Fire-Baked Pizza in a Dutch Oven
The trick that turns a good camp cook into a legend is realizing a Dutch oven isn't just a pot — it's an oven. Put coals underneath and on the lid, and you can bake. And once you can bake at camp, you can make pizza that has people wondering how you pulled it off in the middle of the woods.
Coals top and bottom
Baking in a Dutch oven is all about surrounding the food with even heat. A good rule of thumb for a medium oven is roughly a third of your coals underneath and two-thirds on the lid — more heat up top browns the cheese without burning the bottom. You want a moderate, steady heat, not a roaring one. Preheat the empty oven for a few minutes before the pizza goes in.
Dough and prep
Make or buy dough and keep it cold in the cooler until go time; a store-bought ball travels fine and saves a lot of fuss. Dust the bottom of the oven with cornmeal or semolina so the crust doesn't stick and gets a little crunch. Stretch the dough to fit, and here's the big one: go light on the toppings. A thin layer of sauce, a modest handful of cheese, and a few toppings will cook through and crisp up. Pile it high and you get a soggy raft.
Bake, rotate, and watch
Set the oven on its coals, put the loaded lid on, and bake for around 12 to 15 minutes. Every few minutes, lift the lid to check and rotate the whole oven a third-turn, and give the lid a spin the opposite way — fires have hot spots, and rotating evens them out. You're done when the crust is set and browned and the cheese is bubbling and blistered. Lift it out, let it set for a minute, and slice.
The skillet shortcut
No Dutch oven? A cast-iron skillet with a foil tent or a metal lid works too. Build the pizza in a preheated, oiled skillet, cover it, and set it over a moderate bed of coals. The bottom crisps against the iron while the trapped heat melts the top. It's a one-pizza-at-a-time operation, but it turns out a beautiful pan pizza with a fried, golden underside. Either way, camp pizza night is a crowd-pleaser that punches way above its weight.