Pizza Tikka Masala

Several years ago, I visited a little place in Joshua Tree called Sam’s Indian Food & Pizza and tried my first Indian-inspired pizza. And so for a while I’ve been inspired to try making a Pizza Tikka Masala combining the flavors of tikka masala (my personal favorite curry) with Detroit-style pizza in my own personal fusion creation.

Why Did You Make This a Detroit Style?

Per Wikipedia, the Detroit-style pizza was first seen at Buddy’s Rendezvous in 1946. This is a deep-dish airy-crust pizza with cheese (traditionally Wisconsin brick cheese often mixed with white cheddar) goes right up to the edges, caramelizing beautifully against the pan for a crispy, cheesy border that’s always a hit when we throw a pizza party. It also features the sauce arranged in “racing strips” across the top.

The Motor City Masala?

Thinking about it, maybe I should name this the Motor City Masala! Combing the best of Detroit’s signature pizza (the air crust almost wrapped in crispy, cheesy goodness) with the bold, spicy flair of ich tikka masala sauce adds a punch of vibrant flavor. This pizza is a true fusion!

And despite Sam’s more conventional approach (check out pictures people have posted on Yelp), to me, Detroit seemed like a really great option for making our Pizza Tikka Masala!

What You Need for Pizza Tikka Masala

• 20 ounces of pizza dough (I recommend referring to our copy-cat version of Tony Gemignani’s Master Dough recipe – more on that later)
• Salted butter
• Olive oil
• Tikka Masala sauce (more on that shortly)
• Cheese (traditional Detroit uses white cheddar and Wisconsin brick, but I used white cheddar and mozzarella).
• Optional garnishes
  • I used sour cream as a garnish where a traditional Detroit pizza would usually have pepperoni but you can also use small slices/bites of paneer cheese, cilantro, or plain yoghurt.
• You can also add meat or a meat substitute to your curry – the word tikka translates to “bits” and tikka masala in North America is very commonly used with chicken. But you can certainly cut paneer into bits as well and simmer in your tikka masala sauce!

Making Detroit Style Pizza Dough

We’re starting with our copy cat of Tony Gemignani’s pizza dough. The thick, fluffy crust is the perfect foundation for all the rich flavors. This pizza quite a bit of time to prepare in order to get really deep flavor and lots of poof wrapped in a crispy crust!

If you really want to develop some extra flavor, try making this as a 48-hour pizza dough (which involves adding about 2 days of cold fermentation.

For our pizza tikka masala, we’re using 20 ounces of pizza dough, enough to fill a classic Detroit-style pizza pan or a 9×13 inch baking pan. Let’s get that dough going!

How to Make Detroit Pizza Dough

You know the best part of this dough recipe? The only thing that makes this recipe “complex” is time, which puffy and airy crusts of a Detroit (or Pizza al Taglio) really need to develop properly.

There’s a few sources out there for how to make Motor City’s prized pizza crust, but after having a slice at his restaurant Slice House and then tried his recipe from the Pizza Bible, I’ve taken my inspiration from Tony Gemignani. Pizza tikka masala isn’t a copy-cat recipe, but I do use my copy-cat version of his dough recipe, which we wrote about here.

The Detroit Pizza Pan

A hallmark of the Detroit pizza is the pizza pan. Although apparently it has its roots from an automotive parts pan, today’s “standard” is a 10″ by 14″ black steel pan. Lloyds Pans seems to make today’s favored pan. You can find it on Amazon here for about $60.

However, you might also notice that this pan looks very much like a typical cake pan. Practically speaking, the biggest differences are the size (a cake pan is typically 9″ by 13″) and cake pans often have a non-stick coating (so don’t use a steel spatula to get the pizza out!).

Even if you don’t have a cake pan, any tall-edge pan will allow you to make this pizza.

Because not everyone is going to choose to shell out $60 for a pan with only one use, we’re going to make this recipe based upon the standard cake pan. If in fact you do have a 10″ x 14″ pan, you’ll need about 15% more of everything. I’ve included the ratios in the notes at the end of the recipe card.

Preparing the Crust for our Pizza Tikka Masala

As discussed, I typically use our take on Tony Gemignani’s Master Dough recipe for Detroit style pizza. You could also substitute our Sicilian dough or Roman dough. But because this crust requires a dough that rises a lot, it’s quite different than a Neapolitan dough.

• For a 13″ x 9″ pizza pan, I recommend using 20 ounces of the Master Dough pizza dough (1.25 lbs.). If you’ve used our recipe, the dough will be coming from the refrigerator after 1 or 2 days of cold proofing. Remove the dough from the fridge and let sit at room temperature for one hour.
• After the 1 hour is up, take 1 tablespoon of cold butter and smear the inside of the cake pan – use your fingers to smear the entire pan, including all the way up the sides (this is important). Although most bakers suggest using unsalted butter, I have found the crust tastes better with salted butter.
• Add 1 teaspoon of olive oil to the center of the pan.
• Gently tip the dough into the center of the pan.
• Gently lift and flip the dough to coat the dough in olive oil.
• Using your fingers, “piano” the dough to spread it from the center of the dough towards the edges and corners. It won’t cover the pan and it will spring back a bit – that’s okay. Don’t over work the dough trying to stretch it too much.

If you’re going to do this as a 48-hour dough, this is the point at which you would cover it and put it in the fridge for ~48 hours. Then remove it and leave it covered while it comes up to room temperature (about an hour) before proceeding with the same instructions:

• Let the dough rest uncovered in a relatively warm place in the kitchen for 1 hour (about 80 degrees is optimal). If your kitchen is warmer or cooler, it will change the total proofing time.
• After that 1 hour, again piano the dough to spread it to the edges and corners. Be even more gentle and again, don’t overwork the dough. Even if it doesn’t extend to the corners, the pizza will still be great. It’s more important that you don’t let all of the gasses out of the dough.

• Let the dough rest again for another 1.5 hours. The dough should continue to grow and fluff up to fill the pan this time.
• When there are 30 minutes left in this last proofing step (i.e. it’s been proofing 1 hour), turn on the oven to 500 degrees. If you have a pizza stone or a pizza steel, put them in before preheating the oven.

Tikka Masala Sauce

There’s two ways to make our Tikka Masala pizza – the easier way, with pre-purchased sauce…

or the slightly more involved way of making it yourself. But in both examples, we are using a Detroit style pizza dough, and that’s one you need to make from scratch and it will take a couple of days!

Ingredients for Tikka Masala Sauce (from scratch)

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-inch piece of ginger, grated
• 1 tbsp garam masala
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional, for heat)
• 1 can (15 oz) of tomato puree
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• Salt
• Optionally, you can add a small amount of shredded chicken or small bits of paneer cheese

Preparing the tikka masala sauce:

• Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a saucepan over medium heat.
• Add the diced onion and sauté until soft, about 5 minutes.
• If you are going to add meat or paneer, add it now. Make sure the pieces are very small partly to make it easier to spread over the pizza but also so that it will cook quickly in the saucepan.
• Add minced garlic and grated ginger, cooking until fragrant, about 1 minute.
• Stir in the garam masala, turmeric, cumin, coriander, and cayenne (if using).
• Cook for another minute to release the spices’ aroma.
• Pour in the tomato puree
• Simmer the sauce for about 10 minutes.
• Stir in the cream, and season with salt to taste. Simmer for another 2-3 minutes until the sauce thickens enough that you can apply it as racing stripes.
• Remove from heat and set aside.

Building Your Motor City Masala Pizza

• Just prior to putting the pizza in the oven, you can grate the cheese:
  • 2 cups of mozzarella (Wisconsin Brick cheese or Munster are a little more in keeping with true Detroit)
  • 1.5 cups of white cheddar cheese
• Baking part 1: Place the pan with your dough into the oven and bake it for 7 minutes. This gives the dough a nice initial rise and begins the formation of that delicious golden crust.
• Add the cheese: Remove the dough from the oven and layer the shredded mozzarella evenly over the surface, then sprinkle the white cheddar along the edges for that classic Detroit-style crispy cheese border.

• Baking part 2: Rotate the pan 180 degrees and return it to the oven for another 7 minutes, allowing the cheese to melt into bubbly perfection.

• Applying the tikka masala and cream:
  • After the second bake, pull your pizza out and add the tikka masala sauce with a spoon to form racing stripes across the pizza.
  • Next, add dollops of sour cream (or plain yogurt, if you prefer) across the pizza, imitating pepperoni placement. This will give a nice, tangy contrast to the rich sauce.
  • If you’re garnishing with paneer slices instead, now’s the time to place them on top too. Remember, paneer won’t melt, but it’ll warm up beautifully.

• Final bake: rotate the pan again and return it to the oven for another 5 minutes. The sour cream (or yoghurt) will set slightly and the tikka masala sauce will become further concentrated and flavorful.
• Remove from the oven and immediately use a plastic spatula to transfer the pizza to a cutting board (if you wait, it will likely get much harder to separate from the pan).

• Let the pizza rest for at least 3 minutes before slicing into rectangular pieces. Allowing it to rest will allow everything (especially the cheese) to firm up before cutting.
• If you are garnishing with fresh herbs like cilantro, I recommend adding them at the very end before serving.

Tips and Tricks for our Pizza Tikka Masala

1. Don’t fuse the pizza to the pan! Without question, the most important tip with this pizza is to get it out of the pan before the cheese hardens to the sides. That means having a cutting board and your spatula ready! If you’re using a non-stick cake pan, you will want to use a plastic spatula to prevent permanent scratches in the pan.
2. More substantial: you can always make this pizza more substantial by adding bits (tikka) of meat or paneer to the sauce before applying it to the pizza.
3. Sour Cream vs. Yogurt: If you prefer a less tangy topping, you can use sour cream in place of yogurt. It will set similarly when baked, but offer a creamier, milder flavor.
4. Paneer Topping: For a vegetarian twist, try thin slices of paneer as a topping where the pepperoni would normally go. Remember, paneer won’t melt, but its subtle flavor works well with the spices.
5. Curry Paste Swap: Not in the mood for tikka masala? Swap it for another Indian curry paste like korma or vindaloo for a different flavor profile. Just be mindful of heat levels if you go with something spicier like vindaloo!
6. Vegan style: To make a vegan version of Pizza Tikka Masala, you’ll need to substitute the butter with a high-heat oil applied liberally to the pan. The downside is that the oil won’t cling to the pan as well as butter. You’ll also want to change to vegan cheeses. Try using cashew milk mozzarella (or any very-melty cheese) in place of the Brick and Reine’s Vegan Cuisine Sharp Cheddar Nut Cheese for the edges.

September 20, 2024