Bushfire Book

Sunday tea at Grandma’s was usually a light meal of things only eaten at that meal. It followed the traditional big Sunday roast lunch so no one was especially hungry – or at least the adults weren’t. Puftaloons were one of those special dishes. Mrs. Tottle taught Ruby how to cook them in Bushfire and they were a great treat to those lucky enough to get one. (To read more, click on the link.) So, for those of you who’d like to try them, and for those of you who’ve asked, here’s a recipe:

Puftaloons:
2 cups of self raising flour
¼ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons butter or margarine
¾ cup milk

Steps:
• Mix flour and salt
• Using fingers, rub butter or margarine into flour till it looks like breadcrumbs – just a little, no big lumps
• Make a well in the centre and mix in milk to form a soft dough
• Knead lightly
• Roll or pat out into 2cm square and cut into rounds with a cutter or a knife
• Fry bacon till crispy and then cook the puftaloons in the bacon fact till brown on each side OR heat some oil in a frying pan – not a lot, this is not deep frying – and cook them till golden and fluffy turning over as needed.
• Serve with golden syrup, jam or bacon

A more traditional recipe is to make damper (a very old bread recipe using only flour, water and salt mixed together and baked in the fire) and then cook in the bacon fat but the recipe above is the one Grandma used to use.