Damper (food)

{{Short description|Australian campfire bread}} {{About|the bread made by Australian settlers|the bread made by Indigenous Australians|Bush bread|other uses of the term "damper"|Damper (disambiguation)}} {{use dmy dates|date=March 2021}} {{use Australian English|date=March 2021}} {{Infobox prepared food | name = Damper | image = Rosemary beer damper.jpg | caption = A modern damper | alternate_name = | country = Australia | region = | creator = Stockmen | course = | type = Unleavened bread (traditionally) | served = | main_ingredient = Wheat flour, salt, water | variations = | calories = | other = }} '''Damper''' is a thick home-made bread traditionally prepared by early European settlers in Australia.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}} It is a bread made from wheat-based dough.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}} Flour, salt and water,<ref name=CMCMJ01111840>{{cite journal |date=1 November 1840 |title=Van Diemen's Land. Tasmania Lakes |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1846024246 |journal=The Colonial Magazine and Commercial Maritime Journal |publisher=Fisher Son, & Co. |volume=3 |issue=11 |page=363|id=Image 111}}</ref><ref name="Our daily bread">{{cite web |last1=Newling |first1=Jacqui |last2=Hill |first2=Scott |title=Our daily bread |url=https://blogs.sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/cook/our-daily-bread/ |access-date=14 February 2021 |website=The Cook and the Curator {{!}} Sydney Living Museums |publisher=Historic Houses Trust of NSW}}</ref> with some butter if available,{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}} is kneaded and baked in the coals of a campfire,<ref name="Our daily bread" /> either directly or within a camp oven.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}

== Etymology == The word "damper" originated as a specific use of the British word "damper", meaning "something that takes the edge off the appetite".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Australian National Dictionary Centre: Meanings and origins of Australian words and idioms |url=https://slll.cass.anu.edu.au/centres/andc/meanings-origins/d |access-date=2024-11-03 |website=Australian National University |language=en}}</ref> There was likely also some influence from the phrase "damp down" as in "to damp down a fire".<ref name=":0" />

When cooked as smaller, individually-sized portions, the damper may be known as "bush scones" or "johnnycakes" (also "johnny cakes").<ref name="Macquarie">{{cite dictionary |title=jonnycake |dictionary=The Macquarie Dictionary |publisher=Macquarie Library |location=St. Leonards, N.S.W. |date=1981 |page=954 |isbn=0949757004}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Santich |first=Barbara |title=Bold Palates, Australia's Gastronomic Heritage |url=https://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/boldpalates.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304210730/http://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/boldpalates.htm |archive-date=4 March 2021 |access-date=13 February 2021 |website=www.southaustralianhistory.com.au}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Eley |first=Talisa |date=23 August 2017 |title=Food for thought at NAIDOC Week 2017 |url=https://thesourcenews.com/2017/08/23/food-for-thought-at-naidoc-week-2017/ |access-date=13 February 2021 |website=The Source News |publisher=Griffith University School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science Journalism Media Centre |archive-date=26 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226213252/https://thesourcenews.com/2017/08/23/food-for-thought-at-naidoc-week-2017/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> North American cornmeal bread is also called johnnycake; it is uncertain if this influenced the Australian term. However, Australian johnnycakes, while often pan-fried, remain wheat-based.<ref name="Macquarie" /><ref name="morris">{{cite book |last=Morris |first=Edward Ellis |author-link=Edward Ellis Morris |url=https://archive.org/details/australenglisha02morrgoog |title=Austral English: A Dictionary of Australasian Words, Phrases, and Usages, with Those Aboriginal-Australian and Maori Words which Have Become Incorporated in the Language and the Commoner Scientific Words that Have Had Their Origin in Australasia |date=1898 |publisher=Macmillan |page=[https://archive.org/details/australenglisha02morrgoog/page/n253 253]}}</ref>

== Description == Damper was eaten by stockmen who travelled in remote areas for long periods, with only basic rations of flour (much less bulky than baked bread<ref name="CMCMJ01111840" />), sugar and tea, supplemented by whatever meat was available.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}} It was also a basic provision of squatters.<ref>{{cite magazine |author= |date=2 January 1845 |title=Reviews: ''Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay, &c.'' By Clement Hodgkinson |page=101 |quote=[excerpt from Hodgkinson book]: I have myself known many squatters who,{{nbsp}}... were content to live on an unvarying course of salt beef, damper, and tea;{{nbsp}}... |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1735646392 |magazine=Simmonds's Colonial Magazine and Foreign Miscellany |volume=4 |issue=13 |publisher=Simmonds & Ward |accessdate=21 November 2021}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=November 2024}} Damper is generally held to be unleavened and made without added rising agents, but historically, if the bread dough was left overnight, it could sometimes have leavened naturally, and this may have been a commonly understood technique in bush lore.<ref name="Our daily bread" /> Some recipes added portions of the previous night's dough, similar to a sourdough starter.<ref name="Our daily bread" /> Damper was normally cooked in the ashes of the campfire.<ref name="Our daily bread" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Damper Details |url=http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2012/04/damper-details.html |access-date=2016-12-29 |website=www.theoldfoodie.com}}</ref> Damper could also be cooked in a greased camp oven. Damper was eaten with dried or cooked meat or golden syrup.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}

Damper is considered quintessentially Australian, and emblematic of early European settlement and rural life there, although this way to make bread was not unique to colonial or pre-colonial Australia.<ref name="Our daily bread" /> Other cultures have similar hearth breads, and versions of soda or other quick breads are made when camping in many parts of the world,<ref name="Our daily bread" /> including New Zealand and the United Kingdom.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}

The bread is different from bush bread, which has been eaten by Indigenous Australians for thousands of years, traditionally made by crushing a variety of native seeds, nuts and roots, and mixing them into a dough baked in the coals of a fire.<ref name="Emu">{{cite book |last1=Pascoe |first1=Bruce |title=Dark Emu : Aboriginal Australia and the birth of agriculture |date=2018 |publisher=Magabala Books |isbn=9781921248016 |location=Broome, Western Australia}}</ref><ref name="wroth">{{Cite web |last=Wroth |first=David |date=Aug 2020 |title=Damper Seed - Aboriginal Art Stories - Japingka Gallery |url=https://japingkaaboriginalart.com/articles/damper-seed/ |access-date=2020-09-08 |website=Japingka Aboriginal Art Gallery |language=en-AU |quote=Millstones for grinding seeds into flour have been discovered, which have been dated to 50,000 years old.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Florek |first1=Stan |date=5 August 2014 |title=Food Culture: Aboriginal Bread |url=https://australian.museum/blog-archive/science/food-culture-aboriginal-bread/ |access-date=13 February 2021 |website=The Australian Museum |language=en}}</ref> There are studies into whether this technique of various Aboriginal peoples influenced the development of colonial-era damper, similarly cooked in the ashes of a camp fire.<ref name="Behrendt">{{cite news |last1=Behrendt |first1=Larissa |date=22 September 2016 |title=Indigenous Australians know we're the oldest living culture – it's in our Dreamtime |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/22/indigenous-australians-know-were-the-oldest-living-culture-its-in-our-dreamtime |access-date=14 February 2021 |work=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Archaeology">{{cite web |date=May 2020 |title=Australian Aboriginal people were baking bread and farming grain 20,000 years before Egypt |url=https://archaeology-world.com/australian-aboriginal-people-were-baking-bread-and-farming-grain-20000-years-before-egypt/ |access-date=14 February 2021 |website=Archaeology World}}</ref><ref name="Our daily bread" />

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Cookbook|Damper}} {{Cookbook|Drover's Damper}} {{Portalbar|Australia|Food|History}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Damper (Food)}} Category:Australian breads Category:Unleavened breads Category:Wheat dishes Category:Bushfood