Cooking in Backyard: Pie Iron Pizza
Fancy pizza on your camping trip or maybe just want to cook over a fire in your backyard? How about a campfire pie iron pizza? They’re crispy on the outside and cheezy and chewy on the inside.
These pie iron pizza pockets provide the best dinner over the campfire after a day of outdoor hiking and exploring. All you need are some simple pizza ingredients and some pie irons like these at Uno Casa, and you’ll be all set!
There are several ways to make pie iron pizza, and we’ll look at the two most popular methods here.
No matter which method you choose, though, you’ll need a fire that’s good and hot. Whether it’s a gas fire, charcoal, or wood, these recipes will work great. Just be sure that your fire is well underway before cooking your pizzas. For a wood or charcoal fire, this means you want them burning so that you can see hot coals.
When the fire is nice and hot, pre-heat your pie irons before you begin to put your pizzas together. Do this by holding your irons over the fire for one minute, then flip and heat for another minute.
Be sure to open them up using oven mitts and a lot of care as they will be very hot!
Using ready-made pizza dough
Ingredients
- store-bought pizza dough (the type that comes in a can works great)
- pizza sauce
- grated mozzarella cheese
- pepperoni or other pizza toppings
- oil or an oil spray
- pizza wheel or knife
Method
Start by rolling out your dough thinly on a cutting board to form a sizeable even square or rectangle.
Divide the dough into 8 even shapes that will fit inside your pizza iron. Use rectangles or squares depending on the pizza iron that you’ve got.
Half of these shapes will be the bases, and the other half will be the tops. Spread a spoonful of pizza sauce on 4 of the shapes, add the mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, and other toppings.
Now take the other 4 shapes and fit each one over its base to form a pocket. Pinch the sides with your fingers to close the pockets carefully. You want to make sure your pockets are firmly shut so that the juices or sauce doesn’t leak out during cooking.
Be sure to let children do their own as that’s part of the enjoyment!
Now grease both sides of your pie iron well with the oil or oil spray. You don’t want the dough to stick.
Once the pockets are inside the irons, close each one firmly. If any dough squeezes out the sides, use a butter knife to trim off the excess.
Now it’s time to cook them! Cook your pizzas over the fire for 3 to 5 minutes on each side. Take a peek at one to make sure the dough is completely cooked.
To serve, slice each pocket in half. Be careful when serving as they will be very hot!
Using bread or bagels
This is essentially the same recipe as above, but you are using bread or bagels rather than store-bought pizza dough.
Ingredients
- sliced bread, bagels, or bagel thins, with 2 slices (or 1 bagel) per person
- softened butter or butter spread (if using bread slices)
- pizza sauce
- grated mozzarella cheese
- pepperoni or other pizza toppings
- oil or an oil spray
- pizza wheel or knife
Method
Thoroughly oil your pie irons on both sides.
If you are using a bagel, place one half of your bagel inside each pie iron. You don’t need the butter as the oil will be enough to prevent it from sticking to the pie iron.
If you are using bread, butter one side of both slices and put the first slices butter-side down inside each pie iron. Bread requires butter as it has more of a tendency to stick if not.
Now spread a spoonful of sauce over each bottom slice or bagel half.
Add the cheese and toppings, and finish by putting the other slice of bread or bagel half on the top. (If you are using bread, the buttered side should be facing up.)
Close the pie iron firmly, making sure it is tightly latched shut so that nothing leaks out into the fire during cooking.
Cook in the fire for 3 to 5 minutes on each side. Check first to make sure one of the pizzas is cooked before taking them out to serve them.
Tip them out onto plates and slice them in half, serve, and enjoy!
Other ideas for your pie iron pizzas
Here are some other toppings you might enjoy using for your pie iron pizzas:
