Making your own damper and bread – yum!

One of the things we love most about camping is making our own bread. There is nothing like the smell and taste of damper or bread freshly baked over a campfire! Here’s our recipes for baking delicious damper and seed bread …. trialled and perfected over our 8 months camping in southern Africa in 2013. Just magic fresh out of the camp oven when returning from your late afternoon game drive and wrapped in a tea towel still yummy for breakfast the next day! When hiring your equipped 4×4 vehicle through Travel Africa you will get a camp oven and tripod included.

Damper

One teaspoon of baking power to every cup of plain flour (white flour or a mix of white and wholemeal flour for slightly heavier damper). Mix into a dough with milk or milk powder and water (use a knife to start this off if you’d like). Add more flour or milk as needed, knead and shape into nice rounded damper. Sprinkle some flour on the base of your camp oven and place damper on flour and put lid on camp oven.

In the meantime build up a nice hot fire and let it burn down to substantial coals. Place your tripod over the coals and then place your camp oven on the tripod. Cover the camp oven lid with a series of hot coals. Let cook for 15-20 minutes. Check damper and remove when sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Seed bread

Mix one packet of yeast with half a teaspoon of salt, a tablespoon of honey or sugar, a couple of tablespoons of oil and some warm water. Add plain or wholemeal flour depending on how big you want your bread and also add seeds here (sesame seeds, sunflowers sees, pumpkin seeds are all good). Mix into a dough with water (use a knife to start this off if you’d like). Add more flour or water as needed, knead and shape into nice rounded bread. Cover and place in a warm spot for as long as possible. Knead and shape dough again. Sprinkle some flour on the base of your camp oven and place bread on flour and put lid on camp oven.

In the meantime build up a nice hot fire and let it burn down to substantial coals. Place your tripod over the coals and then place your camp oven on the tripod. Cover the camp oven lid with a series of hot coals. Let cook for 15-20 minutes. Check bread and remove when sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Don’t place camp over directly on the coals or you’ll burn the base of your damper/bread. Enjoy!