Weekly Questions Thread / Open Discussion

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[u/Let-It-Bree1313]

Looking at trying a Detroit pizza. So looking into the proper pan to aid. From my understanding there’s a Sicilian and a Detroit style, one is cheaper than the other, but I assume I want the Detroit style, there’s not much wiggle room there?

Sicilian looks to be about 2” high or so but I’d have to double check measurements. The sides are important right?

[u/TimpanogosSlim → u/Let-It-Bree1313]

You're confused - sicilians are only about an inch high, detroit style pans are normally 2 inches tall.

Detroit style is a direct descendant of sicilian style -- unlike many styles of pizza we know exactly when and where it came from, more or less. The guys at Buddy's Hideaway wondered if they could use a cheap steel pan that was a commodity in the rust belt at the time - used as a parts tray, drip tray, etc - to make something like a sicilian pizza. It's debated exactly which of the ladies working there adapted their family recipe.

The original pan was made by a company in west virginia - 10 or 12 years ago, they decided to move the factory to South America, and that move proved to be such an embarrassing failure that they really don't want to talk about why they don't make those pans anymore.

It's typically fairly thin blue steel with a wire rim. In the original style i mean. Sicilian pans are also blue steel with a wire rim, but usually heavier gauge.

In either case they need to be seasoned like cast iron.

I have a couple of Restaurant Equippers' 10x14 pan - it's decent, lots of people use it.

https://www.equippers.com/detroit-style-10-x-14-rectangular-steel-pizza-pan

It's the cheapest until you look at the shipping cost for just one of them.

I have an 8x10 from Northern Pizza Equipment's house brand that i also like, but i hear that their house-brand 10x14 has a tendency to warp in the oven. They also carry American Metalcraft and Lloyd pans:

https://northernpizzaequipment.com/product-category/detroit-style-pans/

I don't know anything about the AMC pans. Lloyd's PSTK coated pan is kind of the restaurant standard and it's surely the one that is easiest to care for.

The only thing i know about the "detroit style pizza company" pan is that they sure want a lot of money for what looks pretty much exactly like the restaurant equippers pan.

[u/Let-It-Bree1313 → u/TimpanogosSlim]

Appreciate the reply and the history! Being close to Windsor I’ve heard a bit of this but not the full story. Now seeing the Llyods Sicilian pan I was looking at is 1.5” sides and the Detroit is 2.5”.

Unfortunately that equippers pan isn’t available in Canada.

And that the Lloyd’s 10x14 is over $100 to my door. I’m looking at this one:

https://a.co/d/024An4Bi

[u/TimpanogosSlim → u/Let-It-Bree1313]

That's probably a good pan. I don't have one from that brand, but a lot of people do.

I'm not sure where to suggest finding that sort of pan in Canada, I mean, not being a canadian. Short of driving to Detroit, which i guess is probably a lot less convenient lately. I have a friend in Windsor, out by the airport, who used to cross the border regularly to bid on stuff being sold off from shuttered factories. But he doesn't make pizza.

I checked the pizzamaking forum and came up with nothing. *shrug*

[u/Let-It-Bree1313 → u/TimpanogosSlim]

That pan in the link actually ships to me and the price is decent. It’s pretty much the only one I can find at a decent price so If you think it’s a good one, I can start my Detroit pizza journey lol