Quick and easy pizza dough recipe for the best homemade campfire pizza in a cast iron skillet. Grilled or wood fired, thick or thin crust, and no mixer!
Part of the fun of camping is the food. Our favorite camping recipes are the easy ones, and this homemade pizza crust is no exception.
While making campfire pizza from scratch may seem intimidating, I'm here to show you that it's really not that hard at all. In fact, it's one of my favorite foods to make over a campfire because we can pretty much make it any way we want.
The kids love it because they can make pepperoni pizza if they want, or ham and pineapple pizza, or my favorite, hamburger pizza. The sky really is the limit with camping pizza.
And to mix up this homemade pizza dough, you don't even need a mixer. In fact, you just need a few ingredients and a gallon Ziploc bag.
One more note before we get started… This recipe makes enough pizza crust for 2 10-inch pizzas.
WHERE CAN I FIND THE ACTUAL RECIPE CARD?
If you’d rather skip all of my tips for making homemade pizza dough over the campfire, important info for this recipe, and similar recipe ideas – and get straight to the pizza crust recipe – just scroll down to the bottom, where you’ll find a printable recipe card.
CAN PIZZA DOUGH BE REFRIGERATED? IN OTHER WORDS, CAN PIZZA DOUGH BE MADE THE NIGHT BEFORE?
This is a question most campers would ask because they'd rather mix up the dough before they ever leave home.
While this particular crust is meant to be quick and easy for outdoor cooking, if you wanted to make it ahead, it would likely lead to an even more delicious crust because it would give it more time to rise and give all the ingredients time to really meld together.
Peter Reinhart actually has a really good explanation as to why you may want to let your crust spend a night in the fridge. It's all about the science.
That said, it's all right to make it ahead and let it sit in the fridge (or cooler) overnight. Just make sure it's covered well so it can't get any liquid in it.
CAN PIZZA DOUGH BE FROZEN?
Yes, you can freeze pizza dough. However, if you want a thicker crust, you need to let it rise first, then divide and freeze.
It should be good for up to 3 months. Freezing it also means you won't have to mix it up at the campsite, and you can put it straight from the freezer into your cooler, so win win.
TIPS FOR HOW TO MAKE PIZZA DOUGH OUTDOORS
The first time we made this pizza dough recipe, we actually let one batch rise for over an hour (probably closer to 2 hours), and we hardly let the second one have any rise time at all.
What we ended up with was a thick crust with the one that had more time to rise, and a thin crust that was equally as delicious with the other. There is something to be said for a wood fired pizza crust.
You really only need a handful of ingredients to make this pizza crust, including flour, salt, rapid rise yeast, water, and olive oil.
- Mix together the flour and salt in a gallon size Ziploc bag before you ever leave home. That way it's ready to go.
- Once you're at the campsite and ready to make it, add one packet of rapid rise yeast to the mixture.
- Then add in the water. The more lukewarm the water, the better.
- Zip up the baggie, and mix everything together with your hands.
IS PIZZA DOUGH SUPPOSED TO BE STICKY?
This is where you may notice that your dough is a little sticky and hard to get out of the bag.
This just means you may need to add a little more flour to the dough until you have more of an actual ball of dough, rather than a wet, sticky mess of dough.
Tip: Carry a little extra flour with you in case you need to add a little more to your pizza dough.
WHAT ABOUT RISE TIME?
Rise time depends if you want a thicker crust or a thin crust.
If you want a thin crust, let it rise for about 10 to 20 minutes right in the bag or bowl.
If you'd rather have a thicker crust, you may want to let it rise for about an hour or two.
HOW TO COOK PIZZA CRUST OVER THE CAMPFIRE
Once your pizza dough has risen enough for the kind of crust you want, it's ready to cook.
- Use olive oil to grease 2 10.25-inch cast iron skillets.
- Take a little bit of that oil and rub on your fingers, and then divide the dough and press it into both skillets, making sure you press it all the way to the edges of each pan.
- At this point, you can rub a little more olive oil on top of the crust if you want, which will help keep the pizza sauce and other ingredients from soaking into your crust.
- Place the skillet over the campfire (or on a grill over hot coals), allowing it to cook until the crust starts to firm up and turn a slight golden color.
- Remove the crust from the fire, add all your favorite toppings, and continue to cook with lid on for another 5 to 7 minutes, or until done (see individual pizza recipes for further instruction).
Pizza over a campfire never tasted so good!
HOW ‘BOUT DESSERT AFTER DINNER? MORE CAMPING RECIPES YOU MAY ENJOY
SHOP KITCHEN TOOLS AND CAMPING GEAR FOR THIS RECIPE:
10.25-Inch Cast Iron Skillet x's 2 – You can also find 14-inch cast iron pizza pans.
Tripod Grill – While we rigged up our own tripod grill (and hopefully, soon we'll show you how to make your own), you can also buy them. They come with slightly smaller grates, but still usable over the fire.
GET THE PRINTABLE RECIPE
If you love this recipe as much as we do, please write a 5 star review, and help me share the recipe on Facebook and Pinterest!
CONNECT WITH ADVENTURES OF MEL!
Be sure to follow me on social, so you never miss a post!
Facebook | Pinterest | YouTube | Instagram | Twitter
Sign up to receive my newsletter, filled with delicious recipes and outdoor travel adventures, in your inbox:
Easy Pizza Dough for the Campfire
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour *
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 0.25 ounces yeast rapid rise
- 1 1/4 cups water lukewarm
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Mix together the flour and salt in a gallon size Ziploc bag before you ever leave home. That way it’s ready to go.
- Once you’re at the campsite and ready to make the crust, add one packet of rapid rise yeast to the mixture.
- Then add in the lukewarm water.
- Zip up the baggie, and mix everything together with your hands.
- If the dough seems really sticky, you may need to add a little more flour until you have a nice ball of dough, rather than a sticky mess.
- If you want a thin crust, let the dough rise for about 10 to 20 minutes right in the bag or bowl.
- If you’d rather have a thicker crust, you may want to let it rise for about an hour or two.
- Use olive oil to grease 2 10.25-inch cast iron skillets.
- Take a little bit of that oil and rub on your fingers, and then divide the dough and press it into both skillets, making sure you press it all the way to the edges of each pan.
- At this point, you can rub a little more olive oil on top of the crust if you want, which will help keep pizza sauce and other ingredients from soaking into your crust.
- Place the skillet over the campfire (or on a grill over hot coals), allowing it to cook until the crust starts to firm up and turn a slight golden color.
- Remove the crust from the fire, add all your favorite toppings, and continue to cook with lid on for another 5 to 7 minutes, or until done (see individual pizza recipes for further instruction).
