Keto damper bread

With many of us having different dietary requirements or preferences these days I wanted to see if I could make a keto alternative to traditional damper bread which we cook on an upturned Dutch oven lid over fire embers when out in the wilds.

I wanted to keep the recipe as simple as possible as sometimes space and pack weight are considerations when travelling especially by foot.

In my quest for simplicity there were failures as I experimented and even omitted some of the key ingredients included by far more experienced bakers in the plethora of literature available.

Traditional damper bread as we know it can have as little as 2 ingredients. Self raising flour and water, anything else you have to hand is just a bonus.

The ingredients I used were

Almond flour
Coconut flour
Baking powder
Bicarbonate of soda
Eggs
Butter

Optional extras

Blueberries
Cheese
Bacon
Onion

Firstly I tried a few simple combinations that unsurprisingly didn’t work.

It was becoming clear I would have to expand the recipe to make this work, straying away from the simplicity I wanted.

Eventually, after the experiments and failures, I found a combination that worked and was what I was looking for as a keto damper bread option.

It had worked in the kitchen oven but needed to be cooked outdoors and I wasn’t sure which cooking method would work best as this was quite a sticky dough to begin with.

So I tried 3 different cooking methods which we would or could employ in the woods albeit using gas in my home environment for ease of demonstration.

Testing the theory. Dutch oven with raised base inside, inverted Dutch oven lid and billy can with raised base inside.

I was hoping for success with the billy can as this was the more portable option but as it turned out the best by far was the inverted Dutch oven lid as you would use with more traditional damper bread cooking.

So the successful recipe is as follows…

1/8th of a cup of almond flour
1/8th of a cup of coconut flour
30g of melted butter
1 tea spoon of baking powder
1 egg
40g of grated parmesan cheese
20g of grated mozzarella cheese

Method

Mix the dried ingredients in a mixing bowl or what ever suitable vessel you have with you.
Add all the cheese and mix.
Melt the butter and add to the mix with the egg.
Mix it all together for around 1 minute.
Dust a board or plate with either of the 2 flours and put on the mixture.
Using your hands spread out or squeeze the mixture so it is between 1 and 2 cm’s thick ensuring both sides are lightly dusted in flour to help prevent sticking.
Lightly oil the Dutch oven lid surface on which you will be cooking before laying it on the embers of the fire.
Put the damper mix on to the lid once hot and begin cooking turning regularly (a spatula is best for this)

Unlike traditional damper this will not rise and will remain soft. It should be cooked slowly until browned.