If you've spent any time on the Outdoor Boys YouTube channel, you've seen Luke make campfire bread over an open fire. It always looks incredible, so we decided to try it ourselves and find out if it actually lives up to the hype. Short answer: it does. Here's everything you need to make it on your next camping or backpacking trip.
Beyond the novelty factor, campfire bread is genuinely practical. The dry ingredients are lightweight and pack easily into a zip-lock bag. Mix them at home, throw the bag in your pack, add water when you get to camp, let the dough rise overnight in your tent, and cook it in the morning. Real, hot, fresh bread in the backcountry with almost no effort on the trail.
For family camping trips, it's also just a fun thing to make together around the fire. Kids can help mix the dough, watch it rise, and feel genuinely invested in the result. Even if it comes out a little charred around the edges. (Ok, a lot bit charred.)
At home: Combine the dry ingredients in a zip-lock bag. That's it. Toss it in your pack.
At camp: Add enough water to bring the dough together into a rough ball, knead it a bit inside the bag, and let it sit somewhere warm overnight. Your tent works fine. By morning it should have risen and be ready to cook.
Cooking: Get a pan hot over your fire or camp stove, add butter or oil, and cook the dough like a thick flatbread, flipping once. If you don't have a pan, try using a large flat stone. Low and slow is better than high heat. If you're cooking over a campfire, let it die down to coals first for more consistent heat and less scorching.
If it does burn on the outside, just peel the charred bits off. The inside is still good. Ask us how we know.
Serving: Butter, honey, and cinnamon on top turns this from camp food into an actual treat. Pack a small container of each and you'll be glad you did.
Use butter or oil in the pan. This is the single most important thing. Without it the bread sticks and burns before it cooks through.
Don't rush the rise. Letting the dough sit overnight gives the yeast time to do its job properly. If you're in a hurry, tuck the bag somewhere warm, near the fire but not too close, and give it as much time as you can.
Low and slow on the heat. Campfire heat is harder to control than a stove. Cooking over coals rather than open flame makes a noticeable difference.
Toppings matter. Plain campfire bread is fine. Campfire bread with butter, honey, and cinnamon is something the kids will actually ask for again. (We pulled a prank involving a bit of mustard...)
It packs light. The dry mix adds almost no weight to a pack, which makes this one of the easier additions to a backpacking meal plan. Mix the dry ingredients at home and you're done until you reach camp.
Campfire bread is a great addition to any camping or backpacking trip. If you're looking for more help planning either, we've got you covered:
