How To Bake a Pie on the Open Hearth

Building a Fire and Using a Dutch Oven

Dec 16, 2008 Kim Kenney

Making a pie on the open hearth is not as difficult as it sounds!

It is a common misconception that you actually cook with fire on the open hearth. For most recipes, you cook with “coals” or “embers” which come from the remains of a burned log. The term “open hearth cooking” comes from the idea that most of the cooking is done on the hearth of the fireplace, not inside the fireplace itself.

A roaring fire is only used if you want to boil or simmer your food, or if you are roasting meat in front of the fire in a “tin kitchen” or reflecting oven.

Making a Fire in the Fireplace

It is important to use only dry, seasoned wood when building a fire in the fireplace. Do not put the logs directly on the bottom of the fireplace, because it is important for air to circulate around the logs to provide energy to the flames.

Place two logs onto a grate in the fireplace. Place two more across the top to create a “#” pattern (that looks like the number sign). Place kindling such as twigs, branches, or newspaper in between the logs. Set the kindling on fire with a match or lighter.

It may take a few tries and extra kindling before the logs catch fire on their own. Once they do, it is important to keep adding logs in the “#” pattern, to keep good airflow.

Creating Embers to Cook

Once the fire is roaring, take a metal fireplace tool and bang on the logs to break them apart. The embers will fall below the grate.

They will be glowing red hot. Continue creating more of them by burning additional logs.

It is important to pay attention to the fire as you make your recipe. It is not like an oven that you pre-set at a certain temperature and forget about it. A fire requires constant care and can burn out quickly. Be sure to check your fire often and keep adding logs to it.

Using the Dutch Oven to Bake a Pie

While the fire is making embers to cook with, make the crust of your pie using your favorite recipe. Usually the crust has to chill for awhile. Use this time to make the filling. Assemble the pie in a metal pie pan.

Be sure to have a small trivet inside a cast iron Dutch oven to prevent burning the bottom of the pie. Place the pie tin on the trivet inside the Dutch oven and put the lid on it.

Once you have enough embers from the fire, use a fireplace shovel to scoop them from under the grate and make a pile on the hearth in front of the fireplace. You will notice that the Dutch oven has small legs on the bottom of it. Place it on top of the pile of embers on the hearth.

Take another scoop of embers and place them evenly on top of the lid. The lid of a Dutch oven will have a small lip around the edge to keep the embers contained. Cover the embers with ashes from the fireplace to insulate the heat.

You have now created a small “oven” inside the Dutch oven that will bake your pie. Believe it or not, the baking time is about the same as a modern oven! There will still be heat coming directly from the fire in the fireplace, so be sure to turn the Dutch oven every 10-15 minutes to keep it from burning on one side.

Be very careful when lifting the lid off of the Dutch oven. You must balance it perfectly or you will end up with ashes in your pie!

For more information on cooking over the open hearth:

Open Hearth Cooking

How to Roast Meat Over a Fire: Using a Tin Kitchen or Reflecting Oven

The copyright of the article How To Bake a Pie on the Open Hearth in Baking & Desserts is owned by Kim Kenney. Permission to republish How To Bake a Pie on the Open Hearth in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.