Buttermilk Rusks from South Africa

The best way to wake up in the morning is if someone brings you a mug of coffee and a couple of buttermilk rusks.  And of course before you go to bed at night some hot chocolate or milo with a couple of buttermilk rusks.  If you are a tea drinker buttermilk rusks are great for dunking.

6 cups flour
250g margarine or butter
2 eggs beaten
6 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups buttermilk
1 cup sugar
2 pinches salt
Add the dry ingredients to a mixing bowl, add the butter and rub in with your fingers until it resembles bread crumbs.  Add the beaten eggs, mix it in then add the buttermilk a little at a time until you have a soft smooth dough.  Rather like a cookie dough.  Preheat your oven to 160 degrees Celsius.  Grease a large baking pan.

Roll the rusk dough into golf ball-sized balls and place them next to each other in the pan.  Let this rest for 15 minutes before putting in the oven.  Bake for an hour.  Take out the oven and loosen the rusks.  Cut them in half and spread the rusks out on the baking tray.  Put them back in the oven so they can dry out.  It would be on a low heat of 100 degrees Celsius for 2-3 hours.
You can add in some cornflakes, raisins or muesli to your dough if you want to give them some added texture.
Dunk in your tea or coffee for an authentic South African experience.
Cindy Vine is a South African currently living and working in Kyiv Ukraine.  She is the author of The Great Mountain to Mountain Safari, a travel diary about her drive from Kilimanjaro to Table Mountain at the foot of Africa and back again.  All her books are available on Amazon in both Kindle and paperback format.