So often I hear people say, “I have a rusk every morning, but it is a health rusk.” This is a complete misnomer as a rusk can simply never be healthy. They are quite the opposite actually and should be viewed more like one would a cake or a biscuit. The reason for this is because despite the quality of the raw ingredients, by the time they have been baked in the oven combined with drying out (again in the oven) overnight what results is a foodstuff that is devoid of nutrients and is pro-inflammatory. Certainly neither quality contributes towards a state of wellness. Heating foods for an extended period of time is what makes them unhealthy. At the end of the day however a rusk will always be a part of South African culture. So if you are going to make some (always better homemade) then the goal is to maximise the fibre content as well as reduce the fat content as much as possible. Below is a recipe to demonstrate this principle.
Yield 30 x 30g rusks
Ingredients
1000ml (500g) Brown flour
400ml (70g) Wheat bran
100-125ml (90-110g) Sugar
5ml (5g) Salt
7tsp (17.5g) Baking powder
1tsp (2g) Dried Cinnamon *Optional
250g Margarine/ Butter
250ml (230g) Low fat Buttermilk
2 Large Eggs
1 cup (150g) Dried fruit e.g cranberries *Optional
Method
Sift the dry ingredients together (bran, flour, cinnamon, baking powder, salt). Add the remaining bran bits to the mix.
Melt the margarine/butter then add the buttermilk and sugar.
Beat the eggs. Add to the buttermilk mixture.
Blend all ingredients together until just mixed.
Grease a baking tray well and dust with flour.
Turn the mixture into the tray and spread evenly.
Bake at 180degrees Celsius for 60 minutes.
Once baked and cooled, slice into rusk size pieces.Place on baking trays and put back in the oven to dry out at 100degrees Celsius. This will take up to 6 hours or overnight.
Nutrition
Per Rusk =
100kcal
14.5g carbohydrate
8.5g sugar
2g protein
5g fat
2g fibre
Recipe Credit
Kerryn Wuth – private practising dietitian in Umhlanga and Ballito
