Deep Dish Pizza Recipes

Serving up slices on Woodward

I called Slices Pizza, the new addition to Detroit’s famous roundabout Campus Martius, to talk to owner Demian Brewer about how his business has fared so far in the downtown area.

But, after a slight hesitation on the receiving end about answering questions, I proposed calling back or better yet, coming into the restaurant at a later time to ask him what I wanted to know. He happily responded to “come on down” in about an hour so he could finish up his prep work and be more attentive on what I need.

Although driving to Detroit wasn’t in my itinerary for the day, I couldn’t remember when I had last a devastatingly good slice of pizza and I sure wasn’t going to find one in the suburbs where the idea of a unique, delicious, non-corporate slice was only a figment of imagination. So, I boarded my car and made way down I-96 on a musky, ashy-skied Wednesday toward Brewer’s ingeniously-titled pizza joint to fill my needs.

After buying out the Detroit Pizza Factory on Griswold along with its name and number, Brewer and his cousin settled on its current location at 1043 Woodward as opposed to a potential residency next to Jimmy John’s around the corner. Brewer feels like his three-week old (at the time) venture is in the absolutely perfect spot for what they plan on doing.

“This area’s about to explode,” Brewer said. “Quicken Loans is buying up all the buildings and with the new construction, the lofts and everything, it’s bringing in more people from the suburbs. We’re a stone throw away from Campus Martius. With all the parades and business down here, it’s going to be great.”

The freshly designed building has an evenly divided royal blue and orange coated wall with a dining area of ten sets of wooden chairs and tables to fill the north side of the room.

Brewer, who received his culinary degree from Schoolcraft College, and his co-worker Andrew were busily preparing for the soon-to-be dinner rush of slice-hungry customers at the time I came in.

“During lunch we’ll have seven people working in the kitchen and someone on the register,” Brewer said. “Right now we just have the both of us back here and four drivers are out.”

Their delivery route stretches across seven miles and goes to midnight daily, which almost matches their hours of operation, 11 a.m. until midnight Monday through Saturday and noon to 11 p.m. on Sunday.

Brewer said his cousin holds down the business operation which lets him “work his magic” in the kitchen, which he’s absolutely no stranger to doing.

Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks: Deep Dish Pizza

&Nbsp;   I'll admit it.  I have never made homemade pizza dough.  Instead I usually buy the Pilsbury pizza dough that comes in a can and bake it myself to make my own pizza.  I finally decided to bite the bullet and make my own dough after seeing an incredible recipe for Deep Dish Pizza on Bite Me New England's blog.  It sounded amazing.      I was a little nervous about making the dough.  I've made yeast bread plenty of times without trouble, but I worried about this dough.  It turns out I worried in vain.  The dough is easy to make, easy to handle, and tastes fantastic.  My husband could not stop raving about it.  It has that freshly made bread taste, was crispy on the edges but soft and fluffy inside.  I used half of the dough to make this deep dish pizza and froze the other half to use on a thin crust pizza.     The deep dish pizza was easy to make and assemble.  I used a springform pan and formed the dough up the sides of the pan.  I didn't get fancy with the toppings we just had half pepperoni (for Frank) and half chicken (for me).  Then I topped it off with cheese, sauce, and more cheese!  I was afraid to cut it for fear everything woudl come running out of it, but it held firm!  I won't be buying refrigerated pizza dough anymore-I'm sold on this recipe! 5.  After doubling turn the dough onto a lightly floured table and roll into a 12 x 12 square.  Brush with the softened dough and sprinkle with oregano.  Begin rolling the dough into a tight cylinder.  Place the dough seam side down and push down to flatten.  Fold the dough into thirds like you are folding a letter pinching the ends to form a ball.

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