Campfire Pizza

Glenn MacGrady · Jun 5, 2025

Pizza is one of my favorite foods, and seemingly a simple one, but I've never seen anyone make it in camp. This article . . .

How To Bake A Backcountry Pizza Your Tripmates Will Rave About

Follow these simple steps to bite into a takeout-quality slice

paddlingmag.com

. . . claims that "[d]one poorly, campfire pizza will have uncooked toppings and half-melted cheese on a burnt bottom and black crust," and suggests "simple steps" to create "a takeout-quality slice of backcountry heaven."

Have any of you made campfire pizza? How? Open pan? Closed pan? Reflector oven? Ingredients?

Boatman53 · Jun 5, 2025

Yup I’ve made them a couple times, mostly when my adult children join me. They ate it up but it was a bannock crust made first (that’s easy and no yeast waiting to rise) then add the toppings.

Jim

Mason · Jun 5, 2025

One of my partners makes them out of pita bread. Simple and really tasty.

Marten · Jun 5, 2025

Cliff Jacob son's method:
Use store bought cooked pizza bread
Brown slightly in pan with lid that will seal
Flip and add sauce to liking
Pile on what you like, meats cooked
Keeping pan on fire so its really hot
Pour a third cup water in pan and cover tightly
In two minutes the steam has cooked your pizza to perfection

With this method you have a pizza every four minutes and they are all melted and delicious.

Pinecones · Jun 5, 2025

I once brought a frozen pizza on a trip in my food barrel. I baked it on the second night.

billconner · Jun 5, 2025

Jello mold oven. Jiffy or Betty Crocker dough mix. Dehydrated sauce and vegetables. Fresh cheese. Summer sausage.

snapper · Jun 5, 2025

Working with college students, we ate pizza quite a bit on extended trips. Over the years we made them with real pizza dough (quite sticky on your fingers if you forgot to bring extra flour), Boboli bread, pitas and in a pinch, English muffins. Depending on what you added for toppings, the taste factor could be just blah or off the charts. Bottom line, they were easy to make and filled a lot of stomachs over the years.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time....be well.

snapper

Patrick Corry · Jun 5, 2025

How about this? It’s essentially a pizza turnover in a pan.

Glenn MacGrady · Jun 5, 2025

snapper said:
in a pinch, English muffins

Not in camp, but at home my mother used to make little pizzas with English muffins. Very nostalgic for me.

Patrick Corry said:
How about this? It’s essentially a pizza turnover in a pan.

Looks very good. Naan bread (India Indian) is very pillowy and tasty.

Erica · Jun 5, 2025

Glenn MacGrady said:
Not in camp, but at home my mother used to make little pizzas with English muffins. Very nostalgic for me.

My mom made these too. I loved them as a kid.

ppine · Jun 6, 2025

I make pizza pretty often in the woods. I use an iron Dutch Oven when truck camping and a small aluminum Dutch Oven on river trips. You can use prepared dough in a tube, or make some dough from a mix. Sometimes I use prepared Bobouli round dough. A DO allows for plenty of top heat for baking without burning anything. Use quality ingredients and you will some great pizza.

Tomato sauce is optional but not required. I like things like sun dried tomatoes, garlic, basil, spinach, onions, mushrooms and mayb some type of meat on pizza. Black olives, artichoke hearts. Lots of things can be stored for a week without refrigeration to make pizza with. Bring some spices like oregano, garlic and Parm cheese.

MJones · Jun 6, 2025

We make pizza using our Outback Oven, it turns out so good! We too use real pizza dough, and we make sure to bring along Chris Brothers Hot Pepperoni and Barbours pizza spice (tastes of home).

Naan breads make for a good pizza crust as well.

eckilson · Jun 6, 2025

You could definitely do it in a Dutch oven. I'll often make yeast doughs before I leave and store them in the cooler in a ziplock bag - they will keep several days. Haven't done pizza, but have done cinnamon rolls that way.

https://flic.kr/p/2ppGUza

Pizza is now on the list.

Erica · Jun 6, 2025

eckilson said:
You could definitely do it in a Dutch oven. I'll often make yeast doughs before I leave and store them in the cooler in a ziplock bag - they will keep several days. Haven't done pizza, but have done cinnamon rolls that way.

https://flic.kr/p/2ppGUza

Pizza is now on the list.

Are you willing to share your recipe for cinnamon rolls? If so, please do.

paddler123 · Jun 6, 2025

I've done it in a reflector oven many times, usually as a rest day treat. Veggie, traditional pepperoni/cheese, Hawaiian, etc.

eckilson · Jun 6, 2025

Erica said:
Are you willing to share your recipe for cinnamon rolls? If so, please do.

You'll find it on this page about half-way down - Yeast Breads – Cinnamon Rolls

Open Boat, Moving Water - A Paddler's Journal

Canoe trips, pictures and videos from Rhode Island and the rest of New England

eckilson.blogspot.com

Erica · Jun 6, 2025

eckilson said:
You'll find it on this page about half-way down - Yeast Breads – Cinnamon Rolls

Open Boat, Moving Water - A Paddler's Journal

Canoe trips, pictures and videos from Rhode Island and the rest of New England

eckilson.blogspot.com

Thanks. It looks like you are quite the cook. An interesting website, too..

LanceR · Wednesday at 9:49 AM

We've used Dutch ovens, two pie pans with one inverted over the other as a field expedient Dutch oven, a reflector oven, calzones in a Coleman folding oven and likely other methods I can't remember offhand. This one was done while camping last year and is a Lodge 15" skillet with a 14" DO lid. That's a 12" Bobili pizza shell although we usually use our own dough for pizzas or calzones in camp. The 12" and smaller DO lids fit the corresponding skillet better so you're less likely to have ashes in the skillet....

We made a chicken-bacon-ranch pizza last week while camping in the Smoky Mountains.

And pita bead makes a quick shelf stable starting point for a campfire calzone.

Best regards,

Lance

Boatman53 · Wednesday at 10:27 AM

Ok, I just ate breakfast but now I’m hungry again.
Jim

ppine · Thursday at 10:00 AM

Nice hybrid contraption Lance.
Use what ever works. I can recommend making pancakes on a shovel and baking with 2 gold pans.
Cooking on the exhaust manifold is as old as the hills.

Campfire Pizza

Glenn MacGrady

Administrator

How To Bake A Backcountry Pizza Your Tripmates Will Rave About

Boatman53

Mason

Marten

Pinecones

billconner

snapper

Patrick Corry

Glenn MacGrady

Administrator

Erica

ppine

MJones

eckilson

Erica

paddler123

eckilson

Open Boat, Moving Water - A Paddler's Journal

Erica

Open Boat, Moving Water - A Paddler's Journal

LanceR

Boatman53

ppine

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