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Drover's Damper

A simple Australian bread made with self‑raising flour, butter, milk, sugar and salt, baked over coals.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Drover's Damper

5–10
Time40 minutes maximum

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the dough

  1. Add salt to flour, then add sugar.

  2. Rub in butter.

  3. Mix in milk to make a medium-soft dough.

  4. Knead lightly on flat surface until smooth.

  5. Pat dough into a round shape.

Cook and serve

  1. Place damper mixture on coals or hot ash.

  2. Cook for a maximum of 40 minutes.

  3. Discard burnt outside and eat the inside.

  4. Serve with butter, golden syrup, or jam.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

755Calories
21 gProtein
21 gFat
120 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Self-raising flour
Provides the structure of the bread and rises with the raising agent it contains.
Butter
Rubbed into the flour to add richness and a tender crumb.
Milk
Hydrates the flour to form the dough and adds softness and browning.

The step that matters

Cook for a maximum of 40 minutes. Ash-baked bread can burn on the outside before the centre sets. Checking the loaf keeps the inside cooked through without charring the crust.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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