Sweet
Ouma-style buttermilk rusks
The very South African rusk — baked golden, torn apart, and dried low and slow until it's built for dunking. Ambassador Shimizu approved; arigato for the excuse to bake a batch.
A rusk is not a biscuit. It is a commitment — to tea, to dunking, and to never eating just one.
Method
- 01
Heat the oven to 180°C and grease a deep baking tin (about 30 × 23 cm).
- 02
Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together in a large bowl.
- 03
In a separate bowl, mix the melted butter, eggs, buttermilk and vanilla.
- 04
Pour the wet into the dry and mix to a thick, sticky dough — don't overwork it.
- 05
Press the dough evenly into the tin and bake for 40–45 minutes, until golden and a skewer comes out clean.
- 06
Cool slightly, turn out, and cut into fingers while still warm.
- 07
Arrange on wire racks and dry out at 90–100°C for 4–5 hours, turning once, until hard and dry all the way through.
- 08
Cool completely, store in an airtight tin, and dunk with abandon — in tea, coffee, or (thank you, Ambassador) a matcha latte.
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