South African Buttermilk Rusks: Twice-Baked Dunking Biscuits That Keep for Weeks

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan and line the base with parchment.

Serves 24

Ingredients

• 4 cups (500g) self-rising flour
• 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 cup (90g) rolled oats
• 1/2 cup (60g) bran flakes or wheat bran
• 1/2 cup (60g) chopped pecans or sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup (75g) raisins (optional)
• 1 cup (225g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 cup (240ml) buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan and line the base with parchment.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the self-rising flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, oats, bran and nuts. Stir in the raisins if using.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the melted butter, buttermilk, eggs and vanilla until smooth. Pour into the dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon just until a thick, slightly sticky dough forms. Do not overwork it.
4. Press the dough evenly into the pan with damp hands. Using a knife, score it into 4 strips lengthwise and 6 across to mark 24 bars.
5. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until deep golden on top and a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn out and cut along the score lines into bars.
6. Reduce the oven to 200°F (95°C). Arrange the bars on wire racks with space between them and return to the oven to dry out for 4 to 6 hours (or overnight at the lowest setting) until completely hard and dry all the way through.
7. Cool fully, then store in an airtight tin. They will keep crisp for 3 to 4 weeks, making them perfect to bake on a Sunday and grab all month.
8. Serve dunked in coffee, tea or a mug of warm milk. Kids love them dipped in milk on rushed school mornings, and a rusk in a lunchbox with a piece of fruit makes an easy mid-morning snack.
9. Beskuit are as South African as the braai: a hardy, twice-baked biscuit born of the Voortrekker era when Afrikaner families needed bread that would survive weeks on an ox wagon. Today nearly every home has a tin of rusks in the kitchen, and the ritual of dunking one into a mug of rooibos or coffee is how the day begins on farms from the Karoo to the Cape. Bran, oats and buttermilk give this version a wholesome crunch that turns soft and custardy the instant it hits hot milk.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 245 kcal
• Protein: 5g
• Fat: 11g
• Carbohydrates: 33g
• Fiber: 2g
• Sugar: 11g
• Sodium: 260mg