PIZZA! Oh yes.....

I'd be remiss if I didn't include this:  As you've probably gathered, we love using dutch ovens for stuff, both aboard and on the charcoal grill.  They're a really versatile tool, virtually immortal, and can make some tasty stuff.

One of our favorite things is do make breads in the dutch oven.  We do crusty bread to go with meals, foccaccia, and KILLER pizzas, all from the same recipe:

So here's what you do:  In a bowl mix:

3 Cups of Flour (your choice, everything seems to work pretty well)
1TBL salt
1/2 tsp of yeast
and about 1 1/3 cups of water (the water will vary with the humidity and how dry the flour is)

Mix together to make a sticky dough.  Don't overwork, just completely combine the ingredients.  Then cover the bowl with a cloth and ignore it til tomorrow.

The next day you will have a larger amount of an even STICKIER dough.  If you're making bread, flour the living daylights out of your hands and form it into a ball (again, don't overwork) and place on a floured towel or cloth and cover.  If you're doing pizza, I'd recommend dividing the mass, putting half in an oiled ziplock back in your ice chest for tomorrow and let the remaining dough sit covered.

Let em sit for at least two hours.

Now, the dutch oven.  There are a couple of kinds you can use.  We have both the traditional kind intended to sit on coals and more modern ones.  The traditional ovens have legs under them and have a lid with a lip so the coals can stay on top.  We also use a "chicken fryer" which has a lid which is also a frypan.  That's the one we use for pizza, though both will work.

Oil the pan well and stretch out your dough to match.

Then dress with your favorite ingredients.  We like to sautee our vegetables first before adding them. If you REALLY like loading up the pizza, cook the crust for a bit first before adding stuff.

While that's going on, heat the top of the cooker.  You're using this as a bake oven, remember, not as a frypan.

Then place the flat pan on the coals (you don't need to overdo the fire here, about 8 coals will do it for the bottom) put the larger pan on top, and add 8-10 coals to heat.  

While this can vary a lot in cook time depending on your ingredients, in about 15 minutes you'll have a wonderful pie, with a lovely browned crust and wonderfully melded flavors.

Seriously, guys, this makes for killer pizza.  We use fresh tomato when available, local sausage, sauteed onion, pepper, and garlic and a nice topping of mixed cheeses (mozzarella and romano work well).

Next foray into this well tell you how to make a great foccacia bread or just a nice crusty loaf for eating.

Enjoy.

M

Hey, check out our other blogs and the sagas of the Shantyboat Floating Empire over at floatingempire.blogspot.com and Life, Art, Water, you'll be glad you did :)