Find out how to make correct damper at dwelling with out an earth oven

— Watch Aaron Fa’Aoso in Strait to the Plate, 8pm Thursdays on SBS Meals, NITV, or stream it free on SBS On Demand —

 

A humble approach to discover the essence of Torres Strait Islander peoples is to pattern the energy of their tradition by tasting conventional meals.

One of the vital widespread meals on the Island of Warraber within the Kulkalgal area of Torres Strait is damper. Ladies have been making amay damper dough (because it’s generally referred to as) on the island for hundreds of years.

As we study within the new SBS sequence Strait To The Plate, amay damper has at all times been cooked in an earth oven. Woven coconut leaf parcels full of amay dough get tossed into an amay pit that’s full of scorching coals. The parcels are then coated with leaves and sand, and left to prepare dinner for about an hour.

When the damper is able to eat, it tastes mushy, fluffy and so inviting you’ll wish to reproduce its epic flavours at dwelling. However how, particularly if you happen to’re yard isn’t large enough for an earth oven?

Get out your Dutch oven

To copy the cooking course of that occurs when damper is made underground, it’s important to re-create a protected environment of warmth and steam. To do this, you should befriend the Dutch oven in your cabinet.

The coated earthenware or forged iron pot – AKA a Dutch oven – has very thick partitions, a heavy backside and tight lid. These options help in heating the damper dough evenly all through the cooking course of. Put merely, a Dutch oven will assist to create a loaf that has a crusty shell and fluffy inside, and not using a campfire.

Select your cooking technique

When you’ve made your damper dough and also you’ve bought your Dutch oven available, it’s time to resolve the way you’re going to bake your loaf in a method that ensures a constant temperature round the entire pot. A straightforward approach to obtain that is to make use of your kitchen oven and create a double-oven impact.

To begin, putting your damper dough in a calmly oiled Dutch oven, then shut the lid. Put the Dutch oven in an oven, pre-heated to 220°C and bake for 30-35 minutes.

Temperature and occasions will range based on the scale of your dough, Dutch oven and oven options (fan-forced, energy and so forth). However if you happen to’re unsure, you’ll be able to verify to see if the bread has completed cooking by tapping on the loaf along with your fingers – if you happen to hear a hole sound, the damper is finished.

Or, you’ll be able to push a clear skewer into the center of the loaf. If the skewer comes out clear, it’s additionally executed. If not, then you have to bake it for longer.

Embrace the barbie

You can too attempt baking damper in your BBQ. Weber recommends oblique cooking over medium-low warmth (170°C to 190°C).

They specify that damper needs to be cooked on the BBQ with the lid closed, till the highest of the loaf is golden brown. Don’t get tempted to open the BBQ lid throughout the prepare dinner to see the way it’s going. Always opening the lid will let the warmth escape – that received’t work effectively in your loaf.

Cook dinner your damper for no less than 45-50 minutes earlier than opening the lid. As soon as that point has handed, you should use a meat thermometer to guage if the bread has cooked for lengthy sufficient. When the bread reaches an inside temperature of 90°C, it’s prepared.

Experiment along with your home equipment

The damper creativity would not cease there. Residence cooks can recruit the help of a bread maker or air-fryer to create a show-stopping loaf with a crunchy crust. 

For those who choose to make use of your bread maker, observe the producer’s directions for a yeast-free bread setting. Select a medium crust in case your bread maker has this selection.

However, air-fryer damper territory is much more uncharted, so be ready to experiment. Flatten after which form the dough earlier than putting it on the underside of a cake tin (lined with baking paper).

Then prepare dinner away based on the producer’s working directions. Air fryers range broadly, so mess around with the temperature and time. A superb place to begin is at 180°C for a 25-30 minute prepare dinner.

Savour the historical past behind every chew

As soon as your damper is finished utilizing any of those strategies, enable it to chill below a tea towel for about 5 minutes. Then take pleasure in.

As you’re savouring the flavours of do-it-yourself damper, simply bear in mind: have been it not for the normal Indigenous peoples who’ve been making damper for hundreds of years in earth ovens, you in all probability wouldn’t have the posh of creating your personal loaf at dwelling. So you’ll want to relish the cultural historical past behind every bread chew.