South African Traditional Rusks Recipes

SOUTH AFRICAN RUSKS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly mix the dry ingredients.
• Combine all the wet ingredients, pour them into the dry ingredients, and stir until you have a soft dough, similar to biscuit dough.
• Turn the dough onto a well-floured surface and roll or pat it to about a 1/2 inch thickness.
• Cut the dough into rectangles about 2 by 4 inches.
• Bake the rusks about 2 inches apart on buttered baking sheet for about 25 minutes until the tops are crisping and browning a little.
• Loosely pile the rusks on a baking sheet and keep them in a 200 degree oven all day or all night (about 12 hours) to dry.
• The finished rusks should be very dry and hard.
• Cool and store in an airtight container.
• Rusks will keep for weeks.
• Variations Oatmeal-Raisin Rusks: Reduce the white flour to 1 1/2 cups and add 2 cups rolled oats and 1/2 cup currants or chopped raisins.
• Almond Rusks: Add 1 cup chopped almonds and omit the cinnamon.
• Peanut Rusks: Add 1 cup coarsely chopped peanuts.

BUTTERMILK RUSKS, SOUTH AFRICAN

Steps:

• Oven: 350 deg F.
• Grease 2 flat, large cookie tins.
• Use the coarse side of a grater, and in a large bowl grate the butter into the flour.
• Then use your hands to rub it in until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
• Add the salt and sugar.
• Add the vanilla to the beaten eggs, and stir into the flour mixture (just roughly).
• Add enough buttermilk to mix to the consistency of scone dough, i.e. soft and somewhat sticky, but not wet. You should need about 6 cups, but it could be more or less.
• Have a bowl of quite warm water ready, and dip your hands into it. Now form large balls of dough, but do so lightly.
• The balls should be about 1/3 smaller than tennis balls (sorry, hard if you can't demonstrate!) Pack these, touching one another, on the greased tins. Do not pack close to the edges of the tins, as the dough will rise considerably.
• Baking time depends on a few variables such as the size of the balls -- generally about 45 mins - 60 minutes The rusks should be well-risen and golden-brown on top. Do peek, and don't let it burn. Test with a skewer.
• Cool in tins, but they don't have to be cold to proceed:.
• Use a serrated knife (some people simply break up the soft rusks) and cut into shapes convenient for handling -- about 3 inches in length and 1 1/2 inches in width. But you will never be able to cut these rusks neatly!
• They crumble a lot -- don't worry, it can't be helped. Put out the crumbs for the birds.
• Using the same tins, stack them very loosely and at an angle, one row supporting the next.
• Dry overnight in a cool oven of about 170 deg F, with the oven door wedged open a crack. They must dry out completely.
• Next day make sure rusks are dry, cool well, and keep in airtight tins.