Detroit vs Sicilian pizza — the difference
Two thick pan squares often confused, but built differently: Detroit is a tall, airy steel-pan pie defined by its crispy frico cheese edges, while Sicilian (sfincione) is a denser, spongier square with more dough and a generous hand of oil.
Side by side
Every number below is the calculator’s, at each style’s default size:
| Detroit | Sicilian | |
|---|---|---|
| Format | Pan pizza | Pan pizza |
| Typical size | 35 × 25 cm pan | 33 × 33 cm pan |
| Dough per pizza | 630 g | 817 g |
| Hydration | 70% | 70% |
| Salt | 2.2% | 2.2% |
| Oil | 2% | 3% |
| Sugar | 1% | 1% |
| Oven | 250 °C / 482 °F | 230 °C / 446 °F |
| Flour | Bread flour | Bread flour, splash of semola |
| Protein | 12.5–14% | 12.5–14% |
What sets them apart
Detroit. Detroit packs a lighter dough into a deep steel pan and pushes brick cheese to the walls, where it caramelizes into the crunchy frico rim that defines the style.
Sicilian. Sicilian sfincione is sturdier and oilier — more dough per square, a higher crumb, and a soft, almost focaccia-like sponge under its toppings.
Which one to make
Go Detroit. Choose Detroit when you want height, an airy interior and those lacy fried-cheese edges — and you have a deep, ideally steel, pan.
Go Sicilian. Choose Sicilian when you want a heartier, breadier square that feeds a crowd, with oil-crisped bottom and a pillowy crumb.
Both proof and bake right in the pan and both want strong flour, so they're close cousins in technique. The dividing line is density — Sicilian carries noticeably more dough in the same pan — which the calculator sizes for each automatically.
For the numbers behind the table, see the hydration and flour guides.
Questions from the counter
Are Detroit and Sicilian the same thing?
No, though they're easy to confuse. Both are thick rectangles baked in a pan, but Detroit is lighter and defined by frico cheese edges in a steel pan, while Sicilian is a denser, oilier sfincione square. The calculator gives each its own dough density.
Can I make Detroit in a normal cake pan?
It'll be good but not authentic — the genuine frico edge comes from a deep, well-seasoned steel pan that lets the cheese fry against the walls. A sturdy metal pan gets you most of the way there.
Make either one
The calculator weighs and schedules both — pick a preset and it does the rest.
The clock is a suggestion. The dough is the boss. In bocca al lupo!
Impasto is a free pizza dough calculator for Neapolitan, New York, Roman, Sicilian, Detroit, thin crust and focaccia doughs — flour, water, salt and yeast weighed in baker's percentages, with the fermentation schedule written for you.