Via 313’s The Detroiter: Ingredients + Process
Brian Hernandez heads to Austin, Texas, for an on-the-road edition of The Pizza Kitchen to check out Via 313’s best-selling Detroiter with Brandon and Zane Hunt. This Detroit-style favorite keeps it beautifully simple: smoked pepperoni under the cheese, natural casing pepperoni on top, white cheddar around the edge for caramelization, mozzarella down the center, and sauce added after the bake. If you want to see it come together in real time, definitely watch the video—but here’s the ingredient rundown and build process based on the transcript.
Ingredients
For one Detroit-style pizza, you’ll need:
- Detroit-style dough in a rectangular pan
- Smoked pepperoni
- Brandon places these in 3 rows of 4, so 12 slices
- Shredded white cheddar
- Used around the edge to create the caramelized border
- Whole milk mozzarella
- Used down the center
- Natural casing pepperoni
- Added on top of the cheese
- Pizza sauce
- About 2 ounces total
- Applied after baking, about 1 ounce on each side
- Dried oregano
- Added after saucing
Notes on Amounts
The transcript gives a few exact build numbers, but not a full weighed recipe. Here’s what is specifically stated:
- Smoked pepperoni: 12 slices
- Sauce: 2 ounces total
- Bake temperature: 550 degrees F
- Bake time: about 10 minutes
The cheese amounts and top pepperoni count are not specified in the transcript, only that the pizzas are normally weighed in the shop and that this demo pizza was built a little freestyle for the video.
Process
1. Build the base layer.
Start with your Detroit-style dough in the pan. Add the smoked pepperoni first, placing it directly on the dough in 3 rows of 4. This follows the old-school Detroit approach of putting pepperoni under the cheese.
2. Add the cheese.
Scatter shredded white cheddar around the edge of the pizza to create that signature caramelized Detroit-style border. Then add whole milk mozzarella down the center.
3. Top it off and bake.
Add a layer of natural casing pepperoni on top of the cheese. Bake at 550 degrees F for about 10 minutes. In the oven used in the video, the pizza does not need to be turned during baking.
4. Finish after the bake.
Once the pizza comes out, cut it first to help keep the cheese edge looking clean before the sauce goes on. Then add about 2 ounces of sauce total, split into 1 ounce on each side, and finish with a sprinkle of oregano before serving.
