FeatherSticks · Cooking
Baking at Camp: Bread, Cake & Pizza over a Campfire
Real bread at camp? Mix it at home, bake it on embers.
Quick facts
- Time
- 15 min (pizza) to 50 min (loaf) on embers
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Best for
- Base camp, families, car camping
- You need
- Lidded pot or pan, embers, gloves
What you need
- Dutch oven, or a heavy skillet with a flat lid
- Two nesting pots and a small trivet for a two-pot oven
- Folding reflector oven (optional)
- Leather gloves and a lid lifter
- Small shovel for embers
- Lidded box or zip bags for dough and premix
- Probe thermometer or wooden skewers
- Baking paper and a little cooking oil
Step by step
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1 Mix the dough at home
Stir flour, water, salt and yeast in a bowl, then pack the dough in a lidded box. No kneading is needed for a long, slow rise.
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2 Let it rise in a warm spot
Let the dough double in size. A warm spot of about 24–30 °C speeds it up; a cool box slows it down for transport.
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3 Build an ember bed
Burn hardwood down to glowing embers beside the fire. Allow 20–30 minutes. Bake on embers, never in flames.
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4 Bake with heat above and below
About two thirds of the heat on the lid, one third below. Rotate the pot and lid every 10–15 minutes.
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5 Check doneness
Bread sounds hollow and typically reaches about 90–95 °C inside. A stick pushed into cake comes out clean.
Common mistakes
- Baking in flames instead of on embers, so the crust burns before the middle is cooked.
- Too much heat from below and no spacer, trivet or baking paper.
- Rushing the rise – cold dough that has not doubled bakes dense and flat.
- Pizza dough pressed too thick or loaded with wet toppings.
- Lifting the lid every few minutes and letting the heat escape.
- Heating plastic-lined or painted tins strongly.
- Leaving a big reflector fire unattended or too close to tarps and tents.