There comes a moment, in the middle of camp, when hunger hits differently. The beans are gone, the pasta is gone, and someone asks: can we make a cake out here? You can. And you can make warm bread, pizza, and even golden roast chicken, all without an outlet, without a gas oven, and without a digital thermometer. The technology is a clean can, a heavy iron pot, and a good pile of well-managed coals.
Baking over fire is one of the most enjoyable skills to learn at the Club, and one of the ones that generates the most stories. The tin can oven you build on the spot, with cheap materials. The Dutch oven (the famous cast iron pot) is that sturdy vessel with high-rimmed lid that carries across generations. Both work on the same principle: surrounding the batter with heat from above and below, in a controlled way.
This guide walks through the step by step of both ovens, how to get the temperature right using only the amount and position of the coals, and it brings four field-tested recipes. At the end, care with fire, hygiene, and seasoning the iron, because a good field oven is one that comes home in one piece.
Why baking over fire is part of the Cooking honor
Cooking at camp goes far beyond heating water. When you master a field oven, you learn fire reading, patience, time control, and teamwork, skills the Cooking honor values and that serve you for life. The Pathfinder who knows how to bake a cake over coals rarely goes hungry, and almost always becomes the Unit favorite.
The secret of both ovens is the same: turning coals into heat from every side. On the kitchen stove at home, the element or the flame rises and the heat circulates inside the closed box. In the field, you recreate that box with a metal can or with cast iron, and you use the coals as a heat source on top and underneath. Close it up well, and the hot air cooks the batter evenly.
It pays to start simple. Before attempting a sourdough bread at your first camp, bake a box cake or a pizza with ready-made dough. Every mistake teaches you something about your fire, and no dense, sunken cake was truly wasted, because it became a lesson. Wisdom from someone who has already burned their first one: field experience is built by making small mistakes.
Building the tin can oven uses notions of structure and support that you also train in pioneering. Anyone who has raised a bamboo tower quickly understands how to prop a can firmly on bricks.
How to build a tin can oven step by step
The most common tin can oven at the Club uses a large, rectangular oil or cookie can, one of those 18 or 20 liter ones, well washed and free of paint or chemical residue. If the can held paint or solvent, throw it out: only use cans that stored food. You will lay it on its side, with the opening facing you, working as a door.
Set it up like this, calmly: 1) Choose firm, level ground, away from tents and dry brush. 2) Make a base with four bricks, leaving a gap underneath for the coals. 3) Lay the can on the bricks, opening to the side. 4) Inside the can, install a metal rack at mid-height, resting on nails or on wires run across from side to side. The pan sits on this rack, without touching the bottom. 5) Cut a lid or use a metal tray to close the opening during cooking.
With the oven ready, light the coals separately, in a separate fire, and transfer them with a metal shovel. Place a layer of coals in the gap below, between the bricks, and another layer on top of the can lying on its side. The metal heats up and radiates heat inward, exactly like the walls of an oven. The pan with the batter goes on the rack, you close the opening, and you keep watch.
A lighter variation is the reflector oven, a sheet of metal or a baking pan tilted in front of the fire, which bounces the heat onto the batter. It yields less than the closed can, but it does the job at a short camp. For cake and bread, the closed can with coals on top and underneath delivers a result much closer to a home oven.
The Dutch oven: coals on top and underneath
The Dutch oven is a cast iron pot, thick and heavy, with a lid whose edges turn upward. That rim exists precisely to hold coals on top of the lid. The camp models have three little legs on the base, which leave a gap for you to place coals underneath. With fire below and above, the iron becomes a complete oven, and the weight of the lid holds the heat and moisture inside.
Cast iron has a huge advantage: it stores and distributes heat evenly. Once heated, it keeps the temperature stable even if a coal goes out. That is why it is more forgiving to the beginner than the can, which cools quickly. The downside is the weight, so it usually goes by car to camp, and not in a hiking backpack.
How you use it changes with the recipe. To bake cake, bread, and pizza, you want more coals on top than underneath, to brown the surface and let the batter rise without burning the bottom. To saute, fry, or boil, reverse it: nearly all the coals go underneath. Keeping this logic in your head already solves half the cooking problems.
If possible, line the bottom of the Dutch oven with a piece of parchment paper or a disc of aluminum foil before baking cake and bread. This protects the batter from direct contact with the hot iron and makes it much easier to lift the whole bake out at the end. For chicken and stewed dishes, you do not need to line it, just grease it.
Read alsoCamp Cooking: How to Cook OutdoorsControlling temperature without a thermometer
Cake and bread call for an oven around 175 degrees Celsius, what field cooks call medium temperature. For the Dutch oven there is a practical and reliable rule, tested by campers for decades: take the pot diameter in inches, subtract 3 to know how many coals go underneath, and add 3 to know how many go on top. On a 12-inch pot (about 30 cm), that gives 9 coals underneath and 15 on top, close to 175 degrees.
Notice that more coals end up on top. That is on purpose: the heat from above browns and helps the batter rise, while few coals underneath keep the bottom from burning. If you want it hotter, add two coals to each side; to cool it down, take some away. In the tin can oven the count is by eye, but the principle repeats: reinforce the top layer when you are baking cake or bread.
For the heat to reach everything evenly, rotate. Every 10 to 15 minutes, turn the pot a quarter turn one way and the lid a quarter turn the other way. This breaks up the hot spots that form where the coals are burning strongest. Without this rotation, it is common for one side of the cake to come out scorched and the other raw.
With no thermometer on hand, use your own hand with good sense and without burning yourself: hold your palm a hand's width above the coals. If you can stand it for about 6 or 7 seconds, the fire is medium, good for baking. If you can only stand 2 or 3 seconds, it is too hot, wait for the coals to gray over a bit before starting.
Lining, greasing, and testing doneness with a pick
Before the batter, prepare the pan. Grease the entire interior with a thin layer of margarine, butter, or oil, reaching the corners and the sides. Then dust wheat flour over the grease and tap the pan lightly to remove the excess. This pair, fat plus flour, creates a film that releases the whole cake when it is time to turn it out. For bread and pizza, plain oil on the bottom is enough.
In the tin can oven, always place the pan on the rack, never directly on the hot metal, or the bottom burns before the middle bakes. If you do not have a pan, you can bake hand-shaped bread on a baking sheet lined with paper. The rule is always to create a barrier between the coals and the batter.
Testing doneness without a thermometer is a field baker's skill. For cake, poke a toothpick or a thin skewer into the center: if it comes out clean, with no batter stuck to it, it is done; if it comes out wet, leave it a few more minutes. For bread, tap lightly with your fingers on the base of the already-baked loaf: a hollow, dry sound means the crumb is ready, a muffled sound means it needs more oven.
Trust the color and the smell too. Good cake and bread take on an even golden crust and give off that aroma that shifts in the air when they are ready. Roast chicken is done when the skin turns nicely golden and the liquid that runs out when you pierce the thigh comes out clear, without any pinkish tone.
Four field-tested recipes
Simple camp cake: beat 3 eggs, 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of oil, and 1 cup of milk; add 2 cups of flour, 1 tablespoon of baking powder, and a pinch of salt. Pour into the greased and floured pan. In a 12-inch Dutch oven, 9 coals underneath and 15 on top, about 35 to 45 minutes, rotating every 15. A clean toothpick is the sign.
Camp bread: mix 500 g of flour, 1 packet of active dry yeast (10 g), 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of sugar, and about 300 ml of warm water. Knead until smooth, let it rise for half an hour near the heat, shape it, and bake in the lined iron, more coals on top, for 30 to 40 minutes. Tap the base to hear the hollow sound.
Camp pizza: roll out a thin ready-made or homemade dough on the greased bottom, cover with tomato sauce, cheese, and whatever topping the Unit brought. Bake with a very hot oven, more coals on top, for 12 to 18 minutes, until the edge browns and the cheese bubbles. Pizza takes well to the tin can oven, which heats the edges quickly.
Roast chicken: season chicken pieces with salt, garlic, lime, and herbs a few hours ahead. Arrange them on the greased bottom of the Dutch oven, this time with more coals underneath to sear, and roast for 45 to 60 minutes, turning the pieces halfway. It is done when the skin browns and the juice runs clear. Serve with cassava or potatoes roasted in the coals themselves.
Safety with coals, hygiene, and seasoning the iron
Fire and coals demand respect, and the whole operation needs an adult nearby. Work with a leather glove or thick cloth, use a metal shovel just for the coals, and keep a bucket of water and sand alongside for any mishap. Never handle the oven in shorts and flip-flops: closed shoes and long pants protect against sparks and splashes. For a minor burn, cool the area with running water for several minutes; for a large or deep burn, call your local emergency number (in Brazil, SAMU 192).
Hygiene saves the camp from a collective stomachache. Wash your hands well before handling food, keep raw meat separate from everything else, and do not leave batter or chicken sitting in the heat for hours. The board and knife for raw meat go nowhere near the bread. Baked food served hot, served right away, is safe food.
Cast iron asks for a special care called seasoning. After washing, dry it immediately and apply a very thin layer of oil inside and out; put it over the fire until it heats up and gives off a light wisp of smoke. This heated oil bonds to the metal and forms a natural nonstick film that protects against rust. Repeat it now and then, and the Dutch oven lasts decades.
When cleaning the iron, avoid soap and steel wool, which strip away that protection. A brush or a handful of coarse salt with a little water removes the residue; then dry it well and apply the thread of oil. The can, being thinner, you wash normally, dry carefully, and store protected from the rain so it does not rust before the next camp.