Detroit Hawaiian
Ham and pineapple in a Detroit pan. The caramelized pineapple makes this version actually good.
Recipe by ThePizzaPlanet.com · Published
Essential tool for this bake
Pineapple on a Detroit divides people, and the objection is usually moisture rather than taste. The trick is pre-roasting the pineapple to drive off water, or at minimum patting it bone-dry with paper towels for a full minute. Wet pineapple ruins a Detroit because the dough at the bottom turns to mush. Once you solve the moisture problem, the caramelized pineapple cooked into the cheese-frico edge is genuinely incredible — like the best part of a glazed ham sandwich. Add jalapeño slices for the sweet-spicy-salty version. Skip the drying step and you get exactly the soggy middle this style is least forgiving of.
Flour: King Arthur Bread Flour (12.7% protein) — read the review
Dough Formula
| Ingredient | Grams | Baker's % |
|---|---|---|
| Flour (12.7% protein) | 232 g | 100.0% |
| Water | 163 g | 70.3% |
| Salt | 5.8 g | 2.5% |
| Yeast | 1.6 g | 0.7% |
| Oil | 9 g | 3.9% |
| Sugar | 3 g | 1.3% |
Makes 1 ball of ≈415 g
Ingredients
Dough
- Pizza dough (see formula above)1 ball
Toppings
- Brick cheese or mozz/Muenster mix300g
- Ham or Canadian bacon150g, diced
- Pineapple chunks150g, drained
- Cooked tomato sauce — For stripes on top100 g
Instructions
- 1
Make the dough: mix per the formula above, then follow the calculator schedule for Detroit — 26 h bulk/cold ferment before shaping (hands-on 20 min).
- 2
Press dough into oiled pan, let rise 30-45 min.
- 3
Add cheese to edges, then distribute ham and pineapple.
- 4
Bake at 260-290°C (500-550°F) for 12-15 minutes.
- 5
Add sauce stripes and serve.
Tips
- →Hands-on time is about 30 minutes; allow the dough its full ferment — see the calculator schedule
- →Pat pineapple VERY dry — excess moisture is the enemy
- →The caramelized pineapple bits at the edges are incredible
- →Try adding jalapeño for sweet-spicy-salty trifecta
Video by Tiki Pizza · 137 views · 14 min · on YouTube
Shop this bake
Flour
King Arthur Bread Flour
The first bag to buy if you bake in a domestic oven. At 12.7% protein with added amylase on the label it gives you chew and colour at 250 °C, which is exactly what an unmalted 00 will not.
$13.42· as of Nov 5, 2026, 03:49 UTCCheck price on Amazon →Read the review →i
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon.com at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.Ingredient
SAF Instant Yeast
Instant, so it goes in dry with the flour: no warm-water step means no step at which the yeast can be cooked, which is where an active-dry dough most often dies.
Check price on Amazon →Read the review →Equipment
Original Baking Steel
6.4 mm is the home compromise: enough stored heat to bake two pies back to back, in a slab that will never crack the way a cordierite stone eventually does.
$139.00· as of Nov 5, 2026, 03:49 UTCCheck price on Amazon →Read the review →i
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon.com at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
If this goes wrong
Pizza base is soggy in the middle
Not enough heat is reaching the centre of the base fast enough to drive the water out before the crust sets. Bake on a fully preheated steel or stone rather than a tray, give it 45–60 minutes at maximum, and cut the water you put on top.
Toppings slide off when slicing
Molten cheese is a liquid and cannot grip anything until it cools back through roughly 55–65 °C (130–150 °F). Rest the pizza 2–3 minutes, cut down through it rather than dragging a wheel across it, and stop building a layer of oil and water between the cheese and the dough.
Pizza crust is dense and bready, not chewy
Dense crust means the gas never got in or never got out of the dough into the crumb. Proof to the peak, keep the rim untouched, stop adding bench flour, and bake on a surface hot enough to give you real oven spring.
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