Australian recipe
How to make Damper
The Australian bush, colonial times
A simple bread of flour, water and salt, with a little butter if there is any, traditionally baked in the hot ashes of a campfire or in a camp oven. It is eaten warm with butter, jam or golden syrup.
Ingredients
- 450 g self-raising flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 60 g cold butter, cut small
- About 300 ml milk, or half milk and half water
- Extra flour for dusting
Method
- Heat the oven to 200 °C and dust a baking tray with flour.
- Mix the flour and salt in a bowl, then rub in the butter with your fingertips until it looks like breadcrumbs.
- Add the milk and mix quickly with a knife to a soft, slightly sticky dough. Do not knead it much.
- Shape into a round about 5 cm thick, put it on the tray, cut a cross on top and dust with flour.
- Bake for about 30 minutes, until golden and hollow-sounding when tapped underneath. Serve warm with butter and golden syrup or jam.
Made it at home? Tick it off and it goes into your kitchen passport.
Stockmen who spent long weeks in remote areas lived on damper, tea and whatever meat they had. It is different from bush bread, which Aboriginal peoples have made for thousands of years by grinding native seeds.
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