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Recipe for "damper"

NAME

     DAMPER - Bread as made by drovers in the outback
     I don't know how many of you realise  it,  but  there  is  a
     wealth of TV programmes about cooking from around the world.
     We are lucky in that Australia's SBS network (Special Broad-
     casting  Service-``multicultural television'') has a regular
     slot for food and wine at  a  convenient  time  on  Saturday
     evenings.  Over the last couple of years we have seen series
     on French, Indian, Chinese, English, Vegetarian, Australian,
     and Sri Lankan cookery, among others. If you're missing out,
     why not call your local station?
     This recipe comes from a series called  ``Australian  Table-
     land''.  Traditionally, damper should be cooked in the coals
     of a camp fire, but the temperature in an oven is much  more
     consistent!
     This recipe has the advantages of  being  simple  and - with
     ordinary care-reliable.

INGREDIENTS (1 damper)

     625 ml    self-raising flour
     5 ml      salt
     5 g       butter
     5 ml      sugar
     250 ml    milk (or use 125 ml of powdered milk  and  250  ml
               water.)

PROCEDURE

          (1)  Preheat oven to 180 deg. C.
          (2)  Mix together the dry ingredients and  the  butter.
               Add  the  liquid  and mix well.  Knead for about 5
               minutes (if you don't know about kneading, look in
               a  good  cookery book with plenty of pictures-it's
               difficult to describe in words).
          (3)  Shape into  a  flattened  ball,  and  place  on  a
               greased  and  floured baking sheet or in a greased
               and  floured  round  cake  tin  (I  recommend  the
               latter,  about 18 to 20 cm diameter, as it gives a
               better shape). Bake for 30 minutes.  Use  a  dutch
               oven  if  you are cooking in an open fire, and use
               your experience as to cooking time.

NOTES

     Serve in moderately thick slices while still fairly hot. I'm
     told  that  golden syrup (a treacle-like substance made as a
     by-product of cane sugar refining) is the traditional  thing
     to spread on it, and that goes well.  Jam is good, too.

RATING

     Difficulty: easy.  Time: 10 minutes preparation, 30  minutes
     cooking.  Precision: measure carefully.

CONTRIBUTOR

     Stephen Withers,
     The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia.
     UUCP:     {seismo,mcvax,ukc,ubc-vision}!munnari!murdu.oz!stephenw
     CSNET:    stephenw%murdu@munnari.oz