Dutch Oven Pizza With a "Pizza Ring"

Here is something that you don't really associate with camping... PIZZA! But there is no reason to go out into the wilderness and leave behind that wonderful pie at home. Here I will show you a way of baking a pizza in a dutch oven in a way you most likely have never seen before.

So the one big disadvantage that I've seen in dutch oven pizza is the depth of the dutch oven itself. When finished, it can be cumbersome to get the pizza out of the oven. My father solved this problem by creating the "Pizza Ring." The following will help explain what the pizza ring is and how the pizza ring falls into place by starting from the bottom.

Start with a three legged lid rack/oven stand. These are used to hold your dutch oven lid while you have the oven open or when you have an oven with no legs and you are cooking with charcoal briquettes. The one I have is fold able. Flip it upside down and place an upturned dutch oven lid on the legs. This will be your cooking surface. I am using a lid from a 14" dutch oven. As you can imagine, this allows you to get to the pizza like pulling one out on a pizza pan from your oven at home.

This is where the pizza ring comes into play. Rather than flipping your oven upside down on top of the up turned lid, which can be as cumbersome as pulling a pizza out of the bottom of a dutch oven, a steel ring is placed on top of the up turned lid with a second lid to close it off. There is your pizza oven.

The ring itself is very simple in concept. It is made up of 1/8" mild steel, 2.5" high and approximately 43.4" wide for the circumference. Bending the sheet of steel into a nice even ring can be tricky. If you are lucky enough to have a metal roller you can simply roll the sheet until you get to the desired ring size. If not, heat the sheet with a torch and bend around a form the same diameter of the ring. The seam is welded and two loops are attached on either side made out of 1/4" rod.

There are so many possibilities for the pizza you want. I'm showing a pretty standard works pizza.

I'm not very good at making pizza dough so I got a pre-made dough. It rolls out on parchment paper and fits just inside the ring. I do add a sprinkle of cornmeal and flip the dough over with the cornmeal against the parchment and then trim the parchment to fit within the ring.

Add your choice of sauce and toppings. I have some sausage, pepperoni, olives, green bell pepper, red onions and mushrooms. I had to leave mushrooms and onions off from one side because my wife doesn't like them. I then topped everything off with mozzarella cheese.

Get your charcoal briquettes started. For a 14" dutch oven you will need 30-45 briquettes. I used my propane camp stove and a charcoal chimney to start them. I suggest using Kingsford brand charcoal because they light pretty easily and burn hotter and longer.

Arrange 9-15 briquettes around the stand and place the sandwich of lids and the pizza ring with your prepared pizza on top of the stand. Arrange 20-30 briquettes on top. The amount of briquettes on bottom and top will determine how crisp or soft you want your pizza.

Bake your pizza for 20 minutes or until cheese is nice and bubbly and crust is golden brown. Check it once halfway through.

Just some added info, I am using a cooking table that you can get from chuckwagonsupply.com These tables are built like a rock. They can stand up to many dutch ovens full of food. They are worth the money and will last a lifetime. I also got the folding lid rack/oven stand from them as well. Check them out.

When finished, just pull the top lid and the ring and serve from the bottom lid. This works pizza came out so good I had to go and try another loaded with just pepperoni. It came out looking more like a cheese pizza.

I hope you enjoyed this instructable and would love to hear your comments on it.