Dutch Oven Stromboli
Bacon, ham, and swiss rolled into a bread ring and baked in coals.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 69
- protein
- 30 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 45 min
- total time
- 65 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Nut free
- Real dishes
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Bacon | 1/2 lb | about 8 strips |
|---|---|---|
| Deli ham | 1/2 lb | sliced thin at the counter saves knife work in camp |
| Scallions | 3 | |
| Refrigerated French bread dough | 1 tube (11 oz) | |
| Shredded swiss | 1 cup | |
| Flour | a few tablespoons | for the rolling surface |
Method
- Get a bed of coals going and set the dutch oven over them hot, around 375F, for frying.
- Cut the bacon crosswise into small pieces and fry until crisp. Pull it out onto a paper towel.
- Pour off the grease and move the oven off the coals. Let it cool enough to handle. This matters more than it sounds.
- Unroll the dough on a floured cutting board and stretch it long in one direction, stopping before it tears.
- Lay the ham over the dough and leave one long edge bare by half an inch. Scatter the bacon, sliced scallions, and swiss over the ham.
- Roll from the covered long edge toward the bare one, then pinch the seam shut.
- Set the loaf seam-down in the cool oven, curled into a circle, and press the two ends together.
- Lid on. Bake at about 350F, coals under and on top, roughly 30 minutes, until the crust is golden.
- Take the lid off and give it a few minutes before you cut it. Cutting hot means the filling runs out.
This is car-camping food, not pack food. Everything in it needs a cooler, so cook it the first night out while the ice is still solid.
The order of operations is the whole recipe. You fry bacon hot, then you bake bread at a lower temperature in the same pot, and cast iron does not cool down on request. Pull the oven off the coals and let it sit while you build the loaf. That gap is not wasted time, it is what keeps the dough from scorching the second it lands. Rolling the loaf into a ring means it fits the round oven without a coiled end pressing on the wall, and the half-inch bare edge gives the seam something to grab.
Packing
Dough tube, bacon, and ham all live in the cooler and want to stay under 40F, so this is a first- or second-night meal. Cheese and scallions ride in the cooler too. Bring flour in a small bag and a board you can flour.
Variations
- Salami and provolone instead of ham and swiss. Same build, no frying step.
- Coals on the lid do most of the browning. If the top is pale at 30 minutes, add a few more up top rather than underneath.
https://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/recipe/stromboli-2446.asp