It’s one thing to have sourdough from the comforts of your home, but what about camping with sourdough? Today’s post is a breakdown of a recent camping trip featuring three sourdough recipes. If you’ve ever been curious about how to prep sourdough food or cook from the limitations of a campfire, this post is for you!
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Some of you might not know, but one of my New Year’s resolutions for 2024 was to eliminate all store-bought bread from our home. That means if we have any bread products they have to be homemade. And it has been a great kickstart to keeping and maintaining my sourdough starter.
But it hasn’t always been easy.
Some nights we don’t have hotdog buns or rolls with our meal. Extra thought is put into meals and the timing required for baking homemade bread. However, none of that is too difficult from the comfort of your home.
Well, let’s just say my resolution was put to the test on our first camping trip of the season.
Camping with Sourdough?
My family loves to camp – we go with my parents, in-laws, and extended family. Both my husband and I have been camping since we were kids, and thankfully now we can use a camper.
But normally, a camping menu consists of a LOT of store-bought bread. After all, part of camping is the convenience of food- enjoying the outdoors and spending less time cooking.
And sourdough takes a long time.
However, I figure if people have A) cooked over fires for thousands of years and B) used sourdough to make bread, why can’t I?
Plus people posting their Instagram-worthy campfire dinners of sourdough pizza, sourdough grilled cheese sandwiches, and sourdough pancakes make this whole “camping with sourdough” thing look easy.
So, after boosting my confidence, I decided to try three sourdough recipes for our camping trip. Tuesday evening through Friday afternoon, just me, my husband, and the kids.
Camping with Sourdough Menu
First up on the menu is my foolproof sourdough artisan bread. It’s one of my favorite recipes to make with sourdough starter and perfect for lunchtime sandwiches.
I knew I wanted to prep this bread before we left for camping, but I honestly wasn’t so sure how it would do compared to pre-sliced store-bought bread. Sure it tastes better, but it’s not small and storage is a premium for campers.
Second, sourdough cinnamon rolls. These rolls are delicious but I’ve always cooked them in the oven in a cast iron skillet. I brought disposable aluminum pans to help with storage but I wasn’t sure about how long to bake them or the appropriate temperature (which isn’t easy when cooking over a fire).
And lastly, an Instagram inspiration – sourdough focaccia pizza. This one was out of my comfort zone but we all love pizza so why not?
Camping with Sourdough Obstacle #1 – Prep Work
One thing that makes camping fun is doing all of the hard work before you get there. And food is no exception.
Whether you decide to keep the menu super simple with hotdogs and cereal or go elaborate like our absolute favorite homemade biscuits and gravy, prepping ingredients and having the necessary tools can save a ton of time.
I took this mentality with our sourdough as well. If I could prep something involved in the recipe ahead of time, I did it.
Whether that was cooking an entire loaf, or only getting through the bulk rise of the cinnamon rolls, I tried to eliminate as much of the baking time as possible. Which makes for a more stressful time packing but less stress when you’ve arrived.
Camping with Sourdough Obstacle #2 – Cooking Over an Open Fire
I learned a valuable lesson this camping trip about the importance of steam and helping bread to rise. HAHA!
Such a simple thought, but when you’re cooking over a campfire, you don’t want the actual flames to touch the bottom of the pan because it scorches the bread, but you also need consistent heat that can be trapped as steam.
Whatever cooking times I had planned for the sourdough cinnamon rolls and the sourdough focaccia pizza were quickly thrown out. I hoped that things would cook at a somewhat hot temperature for a shorter amount of time.
The Results from Camping with Sourdough
Honestly, I think I expected everything to turn out perfectly. What can I say, I’m an optimist.
But that’s not what happened.
And quite frankly, it’s caused me to rethink how I prepare and use sourdough outside of our home!
Camping with Sourdough Test #1 – Artisan Sourdough Bread
The best result from my camping with sourdough experiment was my artisan bread. Why? Probably because I cooked it at home.
But despite the obstacle of being bulky, hard to store, hard to cut, and less convenient when it comes to prep work, the sourdough bread was almost the same as being at home.
Except that the camper dining room table is way smaller than our table at home. Which made for “cozy” lunches with the kids.
They loved the bread and enjoyed it just the same. ☺️
I went back and forth with this experiment. Is it technically camping with sourdough if you don’t cook it at the campsite?
Well, I think yes. Camping with sourdough means you have sourdough while you are camping, whether you prep everything beforehand or create food while you are there.
The artisan sourdough loaf was the easiest to incorporate into our camping routine because it was made already, but it required a lot of prep work and planning ahead of time.
I would 100% bake a few loaves of sourdough bread before my next camping trip and eat them at the campsite.
Camping with Sourdough Test #2 – Sourdough Focaccia Pizza
This recipe was a wild card, to begin with, but the results were surprising.
As part of the prep work, I prepared the dough for the bulk rise overnight in the camper. I placed the covered bowl in the microwave since we didn’t have any food to heat up, saving space and keeping the dough away from little hands.
Then I transferred the prepared dough to a disposable aluminum pan and covered it again in the microwave until it was time to cook it.
After adding the toppings we placed the pizza uncovered over the fire. First mistake.
We needed to trap the heat escaping, so I took the aluminum foil off the prepped cinnamon rolls and covered the pizza instead.
But it was also a windy evening, so the fire was inconsistent and we were moving the pizza around the grate trying to get the best angle to cook it.
An hour later, the dough was still gooey and the toppings weren’t even melted. So we upped the temperature and cooked the pizza under a direct flame, constantly monitoring so we didn’t char the crust.
Forty-five minutes later, the pizza was looking better, but still gooey in the center. We pulled the pizza off and tried some. Not great.
Some bites were cooked on top, but not on the bottom, so you had to dissect each piece. And the flavor was very strong – herbs and olive oil and pizza toppings, but the smoky taste of the fire didn’t pair well.
While we tried, this recipe was an epic fail. So much so that we threw it in the trash and didn’t even store the leftovers.
Camping with Sourdough Test #3 – Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
Not to be daunted by my epic fail the evening before, I was determined to make these sourdough cinnamon rolls work.
I prepped the dough, rolled it out, and rolled it back up into a disposable aluminum pan before we left, and it had been sitting in the fridge ready to be cooked. Perfect! Almost no prep time the day of.
I even pre-made the icing and scrambled eggs in a container to add to our meal.
But just like the focaccia pizza, the disposable aluminum pan was disappointing. It didn’t provide the even cooking we get with cast iron so 1/2 through cooking we switched to a skillet we had in the camper.
They were packed in tight, but at least they could cook better! I put the used aluminum foil from the night before over the skillet and waited. Note to self-pack aluminum foil next time.
After cooking for a while there were more bubbles and the dough was rising, but I was worried about one side burning and the top not cooking enough. This is where the concept of trapped steam and an oven comes in handy.
So, I decided we needed to flip the cinnamon rolls. It wasn’t easy (smoke follows beauty you know) but my husband was able to flip them without losing a single roll! Success.
But my hypothesis was correct, the underside was cooking too quickly which is why some of the middles were darker than they should have been.
In fact, the brown sugar was hardening and making a syrup-like consistency which made the cinnamon rolls look caramelized. At least there was a beautiful view while cooking. Not something I get from my kitchen window back home.
After flipping the rolls we pulled them off the heat and then added the icing. Were they the best we’ve ever had? Nope. Did everyone still eat them? Yep!
So, I would make these cinnamon rolls again, but with a different prep method. Some simple modifications could go a long way.
Thoughts on Camping with Sourdough
First, it might not be worth it. I know that’s a hot take for some people who love sourdough, but hear me out.
I was really disappointed in the focaccia pizza and while we were talking it over my husband made a great point. He said, “Why did you have to make it sourdough? Why not just do regular yeast crust like we do at home?”
I think I was trying too hard with this recipe because I saw someone else on Instagram do it rather than just trust myself and cook what I know works for my family.
She had a disposable aluminum pan, so I had a disposable aluminum pan (cue the Mean Girls voice).
I should have brought ingredients for a yeast crust, cooked it in a cast iron pan covered with foil, or covered the fire grate with foil and cooked it directly on the grates. Anything would have been better than our experience.
And I should say, what actually saved us that evening were some hotdogs and buns that someone had brought to our house for a cookout the weekend before that we didn’t eat. So we ate store-bought hotdog buns, but I didn’t buy them. Off on a technicality.
Also, never underestimate the power of cast iron. It’s amazing at home and amazing while camping. I should have never bought disposable aluminum pans!
Since this camping trip, I’ve seen someone cook their cinnamon rolls in a large cast iron Dutch oven with charcoal on the bottom and charcoal on top, literally on the ground. And they turned out amazing!
Bottom line, next time, I won’t make the entire meal focused on sourdough.
Are we having hotdogs and hamburgers? I’ll prep some buns and take them with us. Breakfast burritos with homemade sourdough discard tortillas? Yum! I can make those before we leave and microwave them for 20 seconds the morning of.
The point is, it was a great experiment, but not something I’m keen to try again. It’s more time stressing by the fire and less time hiking, fishing, and painting a Bluey tea set.
Do you have any great tips or tricks when it comes to camping with sourdough? Share them below!
Thanks for stopping by the homestead.
