A damper is an Austrian bread type that as far as I know has its origin in the colony era. It is a very quick bread. You just throw the ingredients together and then bake it right away.
I have made it in an oven and over open fire on a skillet at the larp I was at this summer. Both work great. The recipe is quite malleable and can be made both sweet and savory.
Variation
I often bake the bread with a mix of flour. At least 1/3 wheat flour to let the bread raise but the rest can be quite coarse flour such as barley, rye or spelt. With other flour types I would probably stick to 2/3 wheat and 1/3 random flour. You can also add seeds or grains to the bread, just make sure to soak them first. As for spices I have tried cumin, fresh time, Italian seasoning (oregano, basil, rosemary, time) or pepper (lots of pepper).
Damper
Ingredients
- 500 milliliters flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder NOT baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 200 milliliters liquid water/beer/whey
- Optional Seeds or spices italian ones works great
Instructions
-
Turn on the oven at 200 C.
-
Mix the dry ingredients and add in the liquid. You might need a bit of extra liquid. It doesn't matter if the dough is a bit sticky - as long as it isn't dry you are ok. It is a very easy dough to work with.
-
Shape the bread into a round disk (about 5 cm high) and cut it half way through so you have 8 parts, this make the bread much easier to break.
-
If you feel like it add some egg, oil or milk to the top of the bread - it will make it look prettier.
-
Bake it for about 20 minutes until it is sounds hollow and is turning golden at the edges. The bread raises pretty quickly in the oven but it need the rest of the time to bake though - or you will end up with a doughy middle as I learned the other day. You can also bake it in a frying pan over a campfire.
Recipe Notes
Source: This recipe is one i modified from a recipe on albanyaustralia.com.