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Damper
Australian Outback soda bread of flour, butter and milk, baked in a camp oven in the coals or in a home oven
Damper is the bread of the Australian bush: drovers, stockmen and swagmen carried flour and salt across the Outback and baked loaves in the ashes of the campfire, and it's still made in cast-iron camp ovens on camping trips from the Flinders Ranges to the Kimberley. Long before that, Aboriginal peoples ground native seeds into flour and baked seed cakes in the coals. Modern damper uses self-raising flour, a little butter and milk, so it rises into a craggy, golden round with a crisp crust and a soft, scone-like crumb. Tear it while warm and eat it with butter and golden syrup, which bush cooks called cocky's joy, or with soup. Chef's tip: mix with a knife and work quickly; the less you handle the dough, the lighter the damper.
- Total time
- 40 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 8
Ingredients
For the damper
To serve
Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Heat the oven to 400°F (375°F fan) and dust a baking tray with flour. (At camp: let the fire burn down to a good bed of glowing coals and warm a greased camp oven beside it.)
2 minStep 2: Mix 16 oz self-raising flour, 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp sugar in a bowl. Rub in 2 ⅛ oz cold butter with your fingertips until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs.
4 minStep 3: Make a well, pour in 1 ¼ cups milk and mix with a table knife into a soft, slightly sticky dough. A common mistake is kneading it like bread: that makes it tough and dense. Bring it together with a light knead of 5–6 turns only, just until it holds.
3 minStep 4: Shape into a round about 18 cm across and 4 cm thick and set it on the tray. Cut a deep cross in the top, brush with 1 tbsp milk and dust with a little flour.
1 minStep 5: Bake for 25–30 minutes, until risen, golden-brown and hollow-sounding when you tap the base. (At camp: put the dough in the camp oven, put the lid on, sit it in the coals with more coals on the lid and bake for 30–35 minutes, checking after 20.)
30 minStep 6: Cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then break into chunks along the cross. Eat warm with 1 ¾ oz butter and 4 tbsp golden syrup.
10 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 280 kcal
- Protein
- 7 g
- Carbs
- 47 g
- Fat
- 8 g
- Fibre
- 2 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does damper take?
- About 40 minutes in total: 10 minutes to prepare and 30 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 8 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- What can I use instead of self-raising flour?
- Plain flour + 2 tsp baking powder per 150g (1 cup).
- What can I use instead of sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
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