The Pizza Oven
Pasta for supper, Oats for Breakfast, Biscuits for lunch. Repeat for 2-3 weeks. Then imagine someone offers you a pizza...
To
start with, you need some sort of base. You could use a large pot-lid,
but its owner might not appreciate it. This part gets very very hot, goes
blueish and warps. I have a R10 cake tin. Next you need a small pot lid
or tray, which you balance on three well-chosen stones to keep it away
from the base - an inch is about right. Last, make a large cylinder out
of aluminium foil, big enough that it just fits inside the base. Roll
up the bottom to stiffen it a bit, and crimp the top closed in a way that
lets you peek in. Now balance the whole lot on your stove, place the mixture
in the lid, and prepare to repeat the performance until all your new-found
friends are stuffed.
Pizza Recipe: Sift together a medium handful of flour, two big spoons of powdered milk, half a teaspoon of baking powder and a pinch of salt. Rub in a cubic inch or so of butter, then add water while mixing until you get a nice dough, press this into greased lid. Spread the toppings on now (concentrated tomato paste and lots of cheese are a good start) and cook for a quarter of an hour.
You will have to adjust the flame heat, cooking time and amount of water, but you'll figure that out after a few. Make about twice as much of a fairly moist dough for scones instead (spread thickly with Dulce de Letche or jam...) Anything thicker like a cake tends to burn before it is cooked.
Thanks are due to Rob Thomas who first gave me the idea, on a Drakensberg trip in 1997. He suggests putting a little water in the base to keep it cool - maybe then you can use that pot lid…