Mosbolletjies (Rusks) by Lisa Visagie

This is one of those recipes that the baker has done for years and bakes the most delicious Mosbolletjies. It is an advanced Rusk-type recipe, but well worth while the effort.

To make this recipe, you need a potato yeast, which you will start making mid afternoon. Then you will make the dough in the next hour or two, and let it rise overnight. The next morning you put the dough into pans, let rise for about an hour, and then bake. Then you let it cool, break or cut the rusks and dry them in the oven overnight.

Potato Yeast
Use a big canning bottle with a lid. Nearly fill the bottle with lukewarm water and add 1 teaspoon dry yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar. Let stand for 5 minutes. Grate a medium potato into the bottle. Fill the bottle with lukewarm water if it is not full enough, but leave enough space to allow for foam to form. Screw the lid on and let stand in a warm area so that the potato can start fermenting, and foam forming on top. If the temperature is right, the foaming will start in about an hour and you will be able to start the kneading process. If it is too cold, it could take 2 hours for the yeast to be ready to use.

Rusks - enough for 3 bread pans.

5 pounds flour
2 1/2 cups sugar - more if you like your rusks sweeter
pinch salt
potato yeast
1/2 pound butter
1 - 2 tbsp anise seed

Add flour, sugar salt and anise seed in big bowl. Rub in the butter. Make a hole in the middle and pour the water part of the potato yeast to the dry ingredients. Leave all the potato and enough of the water to cover the potato in the bottle, screw on top and leave in fridge for next time.

Knead the dough until it is elastic. Add more lukewarm water if needed. Cover, put in a warm area until the morning. (I heat the oven at 250F for 2 minutes only - then I SWITCH THE OVEN OFF and then rise the dough in the oven).

Knead the dough down, make little balls with the dough and place them in the pans. Or just add the dough in the pan like a bread. Fill the pan 1/3 of the way up. Let the dough rise again in a warm area. (Same oven process as before).

When the dough rose to the top of the pan, bake them in preheated 350C oven for 45 minutes. When the rusks comes out of the oven, paint the tops with sugar water made with 1 tbsp sugar and 1/2 cup water, and let cool completely.

Now you can eat the mosbolletjies just like that, but I also like to break then apart - or cut them up in 1 x 1 inch fingers and dry them in a 175F oven overnight.