Wood Fired Pizza

You can tell if you have a prize winning meal if the grandkids will eat it without threats, bribes or complaints and this is a grandkid tested meal. There are three keys to success for making pizza that can also be used in other campfire meals.

• Campfire is burned down to mostly hot coals....be patient.
• Easy monitoring of the pizza crust.
• nonstick spray! It's a must.

• Start your fire about 15 minutes before you are ready to place the pizza on the fire. It is important to have hot coals in order to have better control over the cooking temperature.
• Ingredients:
  • Aluminum foil ( extra wide is great but not used in this demo)
  • Nonstick spray
  • Pizza sauce
  • Cheese
  • Pepperoni
  • Your favorite topping.
  • Pillsburry Pizza crust or comparable.

Remove two sheets of aluminum foil and overlap them in the middle about 2 inches. Fold the overlap about 1/2 inch each roll to connect the two pieces of foil to make one. This is the bottom now repeat this to make the top. This step is not necessary if you use extra wide foil.

Spray the bottom sheet with nonstick spray and then open the pizza dough. Using your hands ( grandkids favorite part) spread the dough to desired thickness. We usually spread until it covers about 1 X 1 1/2 feet. This gives an after baking thickness of 1/2 inch.

Spray top sheet of aluminum foil and then place it on top of crust. We are going to bake one side before adding ingredients. Roll with 3 or 4 half inch rolls on each end of the foil sheet. Leave outsides open for inspection. Place on grill.

Reminder: be sure that the fire is down to hot coals before adding grill and pizza crust. Flames are difficult to manage and could lead to uneven baking. Every 2 to 3 minutes you can examine the crust by lifting the side. Crust will probably take 10 minutes to brown to desired consistancy.

Remove grill from fire and remove aluminum sheets and pizza crust from fire. Flip crust over, remove top aluminum sheet and add ingredients to toasted side. Start with sauce first and add meat and other ingredients with cheese last. Place aluminum sheet back on pizza and once more roll end leaving sides open. Place on grill and back on fire. Toast on second side as done before.

When bottom of pizza is nicely browned, then remove grill and pizza from fire and prepare to eat pizza. Caution: it is very hot so give it a few minutes to cool to desired temperature.