Pecan nut and seed rusks (pekanneut en saad beskuit)

Pecan nuts add a little magic to what would otherwise be a basic seed-and-nut rusk. If you bake them carefully, they will reward you with a rich, nutty flavour, without any of the bitterness or dry, scorched texture that nuts pick up when they get too much heat.

But there is more: they are soft enough to eat as they are, without dunking, while also holding together well. This is not something we can say about many rusks. And did we mention these are the only health rusks Jaco (who is fussy) will eat willingly?

Ingredients

To pre-soak

  • 70 gram (½ cup) pumpkin seeds - soak for 8 hours
  • 40 gram (¼ cup) sesame seeds - soak for 8 hours
  • 70 gram (½ cup) sunflower seeds - soak for 2 hours

The rest of the nuts, seeds, and oats

  • 30 gram (3 tablespoons) linseeds, also known as flax seed, ground fine
  • about 220 gram pecan nuts. We use one 150 gram and one 75 gram packet of Woolworths Fresh Life pecans
  • 150 gram oat bran, or finely ground raw oats

Dry ingredients

  • 200 gram self-raising flour
  • 180 gram flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • ½ teaspoon salt

Wet ingredients

  • 180 gram butter
  • 180 to 200 gram (about 1 cup) soft brown sugar
  • 260 ml buttermilk, soured milk, yoghurt, vanilla yoghurt, cream, or a mixture of these. Add a little more if you need it
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • Optional: 60 gram sourdough discard

Method

  1. Soak the pumpkin and sesame seeds in cool, filtered water for 8 hours, and the sunflower seeds for 2 hours.
  2. Rinse the soaked seeds in a sieve under fresh water, and drain them well.
  3. Preheat your oven to 180°C, and line your pan with baking paper. We use a 32 x 22 cm (9" x 13") pan.
  4. Spread the oat bran or ground oats evenly on a large baking sheet, and roast for about 10 minutes, until golden brown. Allow it to cool.
  5. Grind the linseeds finely in a food processor. Chop the pecans in the same processor bowl.
  6. Melt the butter together with the brown sugar, and allow it to cool slightly.
  7. Whisk in the buttermilk or yoghurt, the egg, the vanilla, the baking soda, and the sourdough discard, if you are using it.
  8. Sieve the self-raising flour, flour, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt together into a large mixing bowl.
  9. Add the roasted oats, the chopped pecans, and all the seeds, and mix well.
  10. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and mix until just combined.
  11. Spoon the batter into the lined pan, and level it off.
  12. Bake for about an hour, until done. The internal temperature should be somewhere between 94°C and 98°C.
  13. Allow the block to rest for about 10 minutes, then lift it out, remove the baking paper, and let it cool to room temperature on a cooling rack.
  14. Once it is completely cold, cut it into thick slices on a board, and then cut the slices into fingers with a sharp knife.

Then dry them out, and enjoy them.

Notes

Drying. This step determines whether your rusks taste nutty or burnt, so go gently. Rusks dried in a hot oven end up somewhere closer to burnt toast than is wise. Marietjie is pragmatic about the temperature, while Jaco complains whenever the oven creeps above 60°C, but anywhere in that range will get you there eventually. A cooler oven simply takes longer. Start at the low end, leave them overnight, and give them more time rather than more heat.

Pre-soaking the seeds. Not everyone pre-soaks, but Marietjie does. Use filtered water. The three kinds of seed have different soaking times, so it is easiest to start the pumpkin and sesame seeds the night before, and add the sunflower seeds in the morning.

Your pan. A smaller pan gives you a deeper block and taller rusks, a larger one gives you a flatter block. In the end this determines how you cut them, and how many rusks you end up with.

Roasting the oats. Roasting is optional. We think it is worth the extra step, because it makes the finished rusks noticeably nuttier.

Sourdough discard. Entirely optional. If you leave it out and the mixture feels very dry by the time everything is combined, simply add a little extra buttermilk.