🥔 SIDE
Damper (Australian Bush Bread)
A round of plain soda bread made from self-raising flour, butter and milk, scored with a cross and baked until crusty, torn warm to eat with stew, soup or grilled meat.
Australian · easy · serves 6
prep 10 min · cook 35 min
~357 cal · 8g protein · 58g carbs · 9g fat · 2g fiber · 1g sugars · 6g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Damper is Australia's bush bread. Stockmen, drovers and swagmen who travelled remote country for long stretches carried little more than flour, sugar and tea, with whatever meat came to hand, and they mixed flour, salt and water into a dough and baked it in the ashes of the campfire or in a cast-iron camp oven set in the coals. It was eaten with dried or cooked meat, or with golden syrup.
It has no yeast, so it needs no time to rise. Today it is made with self-raising flour, a little butter rubbed in and milk and water to bind it, much like a big scone or a soda bread. Long before damper, Aboriginal Australians baked their own bush breads in the coals for thousands of years, from native seeds, nuts and roots crushed into a dough.
Damper is still made on camping trips and at school and community cookouts all over the country, and baked in home ovens as a round loaf with a cross cut into the top. It is served warm, broken into wedges, to mop up stews and soups, or spread with butter and honey, golden syrup or jam.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
- 3 cups (450 g) self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
- 1 tsp salt
- 60 g cold butter, cubed
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) milk, plus a little for brushing
- about 1/2 cup (125 ml) water
Instructions
- 1Heat the oven to 200C (400F) and dust a baking tray with flour. Put the flour and salt in a large bowl and rub in the butter with your fingertips until it looks like breadcrumbs.
- 2Make a well in the centre, pour in the milk and most of the water, and mix quickly with a knife to a soft, slightly sticky dough, adding the rest of the water if it is dry.✎ Chef’s noteWork fast and lightly, as for scones. Overmixing makes damper tough.
- 3Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead gently for a few seconds, just until smooth. Shape into a round about 18 cm across and set it on the tray.
- 4Cut a cross about 1 cm deep across the top with a floured knife. Brush with a little milk and dust with flour.
- 5Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until golden and hollow-sounding when tapped underneath. Serve warm, broken into wedges, with stew or soup, or with butter and golden syrup.✎ Chef’s noteOver a campfire, bake it in a greased cast-iron camp oven set on a bed of coals with more coals on the lid, checking after 30 minutes.
Australian bush and campfire tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Queensland. Queensland is Australia's tropical northeast, where the sunshine reaches the baking: pumpkin worked into scones, mangoes and macadamias in season, and barramundi and mud crab off the coast. Backyard barbecue is the default way to cook and eat.
🗺️
Australia. Australia's modern cuisine blends European roots, a huge Asian influence, and native 'bush tucker' ingredients. Barbecue, seafood, multicultural street food, and a serious coffee culture define its relaxed, sun-drenched eating.
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Oceania. The twentieth century changed the Pacific plate faster than anything before it. White rice, tinned corned beef, mutton flaps, flour and sugar arrived by ship and are now entirely everyday, and the public health consequences are among the most closely studied anywhere. Alongside that, Australian and New Zealand kitchens have taken up Asian technique and Maori and Pasifika cooking in a way they had not before.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
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Good to know
You’ll need: Oven.
Storing it: Best the day it is made. Wrap well and refresh in a warm oven, or freeze and reheat straight from frozen.
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Damper (Australian Bush Bread)?
A round of plain soda bread made from self-raising flour, butter and milk, scored with a cross and baked until crusty, torn warm to eat with stew, soup or grilled meat.
Where does Damper (Australian Bush Bread) come from?
Damper (Australian Bush Bread) is an Australian dish from Queensland, Australia.
Can Damper (Australian Bush Bread) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Damper (Australian Bush Bread) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Damper (Australian Bush Bread) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Damper (Australian Bush Bread) take to make?
About 45 minutes total (10 minutes prep, 35 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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