Outdoor cooking (Aussie Damper)

If the kitchen is hart of a home, then my hart is very empty at the moment! Time for renovating has arrived!

We bought our home at the very end of 1999. It was in bad condition, and we had to change everything. 

As we didn't have plenty of money, we opted for cheapest solutions in many cases, and we did everything by ourselves. Many fixings were 'temporary' (I know - 12 years is a long 'temporary'), and that's why we want to do it in a proper way now.

A part of my old kitchen is outdoor now, where I cook.

Damper is a 'bread' that is made outdoor in an cast iron oven, originally by bush tuckers and /or travellers.  

Same bread can be baked in a traditional oven, or wrapped in al-foil and placed in hot ashes and /or on barbeque.

I remember that my mother used to make similar bread (pogača) during 'rakija' (plum brandy) making every autumn. She would wrap the bread into cabbage leaves, then AL-foil, and place it in hot ashes under the 'kazan' (distiller). It had very unique smell and taste.

Ingredients:

3 cups SR flour

1 tsp salt

75 g butter,cold, diced

1 cup milk (originally water, but beer is also used very often)

Seeds for sprinkling (optional)

Method:

Preheat oven to 180-190*C, prepare a baking dish; oil it.

Rub flour (with added salt) and butter with tips of your fingers. Pour liquid into it and mix quickly with a spreading knife, until incorporated but still rough. Place dough onto baking dish, smooth it a bit with your wetted hands (pressing slightly) and sprinkle with seeds. make a cross on top and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until golden.

Before

During

 Kuhanje vani (Ozi 'Pogača')

Ako je kuhinja srce doma, onda je moje srce prazno u ovom trenutku! Vrijeme za renoviranje je stiglo.

Kuću, u kojoj zivimo sada, smo kupili na samom kraju 1999. Bila je u losem stanju, pa smo morali sve izmijeniti. Kako nismo imali dovoljno novaca, cesto smo se odlucivali za najjeftinije opcije i sve smo sami radili (citaj - neprofesionalno!). Mnoge tvorevine su bile 'privremene' (znam - 12 godina je DUGO 'privremeno'), i stoga sada zelimo da ucinimo stvari kako treba.

Dio moje stare kuhinje se sada nalazi vani, gdje kuham.

Damper je slican nasoj pogači, i obicno se pravi vani u posebnoj peci  (kao sač) kojom su raspolagali prvi doseljenici / putnici u Australiji (sad je koriste kamperi). Moze se peci i u obicnoj rerni ili zamotan u AL-foliju preko vruceg pepela ili na grilu.

Sjecam se da je mama nekada pravila pogaču koju bi pekla u žaru (obicno kad' se rakija pravila). Zamotala bi je u listove kupusa, zatim AL-foliju i smjestila u vrući pepeo ispod kazana. Takva pogaca je imala bozanstven okus i miris!

Potrebno:

3 solje samodizajuceg brasna

1 k soli

75 gr maslaca,hladnog u kockicama

1 solja mlijeka (originalno voda, ali i pivo se cesto koristi)

Sjemenke za posuti po povrsini (opcionalno)

Nacin:

Ukljucite rernu na 180-190*C, pripremite pleh za pecenje, nauljite ga.

Pomijesajte so i brasno, utrljajte maslac vrhovima prstiju. Nalijte tecnost preko toga i nozem za mazanje brzo umijesite. Treba da bude poprilicno 'neujednaceno' tijesto - ne brinite ako svi sastojci nisu perfektno povezani. Istresite tijesto na pleh, skvasenim rukama oblikujte tijesto njezno stiskajuci. Pospite sjemenkama, nasijecite na par mjesta unakrsno  i pecite 35-40 minuta, ili dok ne postane zlatno-zuta.