Culinary Occasion Rusk
The story about the South African Rusk …..
During the 17th century the Dutch East Indian Company was established as a trading post at the Cape of Good Hope. The Dutch settlers then colonized the Western Cape followed by the French Huguenots. The Dutch women living in the Cape at that time found a promising market selling their wholesome delicious rusks to passing ships and expedition groups. These double baked bread rusks or “beschuit” in Dutch became a firm favorite staple for locals and for long distance travelers.
This ingrained tradition remains to this day where you will find South Africans dipping their favorite rusk into a steaming hot cup of coffee or tea.
Here is Culinary Occasion’s original buttermilk rusk recipe flavoured with Cape dried fruit, almonds, coconut and cinnamon!
Enjoy the dunk experience!
Recipe
Makes 39 tarts
Ingredients
500g Flour
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 cup Brown sugar
1 Egg beaten
1 cup Sunflower oil
1 cup Buttermilk
1 cup Dried apricots and prunes chopped
1 cup Oats
1/2 cup All bran
1/4 cup Coconut shredded
1/4 cup Almonds sliced
1 tsp Cinnamon powder
Method
Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Grease and line a 8 inch by 12 inch cookie sheet.
Mix the flour, salt and baking powder in a large mixing bowl using a whisk to thoroughly distribute the salt and baking powder.
In a separate bowl mix together the oil and sugar ensuring there are no clumps.
Add the oil/sugar mixture to the dry ingredients bowl.
Add the remaining ingredients and gently mix to combine.
Press the dough onto the cookie sheet.
Bake for 45 - 55 minutes until the dough is light golden brown.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes.
Place onto a chopping board and slice the cooked dough sheet into desired rusk slices.
Three rows length wise and 13 rows width wise works well for the above sized cookie sheet yielding 39 rusks.
Place the rusks onto a cooling cake rack ensuring a space in between each rusk and bake further for 3-4 hours at 200 F.
Chef’s Notes
To make buttermilk, simply add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to 1 cup of milk. Let the mixture stand for 10 minutes and proceed to use as buttermilk.
The longer the second bake the crunchier the rusk will be ensuring a perfect coffee or tea dunking vessel!