Rusks in South Africa are component of the cultural identity – a person of the matters that exiles in a overseas land lengthy for. Young children are brought up on Rooibos tea (a herbal bush tea) and rusks. These are not the pallid soggy affairs that go for rusks in the United kingdom – Farleys rusks presented to teething infants and guaranteed to coat your overall home with a paste of gooey gloop. South African rusks are of a texture someplace between bread and cake, with added bits of raisin or nuts, baked difficult so that they have to be dunked in tea or else gnawed slowly but surely. They very last a extended time in an airtight tin, so are baked in huge batches but even so they never very last long in our dwelling.
As an Englishwoman married to a South African residing in London, I arrived across rusks on our visits to his loved ones and was promptly transformed. ‘Ouma’s Rusks’ are the famed ones that arrive in several kinds and we constantly arrived home with a couple packs in our suitcase. On a longer stop by in a cottage in Philadelphia, in the vicinity of Cape City, I found a recipe to bake my personal rusks, experimented with it and have been baking them every single two months pretty considerably at any time due to the fact.
When our son was a toddler waking at 5.30 each and every early morning, the only matter that produced the early morning bearable was the assumed of tea and rusks. Our son began off on them early and our couch grew to become a nest of cushions and crumbs. The first thing he ever assisted bake was rusks and I always experienced my tolerance tried, as the combine became the scene of excavations with diggers or a castle with a moat. The ladies also joined in when they were being aged sufficient, so for a time I experienced 3 youngsters all wrestling to get their fingers in the dough. Now the youngest is adept at creating balls the correct measurement and I have a band of handy helpers. So rusks have grow to be component of our spouse and children lifestyle much too, my small children may have missed out on the rooibos tea tradition – (I really like it, they detest it) but at the very least they had been brought up appropriately as regards rusks!
Several buddies in London have been smitten, requested for the recipe and commenced baking and it has due to the fact been dispersed as far afield as Pakistan and the United states.
The recipe:
South African Buttermilk Rusks
1.240kg / 2lb12oz flour (I use 1kg wholemeal and the relaxation white)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
2 teaspoons product of tartar
2 teaspoons of salt
250g / 9oz butter
½ cup raisins (optional)
2 eggs
1 ½ cups brown sugar
2 cups buttermilk
1 cup oil
(1 cup=250ml)
Preheat the oven to 190C/380F
Grease 3 loaf tins of base measurement 20cmx10cm / 8″x 4″ approx or any blend of deep baking dish that provides up to about the identical.
In a massive mixing bowl sift collectively the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cream of tartar and salt. Minimize the butter into small cubes and rub into the flour. Increase the raisins if you are working with them. You can experiment with a variety of nuts and seeds as very well, while the rusks are equally very good plain.
In another bowl blend alongside one another the buttermilk, sugar, eggs and oil and conquer right up until properly mixed. Stir liquid into dry substances and blend then knead to a firm dough.
Kind the dough into balls about the sizing of a ping-pong ball and pack them tightly in a single layer into the loaf tins. I generally get 6 rows of three into each of my tins. Bake for 45 minutes.
Transform out on to a rack and go away to interesting for 30 minutes just before breaking up into personal rusks together the joins of the balls. Dry in a small oven 100C/200F for 4-5 hrs right up until the centre is fully dry. These can be stored for ages in an airtight container.
Warning: crumbs certain on the sofa, in the bed, above the carpet and the motor vehicle seats!
Copyright 2006 Package Heathcock
