The sweeter, denser rusk is cut by hand and dried overnight in Paarl, and ships in 500 g, 1 kg and 5 kg packs across South Africa.
PAARL, South Africa – Rusk, the Paarl bakery known for its home-style buttermilk and muesli rusks, has added condensed milk rusks to its range. The new rusk is aimed at households who remember the homemade version from the Boland kitchens of their childhood, and at guesthouses and farm stalls that want a sweeter rusk for the counter.
Condensed milk rusks have long been a family recipe in the Western Cape, usually made from a tin of condensed milk, buttermilk and self-raising flour. Rusk keeps the buttermilk base used across its range and works the condensed milk into the dough, with no sugar added on top of what the condensed milk brings. It bakes up denser than a classic buttermilk rusk, with a deeper gold crust and a caramel note that comes through in hot tea.
The dough is pressed into deep loaf tins instead of being rolled into balls. The loaves bake a little cooler than the buttermilk ones because condensed milk browns faster, then cool before being cut by hand into fingers about 2.5 cm thick, which hold together better in the mug and in a courier box. The trays then dry overnight at about 90 °C.
“People told us for years that shop rusks never taste like the ones their gran made with a tin of condensed milk, so we kept adjusting the recipe until customers who grew up on the homemade ones stopped asking what was missing,” said the bakery’s founder. “The one thing we tell everyone is to dunk them for two or three seconds and no longer. They soften quicker than a buttermilk rusk, and after that you are fishing in the tea with a spoon.”
Keep opened bags sealed or in an airtight tin. Sweeter rusks pick up moisture faster at the coast.
The 500 g bag holds about 16 to 18 fingers and is on the shelf at Rusk’s stockists from Paarl to Somerset West and Durbanville. The 1 kg family bag suits busy homes and small offices. The 5 kg bulk carton packs five 1 kg inner bags for guesthouses and resellers, priced on request through the company’s wholesale team. The rusks contain wheat, milk and egg, and because they are baked alongside nut products they are not suitable for people with nut allergies. Orders ship by courier from Paarl to anywhere in South Africa.
About Rusk
Rusk is a Paarl bakery founded in 2009 that makes home-style buttermilk and muesli rusks for homes, offices, guesthouses and gift buyers. It supplies stockists in Paarl, Wellington, Franschhoek, Stellenbosch, Somerset West and Durbanville and delivers nationwide, with wholesale, hospitality, hamper and fundraiser orders handled from its Western Cape base. It is part of the same South African trade network as equipment supplier am.co.za. Rusk is operated by Astros Marketing (Pty) Ltd, 2 Makro Place, Sunnyrock 1401.
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Author: Poppy PA from Astros Marketing (Pty) Ltd on behalf of Rusk.
Read More: Rusk Adds Condensed Milk Rusks to Its Paarl-Baked Range.
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