Happy Australia Day! Well it doesn’t feel like much of an Australia Day to me though it’s for sure much balmier than one might expect of Toronto on January 26th 😉 to mark the occasion, I present to you: more bread. Damper (Australian soda bread), to be exact. For those of you who read my blog regularly, you’ll know that until recently, bread and I were not the best of friends. Even soda bread and damper (ahem, literally the easiest things in the world, no yeast required!). Then, a couple of weeks ago, I had two successful batches of bread… It seemed like a miracle! Whilst I am still not sure that bread and I will ever be best buddies, I was encouraged by my recent success to try Damper again. I literally Googled “easy Damper” and came up with this Damper recipe from Best Recipes. I used a food processor to incorporate the butter into the flour mixture but apart from that, I followed the recipe to a “T”.
And was rewarded with this:
Ok, ok, looking good but really – the proof is in the slicing, right?
Oh look – it has a “good crumb” (can you tell I am turning into a bread baker with lingo like that?) 😉
Perfect on its own with a bit of butter…
Wait… what’s that in the top right hand corner of the photo…. {pans out}
Yup, if you guessed Golden Syrup, you’d be right. Damper screams out for Golden Syrup 🙂
This was SO GOOD. Even Neil who has had to endure my previous attempts said “”I’d eat that”. And we ate most of the small loaf for breakfast, hot, one morning. It was even pretty good the next day, toasted. Could I be turning into a bread baker after all?????
Happy Australia Day – Cheers!
(this one’s for my dad, by the way, who requested that I make and write about Damper last week!)
Yay so exciting!! I love bread baking above alllll other baking and I always want people to join me in my bread-obsession. Kind of like an annoying cult member 🙁
That bread looks fabulous, I’ve never tried soda bread before so I’m having a hard time imagining what it would taste like in comparison to yeasted dough. Guess I’ll just have to bake some up for myself
Well truth be told, I’d probably eat anything slathered in golden syrup. 🙂
Damn fine. Reminds me of the security issues P had bringing me a “brick” of GS through airport checks in the USA…..but I digress.
Celebrating Australia Day here with a 2005 Wolf Blass Grey Label Langhorne Creek Cabernet Sauvignon – with special thanks to Treasury Estates for the “inside deal” on this.
Doesn’t aprticularly go with the damper, but what the heck.
Happy hols, every(Aussie)one!
Happy Australia Day – I am a huge fan of damper, all warm and slathered in jam 😀
Your homemade version looks perfect for the festive occasion my friend!
I made a green and gold cake as welll to celebrate!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
I have never heard of damper, but if it’s anything like irish soda bread, I am all excited for it! 🙂 Gorgeous pictures, looks delicious!
all the bread looks heavenly!
I bake my own bread all the time but never had a damper. I will have to try it some day. Your bread and all the pictures are great. Happy Australia Day!
It looks fantabulous! I could easily eat a whole loaf of fresh bread with butter all by myself. One of the best things EVER! Glad you’re having more success.
A suitably Aussie way to celebrate Australia day, it looks delicious!
I was going ask, “But, Mardi, don’t you and bread have a conflict of interests going on? One where you want the bread to do what it’s supposed to and the bread wants to just not cooperate?”
I’m thrilled to see that the rivalry between you and bread has been resolved! This looks beautiful and tasty 😀
Ha! You’ve shown that bread who’s the boss! It certainly looks like the perfect crumb. Probably the only time I eat golden syrup is on soda bread/damper – it is just the perfect combo. Belated Happy Australia Day!
It looks like a yummy gigantic biscuit. I found myself googling Golden Syrup. Looks like I’ve been missing out!
By “biscuit” you surely mean “scone” right? LOL! There’s a link to the Wiki for Golden Syrup in the post there!
Isn’t making bread a wonderful process! I’m so glad that you are starting to enjoy it and with wonderful results. Your Dad must have been very pleased that you did this post for him. Happy Australia Day!
It’s kind of like the macaron making process – a long road!!!
This looks great, and easy! I love your inclusion of Golden Syrup!
Of course!! LOVE me some Golden Syrup!
I just discovered Lyle’s syrup over the holidays and it is just so addictive. I think I could eat it all on its own.
Happy Australia Day!
VERY addictive!
Mardi, thank you. Another great Australian export.
Well done and the Golden Syrup is the crowning glory.
Of course!!!
Happy belated Aussie Day! I ate nothing Aussie. Had Sri lankan instead 😛
Well I had Thai for dinner LOL!
I’ve never heard of damper but it looks darn tasty! Perfect in every way, Mardi!
It’s VERy tasty!
I rather prefer Mr Neil’s “beverage” pairing than the glass of red creaming soda we had with our damper!!!
Store bought damper at that too I might add – hastily acquired after all the Australia Day celebrations were cancelled following the 280mm deluge of rain the previous day (not to mention the further 150mm in two hours the following day :(( – haven’t seen the sun for about two weeks now).
Oh and definitely the golden syrup…………………..
Store bought damper – really??? What will they think of next?
I have never had damper, but your photos make me want to run out and make it right now! Delicious! Way to go at the bread making…bread takes some love but its so rewarding.
It’s pretty easy and a nice “in” for a novice baker like myself!
This looks amazing… reading this post is making me hungry! 🙂
Thanks Jen 🙂
Is there a link to the recipe that I’m not finding?
Well the link is in the post…