Refuel

Outback Pizza and Flatbread

Adventure cook Harry Fisher is a master of million-star dining–and his flatbread makes bush pizza to die for.

WORDS: HARRY FISHER

“I’M QUITE OPINIONATED when it comes to pizza—probably more so than I should be,” says ‘adventure cook’ (and Australian YouTube sensation) Harry Fisher. “I have some pet hates and there are rules I think you should definitely abide by. Crazily, for something that so many of us love, it’s easy to get it wrong.”

Pizza in the bush is quite a treat, not least because it’s hard to make them in bulk. This is a great meal for a long afternoon of grazing around the fire, making and eating one pizza at a time. Start with the flatbread, which is a brilliant dish in itself. Then use it as a basis for pizza.

Recipe 1: HARRY’S FLATBREAD

A batch of my flatbread should be enough for four or five camp-oven sized pizzas, depending on how thick you like them. It’ll take two or three hours for the dough to rise, so start early.

Serves: Four to six / Prep time: 15 minutes (plus at least an hour for the dough to rise) / Cooking time: 5 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 3 1/2 cups of baker’s flour (550g)

• 2 teaspoons of dry yeast (7 grams)

• 1 teaspoon of baking powder

• 2 teaspoons of salt

• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

• 380ml of water

• 3 teaspoons of honey

GEAR

• Rolling pin (a wine bottle works)

• Grill plate, frypan or wok

METHOD

1. Place flour, yeast, baking powder and salt in a bowl and mix well. Dissolve honey in hot water, add cold water to make 380ml, add the olive oil.

2. Mix the wet and dry ingredients in the bowl to form a sticky dough. Knead it in the bowl or on a clean, smooth, unfloured surface until the dough is smooth and elastic and no longer sticks to anything. In the bush you’ll have to earn your supper and do it by hand—there are no dough mixers out here.

3. Plonk it back into a lightly oiled bowl and leave it to rise until it’s doubled in size. In a warm environment, this could be one to two hours. If you’re prepared, do it the day before and put it in the fridge to rise slowly overnight.

4. After it has risen, roll the dough out until it’s about 3 or 4mm thick (1/8th of an inch) and about 20-30cm in diameter, like a big, uneven pizza base. Alternatively, divide it up into smaller portions and roll it to the same thickness.

5. Throw it on a hot BBQ plate, frypan or wok, or any other hot surface you have (even straight on the coals), adding a bit of olive oil or butter to prevent it from burning. Flip it once you see the dough getting bubbles and cook it until both sides are golden brown. It should only take a few minutes.

6. Serve piping hot, with lashings of butter and golden syrup, like you would damper. Or enjoy it as a wrap, with dips or even use it as a great pizza base.

TIPS

Prepare the dough at least two hours before you want to eat it to give the yeast time to work through the

Recipe 2: Outback Pizza

Serves: Four to six / Prep time: 20 minutes / Cooking time: 15 minutes

INGREDIENTS

Sauce recipe

• 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

• 1 clove of garlic

• 400g of tomatoes, crushed (or pureed)

• 1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano

• 1/4 cup of fresh chopped basil

• Salt and pepper, to taste

Toppings

• Semolina flour (for under the base)

• Mozzarella

• Cacciatore

• Fresh chopped chilli

• Basil

GEAR

• Medium pot

• Large camp oven or bedourie

• Aluminium foil

• Baking paper

1. Once the dough is ready, add the olive oil and garlic to a pot and fry it on medium/high heat until fragrant. Drop in the pureed tomatoes and oregano, bring it to the boil and let it simmer for five minutes before dropping in the basil and cooking for another two minutes. Pizza sauce will cook again on the pizza, so don't keep it cooking for a long time like you would for a pasta. It should still be tangy with some raw tomato flavour.

2. One of the hardest things about camp oven pizza is getting it in and out of the camp oven without making a mess of it. Tear a piece of aluminium foil long enough to sit inside the camp oven and overhang the top on both sides. Then, tear off a piece of baking paper about the size of the camp oven’s base and put it on the foil. The foil becomes your sling to get the pizza out and the baking paper stops it from sticking to the bottom.

3. Flatten out the dough to a size that fits the base of your camp oven. I prefer to use my hands for this rather than a rolling pin. I also prefer my pizza bases thin, but if you like them thick, that’s on you. If you have it, sprinkle some semolina onto the baking paper to prevent the pizza from sticking (regular flour will work in a pinch) and place the dough on it.

4. Make the pizza in this order: dough, a thin layer of sauce, cheese (you don’t need full coverage), cacciatore (or whatever toppings you use), salt and pepper.

5. Place the camp oven over your fire on high heat with 40 per cent underneath and 60 per cent on top. Bake it for about seven minutes, or until the base develops some structure and the toppings are crispy.

6. Add chopped chilli (optional) and sprinkle on fresh greens—in this case, basil—then eat it immediately while making the next one.

RULES

Absolutely do not put the cheese on top; it makes the toppings soggy and doesn’t present nearly as well. Don’t overload the pizza with all sorts of toppings. Cheese and one or two extras are all you need for a great pizza. And don’t use those pre-made pizza sauce sachets, please!