Favourite Buttermilk Rusks Recipes

BUTTERMILK RUSKS (KARRINGMELK BESKUIT)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C/355F and grease two loaf tins, or vessels of your choice for the rusks. See notes.
• Weigh out the flour, then add in the salt and baking soda. Whisk these ingredients to remove any lumps from the flour and to distribute the salt, baking soda and inherent leaveners throughout the flour.
• Melt the butter in the microwave or on the stove-top. Add in the sugar and whisk vigoursly until the sugar is completely dissolved and the butter has thickened and is smooth and shiny. (this may take a minute or two). The butter and sugar may need to be heated for an additional 20 seconds or so to gain the correct consistency. Allow the butter to cool.
• Whisk together the eggs and buttermilk.
• Add the butter and buttermilk mixtures to the flour and mix through with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula until combined. Then using your hands, knead the dough together a few times until you have a nice smooth-ish dough. We want a bit of gluten development but don't want bread dough.
• To make chunky buttermilk rusks roll out golf-ball-sized pieces of dough and place in the loaf tins. To make sliced buttermilk rusks, divide the dough between your loaf tins and press into place. When making sliced buttermilk rusks, you can use a square cake tin or large roasting dish to bake your dough.
• Bake the rusks - the balls or bolletjies or dough in a loaf tin take approximately 30 to 45 minutes to bake, while the large slice takes about 45 to 60 minutes to bake. But all ovens are different, the best bet would be to check the rusk using a toothpick or cake tester at the 30, 45, and 60-minute mark. When they come out clean, the rusk's first bake is complete.
• Allow the rusks to cool before tearing apart or slicing them. When slicing rusks, I like to keep them about 2-3cm x 2-3cm big. Place the sliced or chunky rusks on the oven racks in the oven, and set your oven to a maximum of 110 degrees Celsius (cool oven), preferably with the fan on to dry the rusks out. This drying process can take anywhere from 2 to 5 hours depending on the thickness of your rusk. Rusks that are about 2-3cm x 2-3cm big tend to take about 2 hours to dry out while the chunky rusks take between 4 and 5 hours to dry out.

FAVOURITE BUTTERMILK RUSKS

Steps:

• Sift flour and salt together. Rub in margarine with fingertips until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add sugar and aniseed.
• Whisk eggs and buttermilk together. Add to dry ingredients and mix well to a soft dough.
• Shape into balls and place into two greased 24 x 34 cm oven pans. Bake in a preheated oven at 160 °C for 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 150 °C and continue baking for about 30 minutes.
• Turn out onto wire racks to cool slightly. Cut or break into pieces while still warm. Dry out in a cool oven at about 70 °C for 6 - 8 hours, or overnight. Store in an airtight container.

BUTTERMILK OUMA RUSKS RECIPE - (3.7/5)

Steps:

• 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 2. In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly mix the dry ingredients. 3. Combine all the wet ingredients, pour them into the dry ingredients, and stir until you have a soft dough, similar to biscuit dough. 4. Turn the dough onto a well-floured surface and roll or pat it to about a 1/2 inch thickness. 5. 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. 6. 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. ALTERNATIVES: 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. Anise Rusks: Omit the cinnamon and almond extract and add 2 tsp. pure anise extract

BUTTERMILK RUSKS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Grease cake pans. You can use 9x13-inch pans, round cake pans, or loaf pans.
• Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Remove from heat and mix in sugar, buttermilk, and eggs.
• Combine self-rising flour, granola, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Add to the butter mixture and mix until well combined. Batter will be sloppy. Divide into thirds, and then divide each third into small balls. Place into the prepared cake pans side by side.
• Bake in the preheated oven until cooked fully through, 45 to 60 minutes. Remove from oven and gently place on baking sheets.
• Reduce oven temperature to 200 degrees F (95 degrees C). Bake rusks on low temperature until dry and crunchy, 2 to 3 hours. Depending on the size of your rusks this can take several hours.