The Damper is a traditional Australian soda bread made with: flour, butter, salt, water, and/or milk.
It is made without yeast, using baking soda as a leavening agent.
Historically, it is a staple food for swagmen (transient workers who traveled on foot from one farm to another), drovers, ranchers, travelers, and campers, and is baked in the campfire ashes, in honor of the original recipe by Australian Aborigines, or in a cast iron camp oven.
The word “damper” derives from the English word “to snack” or “to dampen”, which literally means “to dampen one’s appetite with flour in the fire”.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4People
- Cooking methods: Embers, Oven
- Cuisine: Australian
Ingredients
- 4 cups flour
- 7 oz water (or milk)
- 1.5 tbsp butter
- 2 tsps baking soda
- to taste salt
Steps
Mix the flour with the salt, add the water (or milk), butter, and baking soda.
Shape into a round form, score a cross to divide it into 8 wedges, bake in a pan over the embers for 40 minutes, or 25 minutes in an oven at 356°F.
Soda bread:
Soda bread is a variety of bread where baking soda (otherwise known in Ireland as “bread soda”) is used as a leavening agent instead of traditional yeast.
In Scotland, soda bread and griddle soda varieties include breads like bannocks and farls.
In Serbian tradition, soda bread is made according to various rules and rituals. A coin is often inserted into the dough.
Various forms of soda bread are popular throughout Ireland. Soda breads are made with wholemeal flour, white flour, or both. In Ulster, the wholemeal variety is generally known as wheaten bread and is usually sweetened, while the term “soda bread” is restricted to the savory white form.
