I love this recipe. It is a South African staple food 🙂
A little history of the origin of rusks:
According to the book “Die Geskiedenis van Boerekos 1652 – 1806” by HW Claassens the word biscuit was borrowed from the French, meaning “twice baked”. This word was preferred to the literal Dutch translation of the French word (“tweebak”). It was not strange that they chose the French word, because at that time French influence was widespread. From history we learn that French soldiers were sent to war with hard bread, which was called “Biscuit de guerre” – a hard, almost inedible biscuit made from flour and water.
The rusks eaten on the VOC ships were not much better. In the book “History of Boerekos 1652 – 1806” mention is made of a quote from Peter Kolbe’s book “Naauwkeurige Beschryving van de Kaap de Goede Hoop“ in which he describes rusks as “so hard it can hardly be mastered by my teeth”.
Long before the rusk recipe was published in 1761 in “De Volmaakte Hollandsche Keukenmeid” the women of the Cape were already baking their own rusks. The biscuits were sold to the sailors and passengers of passing ships and to expeditions that ventured into the country’s interior.
Even though good quality rusks are available at all South African supermarkets, flea markets and some farm stalls, many families still prefer to bake their own rusks.
Nowadays it is no longer the hard, white biscuits of hundreds of years ago, but can contain bran, oats, raisins, sunflower seeds and much more. This makes it just as much a healthy breakfast snack as an ideal coffee break treat.
(
BUTTERMILK RUSKS RECIPE:
INGREDIENTS:
250g Butter
300g Brown Sugar
250mls Buttermilk
2 Large Eggs
1000g (1kg) Flour
5tsps Baking Powder
1tsp Salt
125g Crushed All Bran Flakes
50g Oats
METHOD:
1. Bowl 1: Melt butter in microwave.
2. Bowl 2: Beat sugar, buttermilk and eggs together.
3. Bowl 3: Sift flour. Add baking powder, salt, bran, and oats.
4. Add melted butter to dry ingredients in Bowl 3 – mix together thoroughly.
5. Add buttermilk mixture to Bowl 3 and knead together – easier to use hands.
6. Set oven temp to 350F / 180C.
7. Place parchment paper into rusk pan or other dish.
8. Place rusk mixture into pan, press down until evenly distributed.
9. Cut rusk mixture into small finger size rectangular size pieces (should make about 50 rusks).
10. Bake for 45 minutes (longer if using a glass dish).
11. Remove from oven and allow to cool in the pan, may need to cut again.
12. Once cooled, place individual rusks on the wire rack in oven.
13. Continue to bake overnight at lowest temp your oven will allow (my oven’s lowest temperature is 170F / 80C).