Rusks

Rusks by Haley Watson

Rusks are dry and hard pieces of bread. Rusks are basically double-baked bread dough. They are a traditional African breakfast meal or snack. Rusks are usually dunked in tea or coffee before being eaten. South Africans have been making rusks since the late 1690s, drying them as a method of preserving bread. The use of rusks continued through the Great Trek and the Boer Wars. In the United States, we refer to rusks as biscotti.

Rusks are made by round balls of dough being closely packed in pans and baked like bread, and after chunks are broken off and slowly baked again for a drier texture. Most rusks are made from sourdough, but some variations use other ingredients such as baking powder, buttermilk, condensed milk, and whole wheat.