Buttermilk Rusks (Karringmelk Beskuit)
These rich, tasty homemade buttermilk rusks (karringmelk beskuit) are easy to make and well worth the effort. Dunk them into coffee, tea, or even hot chocolate for a quick breakfast, or afternoon snack.
Servings50 rusks
Ingredients
- 1 kg self-raising flour
- 2 teaspoon table salt
- 2 teaspoon baking soda (bicarb/bread soda)
- 600 grams buttermilk
- 2 eggs (large)
- 330 grams white granulated sugar (caster or granulated)
- 250 grams butter
Instructions
- 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.1 kg self-raising flour, 2 teaspoon baking soda, 2 teaspoon table salt
- 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.250 grams butter, 330 grams white granulated sugar
- Whisk together the eggs and buttermilk.600 grams buttermilk, 2 eggs
- 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.
All temperatures stated are for conventional ovens. Decrease the temperature by 20°C/25°F or gas mark 1 for "fan" or air-fryers.
Notes
For fan-forced or fan-assisted ovens decrease the temperature by 20°C/25F.
This recipe makes approximately 40 to 50 rusks.
Buttermilk gives these rusks their flavour. If you don't have buttermilk on hand, fear not, you can make a buttermilk substitute for rusks by adding 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to one cup of milk and letting it stand for about 10 minutes. The milk will curdle and you have a buttermilk substitute. For this recipe in particular you will need 2 cups of milk and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice.
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. Just make sure to check that the centre of the rusks are baked during the first bake before moving on to the next step.
If the rusks are browning too quickly in the oven, cover them with foil for the rest of the bake.
Ingredients in this recipe are weighed out using a scale, teaspoons measurements are made using the standard 5ml measuring spoon.
These rusks can be kept at room temperature in an airtight container or biscuit tin for a month because the moisture has been driven off the biscuits.
TOP TIP - a food dehydrator is a great way to dry out rusks.
Nutrition
Serving: 1rusk | Calories: 145kcal | Carbohydrates: 23g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 5g | Sodium: 443mg