Dampers were the food of the Australian Swagmen  who lived and roamed in the great outback of Australia. It is a bread type or the substitute for bread. The Swagmen also trapped small animals and were never without their "billy", a can with a lid and handle which they hung from a tree twig over their fire. They put a few teaspoons of tea leaves into the water and boiled it - sometimes they added a heap of eucalyptus leaves.

Damper - Recipe
The recipe was made from the basic products available to the average "bushy" at the time - plain flour, water, milk and salt.

There is no quantity type recipe for this - you make it up as you go.

Basically you take a quantity of flour (perhaps 250 - 500 grams) and a pinch of salt. Add to this either enough water to make a dough, or equal quantities of milk and water to make a dough. The dough should be rather firm and not sticky. It may need some kneading too.

Now take a large sheet of foil and put the dough in the centre. Wrap the dough in the foil and place it under the coals of the fire, or in your oven heated to, at a guess, 200C (make your own experiments) and take the damper out and check occasionally until it's done.

That's how you  make it. It's best eaten with butter and a cup of billy tea.

Originally billy tea should never be drunk with milk and dampers should never be made with self-raising flour...

Comments by Niels Quist:
The following method of baking has been tried with success in Australia in 1996:
Dig a hole about 60 cms by 60 cms and about 30-40 cms deep. Arrange a fire on top of this hole. When a lot of small red-hot coals are ready arrange the damper in a greased iron pot. Put the lid on and lower the pot into the hole with the coals and put some coals on the lid as well.

Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit. Mix together the dry ingredients and the butter. Add the liquid and mix well. Knead for about 5 minutes.

Shape into a flat ball, and place the dough on a greased and floured baking sheet or in a greased and floured round cake tin.  Bake for about 30 minutes, but find your own cooking time.

Notes:
Serve in moderately thick slices while still fairly hot. Golden syrup (made as a by-product of cane sugar refining) is the traditional thing to spread on it. It goes well with jam, too.

Comments to: Niels Quist