Sadly we now live thousands of miles away from my favorite beloved pizza spot, but the good news is – I RECREATED IT AT HOME! 🍕💕
AND we made it our favorite way, Detroit style! With its rectangular shape, light and airy dough, and to-die-for crispy cheese perimeter, the Detroit style pie will legit make you fight for the corner pieces. I mean I will battle Thomas to the death in a rock-paper-scissor war to win that baby in the bottom right. Nobody puts baby in the corner…so I’ll happily scarf it down instead.
I have to give Thomas credit for the crust – he is the dough master and has found the perfect recipe to get a light airy dough. He also lets it ferment for up to three-days to develop the flavor, which luckily makes it more digestible!
So Detroit style is typically done in reverse, toppings like pepperoni on the bottom, followed by lots of cheese and red tomato sauce drizzled on top. While obviously not like your traditional slice, the “red top” helps to avoid a soggy crust. However, we made this one a bit of a hybrid model. I HAD to have that crispy soppressata salami on top to pay tribute to my favorite Portland pie.
We got an amazing pizza pan from our friends over at Detroit Style Pizza and it gives the pizza the crispiest caramelized edges and is completely nonstick. Plus it seasons it every time you bake a pie, making it better and better over time. The ideal vessel to produce your best square slice! We have the 10×14 size, and the dough recipe creates two pizzas in this size. Now, If you don’t want to purchase a special pan just for this, you can easily cut away the excess dough to fit any pan you have. You can always use extra dough to create calzones or little pizza pockets! Quick tip: if your pan has a dark surface it increases heat conduction and helps form that crispy, bronzed crust we all love!
Now get out your honey bears and get to drizzling! Once you take it out of the oven, generously drizzle with honey to your hearts desire and sprinkle with red pepper flakes. Now go stuff your pie holes.
Detroit-Style Spicy Salami Pizza with Honey
Ingredients
For the Pizza Dough
- 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 1/2 teaspoons yeast We use the Fleischmann’s active dry yeast
- 1 1/2 cup lukewarm water
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
To Build the pizza
- 1 28 oz can of san marzano whole tomatoes hand squeeze and take out the pits
- 8 oz log of mozzarella, I like to tear it myself! Or you can use "brick" cheese which is tradtional for detroit-style pizza
- 1/4 pound sopressata salami, or the salami of your choice
- honey for drizzling
- red pepper flakes for sprinkling
Instructions
For the Pizza Dough (makes two pizzas)
- Note, if you don't want to make your own dough trader joe's has a great pre-made dough but I definitely recommend making your own 🙂
- In a mixing bowl add flour and salt, set aside. Then you want to bloom the yeast In a couple tablespoons of lukewarm water until the yeast makes a paste. This will help to activate the yeast.
- Add the paste and the rest of the water to the dry flour mix. Making this by hand will help you determine how much to work the dough, so you avoid overworking it.
- You want the dough light and slightly sticky as you transfer the dough to a surface with a light dusting of flour. Knead the dough lightly, avoiding over mixing so the dough doesn’t to get too dense. Not over-kneading will keep the dough light and airy helping create air bubbles.
- Determine what side will be the top of your dough (the side that is smooth) and what side is the bottom (the rough side). Then transfer your dough to a bowl that has been lightly dusted so it won’t stick. Place smooth side down. This is to keep the top of the dough moist.
- I usually let the dough sit in the fridge covered with tight plastic for at least 24 hrs, preferably 72 hrs. This will allow the dough to take on a unique funky flavor and it will also help you to digest the pizza better.
- After 24-72 hours, put a little olive oil on a clean counter top which will keep the dough from sticking - allow to rest at room temp for an hour allowing the gluten to relax making it more pliable. Then divide the dough into two equal parts to make two pizzas for an 8 by 10 pan.
To build the Pizza
- Preheat oven to 350, placing rack in the middle.
- Oil up your pan, bottom and all edges - ensuring you get a crispy non-stick crust
- Before transferring the dough to the pan, lightly stretch the dough with your hands on the countertop. Once you've reached the surface area that should cover the pan, transfer to your pan, and once again let it sit there for 15 minutes to let is relax further. The dough will contract as it heats up so resting in increments will help that. Then use your finger tips to push up into the edges. Pro tip: using your fingertips creates those air pockets that we all love giving it a light texture!
- We love the brightness of San Marzano tomatoes - in a bowl, remove pits of the tomatoes, squeezing the juice and breaking up the flesh making your pizza sauce. Season sauce with salt, red pepper flakes, and good quality olive oil to taste.
- Scatter mozzarella first around the edges which will give you those crispy brown cheese corners that we all love! Then alternate lines of cheese and tomato sauce until the entire dough surface is covered. It all somewhat blends at the end, but "the detroit style" is typically cheese first and sauce on top so this is our hybrid version
- Scatter sopressata on top. Bake pizza for roughly 30 minutes or until edges are very golden brown and cheese is bubbly, and salami is crisping in spots.
- Remove from oven, immediately drizzle with honey and sprinkle with red pepper flakes. NOW DIVE IN!
OMG! So yummy! Thanks for sharing