Australian bush bread raised without yeast, baked under a lid and torn apart warm with butter and golden syrup.
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AI-generated image, not a photograph of the dish
Australian drovers baked this bread in campfire ashes under a buried cast iron pot. The lid recreates that steam trap and keeps the crumb tender. With no self-raising flour to hand, use 3 tsp baking powder for every 450 g of plain flour.
An estimate computed from the recipe quantities and the USDA food composition database. Real values vary with the products used.
Use 3 teaspoons of baking powder per 450 g of plain flour, mixed in with the salt. That chemical raising is what does all the work, since damper contains no baker's yeast and never proves before baking.
Developing the gluten would make the crumb chewy and tight, when you want something crumbly, closer to a scone. Bring the dough together by hand for about thirty seconds, without trying to smooth it, and accept that it stays soft and rough.
It traps steam, which keeps the surface supple while the loaf rises and stops a crust forming too early. You take it off for the last ten minutes, once the crumb has set and all that is left is to colour the top.
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