DAMPER

Bread as made by drovers in the outback

I don't know how many of you realise it, but there is a wealth of TV programmes about cooking from around the world. We are lucky in that Australia's SBS network (Special Broadcasting Service!"multicultural television") has a regular slot for food and wine at a convenient time on Saturday evenings. Over the last couple of years we have seen series on French, Indian, Chinese, English, Vegetarian, Australian, and Sri Lankan cookery, among others. If you're missing out, why not call your local station?

This recipe comes from a series called "Australian Tableland". Traditionally, damper should be cooked in the coals of a camp fire, but the temperature in an oven is much more consistent!

This recipe has the advantages of being simple and!with ordinary care!reliable.

Ingredients

(1 damper)

Procedure

  1. Preheat oven to
  2. Mix together the dry ingredients and the butter. Add the liquid and mix well. Knead for about 5 minutes (if you don't know about kneading, look in a good cookery book with plenty of pictures!it's difficult to describe in words).
  3. Shape into a flattened ball, and place on a greased and floured baking sheet or in a greased and floured round cake tin (I recommend the latter, about 7 or 8 inch diameter, as it gives a better shape). Bake for 30 minutes. Use a dutch oven if you are cooking in an open fire, and use your experience as to cooking time.

Notes

Serve in moderately thick slices while still fairly hot. I'm told that golden syrup (a treacle-like substance made as a by-product of cane sugar refining) is the traditional thing to spread on it, and that goes well. Jam is good, too.

Rating


Difficulty: easy.
Time: 10 minutes preparation, 30 minutes cooking.
Precision: measure carefully.

Contributor

 
Stephen Withers, 
The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia. 
UUCP: {seismo,mcvax,ukc,ubc-vision}!munnari!murdu.oz!stephenw 
CSNET: stephenw%murdu@munnari.oz
Recipe last modified: 22 Apr 86

Original header

Path: decwrl!recipes
From: stephenw@murdu.oz (Steven Withers)
Newsgroups: mod.recipes
Subject: RECIPE: Damper (Outback drover bread)
Message-ID: <3607@decwrl.DEC.COM>
Date: 13 Jun 86 03:36:44 GMT
Sender: recipes@decwrl.DEC.COM
Organization: University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Lines: 75
Approved: reid@decwrl.UUCP


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