Egg-free buttermilk rusks (eierlose karringmelk beskuit)

South Africans love buttermilk rusks (karringmelk beskuit), and for good reason too: the buttermilk gives it a lovely flavour, and because you use self-raising flour, they are easy to make at home. You can also use milk, if you add lemon juice or vinegar.
There is only one downside to eating buttermilk rusks: you need to time your dunk perfectly, if you don’t want the bottom half of your rusk to break off and sink to the bottom of your cup. These egg-free buttermilk rusks are denser, and therefore less likely to come apart and splash into your coffee. (Jaco can vouch for this, he’s got a whole container of egg-free rusks at work.)
Makes 54 rusks.
Ingredients
- 300 gram butter
- 1½ cup (300 gram) sugar
- 450 ml buttermilk
or
430ml full cream milk, plus 2 tablespoons (30 ml) lemon juice or vinegar - ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) salt
- 1½ teaspoon (7.5 ml) cream of tartar
- 1125 gram self-raising flour
- Optional: 1 to 2 teaspoons (15 to 30 ml) anise seeds
Method
- Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
- Place butter in a bowl and add the sugar. Microwave until the butter has melted.
- Add buttermilk – or, if you’re using normal milk, add the milk and lemon juice, and let it stand for 10 minutes until the milk curdles.
- Add cream of tartar and salt, and stir well to dissolve.
- Add the self-raising flour, stir in, and knead lightly.
- Line a baking dish. A pan that measures 30 cm by 20 cm works well.
- Shape dough into 54 balls of about 40 g each, and pack them tightly into the dish (6 x 9 rows).
- Bake for about an hour, until done.
- Turn the oven down to 90°C.
- Tip the baked rusks onto a wire rack and let it cool down until you can handle it.
- Separate the rusks from each other. A fork is really useful for this.
- Place rusks on a baking tray. Return to the oven, and dry slowly at 90°C for about 8 hours.