Monday 26 January 2009

Happy Australia Day

Okay, the plans didn't go quite according to, well, plans. It was raining and although that isn't enough to stop the church cricket match it was enough to stop the Australia Day grinch (a.k.a. Wolf). So we stayed home and had a relaxing day.
But we did make Damper!


Damper is a basic bread created by the early stockmen. It has very basic ingredients because they weren't able to carry a lot of provisions with them away for weeks or months at a time.

The basic ingredients are...

3 cups of self raising flour
3 tablespoons of butter
salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
2 adorable helpers to make a massive mess.
We added some herbs so that we could have it with our spaghetti for dinner (I know it wasn't lamb but I didn't have any lamb)
You can add sultanas and other dried fruit and some sugar for a sweet bread.
Now it's time to get your hands dirty! Put all the dry ingredients in a basin and rub the butter through with your hands until it is like fine breadcrumbs.
Make a well in the centre and add the milk bringing the dry ingredients together to a dough.
Once it's all together tip it onto a floured surface and knead for a minute or two, while wearing some fantastic hats.
Shape into a disc, slice the top (Dragons was sliced in wedges, Lion got a crisscross pattern), brush the top with milk and sprinkle with more flour (or more herbs) and place on an oven tray.
Lion's loaf
Dragon's loaf
Bake in a moderate oven for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.
Tear it apart and eat it while still warm with lots of butter.
Have some lamingtons for dessert.

14 comments:

  1. I LOVE damper!!! (as long as it is not too satly!)
    I've made it at school camps before and Dad has made it a home.

    I really like plain damper with golden syrup!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. ooohhh I love lamingtons. But Leticia HATES coconut so we dont make them very often. (she will eat everything else on the planet but NOT coconut)LOL

    ReplyDelete
  3. I couldn't help noticing in the hat picture...
    Dragon's chin and singlet appear a little... umm...
    was Dragon's damper..
    er..

    dribble free?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Looks like messy fun! Did the adorable helpers help clean up too?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sorry your Australia Day plans got rained out.

    I talked to my friend in Sydney yesterday and he said it looked like it might storm there... just in time for their bar-b-que. :)

    Looks like you managed to have fun despite the change of plans.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I am glad you explained about the lamingons being dessert. For a minute I couldn't figure out how the bread got so furry in the oven, lol!

    Well, I figure if your kids can bake this bread then I ought to be able to do it...hehehehe!

    ReplyDelete
  7. LOL I immediately noticed the damp front on Dragon, My first two were droolers, went through two or three shirts a day.

    yum, a local restaurant makes something like this, I can't get enough of it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. @Peta G - MAKE lamingtons, no, we keep TopTaste in business, they came with an Aussie Flag tattoo:)

    @Grannysaurus - DF it wasn't - cooked long enough to kill anything it was.

    @Mum-me - No, clean up was quite easy. I got it done in the time it took wolf to get every last piece of dough off their little fingers and clean the adorable helpers up.

    @Momstheword - Just dont knead it quite as much as the adorable helpers, it's like a scone (biscuit) mix, the more you fiddle with it the tougher the end product is.

    @Boy Mom - I am so over this drool thing. I have so many of his shirts with completely wrecked necklines. He only helps to cook things that are being cooked well, or given to grannysaurus:)

    ReplyDelete
  9. OH! This looks wonderful! Going to make it tomorrow and now I am going to have to search for a recipe for lamingtons. YUM!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I am really impressed with the very gourmet looking damper that your boys made!!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Yum! Looks great! Love lamingtons. But not that keen on coconut crumbs either.
    They make good little chefs!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Never heard of any of this stuff, but dang, they look good. The bread...ummmmmm.... so moving to Australia now. Get ready, I'm on my way!

    ReplyDelete
  13. The bread looks so yummy! High temperatures kill just about anything. The boys did such a great job. I'm so impressed. The most we do here is make eggs and cookies. They try to help with dinner but notice I said the word try. What is a lamington? I thought that was the bread and I got scared for a minute!! LOL

    ReplyDelete
  14. Looks so dang yummy! Great post!

    www.oneshetwoshe.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

I'd love to hear from you, even if it's just to say "Hi, I stopped by for a read today"
We love comments, we don't love spam. Too much spam means I'm moderating comments now and have put on an anti-robot word verification doo-dad, sorry.