South Africans love their rusks, a twice-baked biscuit-like treat that get dunked into tea or coffee. Give this South African buttermilk rusks a try!

Over the years, all kinds of types and flavours of rusks had been developed. The buttermilk rusk is the most plain of them all, but loved by most because it tastes more like a cookie or biscuit than anything else!

This recipe is a good “base” recipe since one can add anything to it to taste. I like to make the batch, then divide it into two and add a cup of cereal(bran or Weet-Bix, It is then similar to this Bran Rusks recipe) but now I have two types of rusks and only have to make one batch of dough. One can add some Flax or Sunflower seeds to make it a bit more healthy. (Other varieties: add raisins, aniseed or even chocolate chips.)

Another plus for this recipe is that no yeast and no kneading are required! Simply mix all the ingredients together and bake. We use our old “skottel” aka big tin bowl because we then don’t worry about getting messy, lol! These get baked in a cookie tray and are then cut into fingers whereas our Condensed Milk rusks are rolled into balls.

After baking, cut the rusks into finger-sized biscuits. Take it out of the cookie tray and pack it directly onto the rack of the oven. Turn the oven on a low setting(70-75’C) and “bake” it again about 5-6 hours(times depend on if it is a fan-forced or traditional oven) until the rusks are dry throughout(break one to test). Leave the door of your oven a tiny bit open to allow the heat to escape. You don’t want to overbake and burn it.

Enjoy South African buttermilk rusks with a cuppa at breakfast or as a snack at any time of the day!

Yield: 6 dozen

South African Buttermilk Rusks

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Traditional South African rusks are biscuit-like treats that get baked twice to harden. Perfect to dunk into a cup of tea or coffee. Similar to Italian biscotti.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Additional Time 6 minutes

Total Time 46 minutes

Ingredients

• 7-8 cups(1.5kg) self-raising flour(or 7-8 cups of plain flour with 8 teaspoons of baking powder)
• 2 cups(500g) sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon(5ml) salt
• 500g butter(softened)
• 2 cups(500ml) buttermilk or substitute for 2 cups (500ml) of milk PLUS 2 tablespoons of vinegar

Instructions

1. Add the flour to your bowl.
2. Mix the butter in with your fingers.
3. Add the rest of the dry ingredients.
4. Mix the eggs and buttermilk.
5. Add that to the dry ingredients and mix well. (The dough should be sticky but you can add more flour to make it easier to get into the trays.)
6. Flatten the dough onto your cookie trays.
7. Bake for 30 minutes at 180'C or until golden brown and baked throughout.
8. Let it cool slightly and cut into rusk fingers.
9. Place the rusks directly on the racks in your oven and bake again at 70 or 75'C for 5-6 hours until it is dry throughout. (leave your oven door open slightly)