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.

SOUTH AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RUSKS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Line a high-rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper, letting the paper overhang the sides for easy removal.
• Combine flour, ground All-Bran®, white sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
• Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat. Remove from the heat and mix in cream. Add flour mixture and mix until well combined.
• Spread out batter into the prepared baking sheet and use a knife to cut into slices; this will make removing the rusks easier once baked.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes. Reduce heat to 160 degrees F (70 degrees C) and leave rusks in the low temperature oven for 4 hours to dry. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
• Cut into 80 slices.