Buttermilk Rusk Recipes

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

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 240°C.
• Sift the dry ingredients and stir til well mixed.
• Cut in butter - the mixture should resemble corn meal when done.
• Beat buttermilk and egg together and add to dry ingredients.
• Mix to a firm dough.
• Pinch off golf ball sized pieces of dough and press lightly into rectangular shape approx 2cm thick.
• Place close together in two greased loaf pans (30cm x36cm x 7cm) and brush the sides of each row of balls with oil so that the rusks will break apart easily after being baked.
• Brush with diluted milk.
• Bake at 240C for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 190C and bake for further 50 minutes.
• Turn out on cooling rack and break in two or three places so that the rusks will cool more quickly.
• When cool, break neatly into individual rusks and allow to dry out in a very low oven (120C).