WHOLE WHEAT RUSKS WITH OIL

A very old recipe that I have adjusted, adapted, and modified numerous times, but it’s always a hit and a treat in our household.

Wet ingredients:
625 ml buttermilk or 625 ml regular milk with 10 ml white vinegar
1 cup canola oil (250 ml)
1 ½ – 2 cups sugar, to taste (300 – 400 ml)
Dry ingredients:
8 cups whole-wheat flour (1.12 kg)
18 teaspoons baking powder (90 ml)
1 ½ teaspoons salt, if you use salted seeds, use less salt (7.5 ml)
2 teaspoons baking soda (10 ml)
8 Wheatbix blocks, crushed between your hands to form crumbs
1 cup sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds or a mixture of any nuts you prefer (250 ml)

If you do not use buttermilk, mix the milk and vinegar and let it stand for 10 minutes.
Add the oil and sugar to the buttermilk and set aside.
Add the dry ingredients in a large bowl and blend until well mixed.
Make a well in the dry ingredients, add the wet mixture and mix thoroughly, until no flour or dry spots are visible. I use a spatula to mix and scrape the excess from the side of the bowl.
Should you wish to mix it by hand, you should put a little oil on your hands, otherwise it can become rather sticky.
Spray a pan with spray and cook, transfer the mixture to the pan and flatten the dough with your oily hands. Mark out the size of the rusks by cutting through the dough.

Note:
I have a rusk pan with a cutter, so this ensures that I always have evenly sized rusks (60 pieces per pan), but I have done it by hand for many years.
I spray the cutter with spray and cook and press through the dough before baking, never had any issues with it.
Bake for 18 – 20 minutes at 400ºF (200ºC), until it has a nice brown baked color or when inserting a baking pin to test for doneness, it should come out clean.
Remove the pan form the oven and leave it on the counter until cooled down.
Remove the rusks from the pan, place it on a cooling rack that’ll fit in a baking tray.
Dry the rusks overnight at 190ºF (85ºC) or until it’s properly dried out (± 5 – 6 hours).
Let the rusks cool down and store it in an airtight container or pack it in zip-lock bags and enjoy.

Notes:
When I bake this, I usually multiply the recipe 4 to 6 times on the same day to ensure that we have lots to go around.
I store the rusks in an airtight container, you will have lots of yummy rusks for a long time.
I usually do half of them with pumpkin and the other half with sunflower seeds.
Each 8-cup mixture fits into my rusk pan.
Yes the amount of baking powder is correct, I have tested it over and over and 90 ml works the best.
Buttermilk – You can make this the standard way or veganize it with vegan milk and vinegar, as you wish.
See vegan recipe on link:
https://yourrecipeblog.com/recipes/vegan-beskuit/

Recipe and photo: Esme Slabs