The Backpackers Pizza Surprise!

Normally, you would never think that you could have pizza out in the middle of the wilderness, but you can. 

Ok, we admit getting the pizza guy to deliver to the side of a mountain or wherever you may be might be a little tough, unless he rappelled in. Hey, it could happen, but the tip you'd have to give - oy vey! You never know, you might get a delivery out there; the guy could be into the winning combination of parkour and pizza. 

But on the off chance your pizza guy isn't into extreme deliveries, you can now pack the ingredients yourself and surprise the daylights out of everyone at camp. It's really easy to do, and you'll have so much fun having pizza in the woods, it will give you Facebook and Snapchat pictures for days.

Here's What To Bring

1. You go to Mother Earth Products and get some items that are perfect for pizza: mushroom, tomatoes, TSP bacon, and freeze dried bell peppers. 
2. Get some of our dried tomato powder; this will come in super handy in a minute. Bring a few spices along that you likely already have such as a little dried minced garlic, dried parsley flakes, oregano, and basil. As you can tell, these are the perfect ingredients to your sauce. You can bring 6 to 8 tomato ketchup packets along; they will add a bunch of extra flavor if you want to.
3. Bring a roll of premade frozen bakery dough that makes insane pizza crust. You can get them at any local grocery store. You know the ones where they have the dough in a cylindrical cardboard type tube, and when you twist it open it pops. You can take it frozen and keep it cool while you hike, and it will naturally thaw out. 
4. Of course you should bring any other pizza toppings you like, such as: pepperoni, cheese, or any other favorites you may have. 
5. You'll need some sort of a sauce pan and a round tin foil pie pan. If you don't have or don't want to bring a sauce pan, then you can use the pie pan for both needs. Be sure to bring enough tin foil to easily cover the pie pan as well.

How To Make It

1. Reconstitute your dry ingredients that you'll be using as toppings. Just follow normal directions to do so.
2. Make your sauce using the sauce pan or pie pan that you'll cook the pizza in later. Add your dried tomato powder, spices, and just enough water to make a nice thick sauce. If you brought ketchup packets, empty them into the mix as well. They will really round out the flavor of the sauce. Bring to a slight boil, then stir until thick. If you used the pie tin, transfer the sauce unto another container. Rinse the pie pan so it's ready for the dough.
3. Open your dough roll and spread as much of it as you need across the pie pan and up the sides. If you want thick crust user more dough, thin crust less dough.
4. Spread your sauce evenly over all the dough except the very outer edge.
5. Place your toppings on top of the dough and sauce.

How To Cook It

There are a few ways you can handle the cooking end depending upon what you have to work with of course. Even taking the suggestion below, you may still have to modify it to your surroundings.

1. If you have a fire or propane stove, you can sauté the toppings in a little olive oil, butter or bear grease depending on just how hard you're roughing it. Just kidding on the bear grease; it's actually not very tasty. The TSP bacon is amazing after being sautéed -- so much so that you'll want to make extra for breakfast the next day.
2. Place the sautéed ingredients on top of the dough and sauce. Cover with the tin foil, crimping the edges tight to make a lid that will be like an oven in there. Place the tin with the ingredients well above the flames so that you get a lot of heat but won't burn it. You'll want to check how it's doing after 20 minutes. Then cook until done. Cooking time will vary widely based upon your circumstances. 

If you happen to make it while other people are away for an hour and they come back, you won't believe how they will react to having insanely good pizza out in the wild. They will think you're nuts, but in a good way.

Of course, you can make this at home in the comfort of your well stocked kitchen, but next time you go trekking, you'll have a new favorite dish as well.

← Previous Post Next Post →