Damper

[Miruwin]

This is just to confuse the non-Aussies even more. Lets see if they find the confusing bit.

VERSION 1

Ingredients.
2 cups self-raising flour
1 cup of water
Sprinkle of salt

Method:
Mix ingredients together in bowl until dough has a thick consistency.

You can cook Damper in oven or in a hot fire.
If the fire is big you can pull ashes away from fire, and place damper in ashes.
If there are lots of ashes in fire you can put the damper straight into the fire and cover with ash.
If there is no ash, place damper straight into camp oven and cover with hot coals.
Keep adding hot coals to top of camp oven.
If cooking in an oven, turn the dough into a bread tin or form the dough into a loaf shape on a biscuit tray or scone slide. Cook in moderate to hot oven.
Let Damper cook for about 10 minutes
To see if Damper is cooked you can touch it and if it feels firm it is ready.
You can also tap the top of the damper and if it has a hollow sound, you know it’s ready.

Serving Suggestion: Do not cut damper with a knife as it may cause damper to turn doughy. Best method is to break the damper up into chunks with your hands. But really it is perfectly OK to cut it into slices.
Best enjoyed with hot cuppa tea and you can serve damper with spreads such as butter, golden syrup, jam, vegemite.

If you really want to get swish, you can add various herbs and a cheese topping prior to baking. Or if you want a sweet version, add a couple of tablespoons of sugar to the dough, sultanas can also be added.

VERSION 2

Banana Leaf Damper

Ingredients
Banana leaf
4 cups plain flour
8 tsp baking soda
400 ml water
pinch salt
tin foil

Method:
Wipe banana leaf with damp cloth.
Turn on stovetop or gas burner and slowly pass banana leaf over.
Repeat process on the other side of banana leaf. The banana leaf is ready for it’s next step when the top is shiny green/brown and has a silky texture.
To remove the back stem from the leaf, insert a sharp knife between the stem and leaf and run the knife down the length of the banana leaf. Discard stem.
For this recipe you’ll need a banana leaf piece measuring around 60cm to wrap the damper. The remaining leaf can be used to serve the damper on.

For the damper dough:
Sift plain flour and baking soda into a large mixing bowl.
Add pinch of salt.
Make a well in the centre of the dough.
Pour in water slowly and mix until the dough pulls away from the bowl’s edge.
Remove dough from bowl and place on a floured bench top.
Knead a few times until dough has a smooth surface.
Keep some flour handy because you might need to sprinkle some on the dough if it’s gets too sticky to work with.
Rest dough under the mixing bowl for 20 minutes.
Once dough is rested, knead a few more times to knock out the air and roll into a log shape.
Place dough onto the topside of the banana leaf and fold over the ends and sides.
Wrap the banana leaf damper firmly in a sheet of tin foil and place into a pre-heated oven (set at 150-180 degrees celcius) for about 40 to 50 minutes.

Serve warm with butter and honey or golden syrup or jam.


An old bushman's trick as taught to me by the maker of the best bush damper I have ever eaten, replace the water with beer or add a teaspoon of something like Sal Vital to the mixture. For those that don't know, Sal Vital is a powder which is added to water and makes a fizzy lightly fruit flavoured drink which is supposed to aid indegestion. I believe it is basically flavoured bicarb soda. The yeast in the beer and the bicarb in the Sal Vital helps the damper to rise and makes it a little lighter in texture.

[Mazia]

mmmm yummy

[Turook]

Definitly scrummy