Pumpkin and Cinnamon rusks

I’m sitting here typing my thoughts on the day, surrounded by the aroma of rusks that are drying in the oven. And I’m so impressed with those rusks! Ouma is a great rusk baker and has a constant supply to dip in morning teas – and we love them! Ouma taught me to bake rusks when they visited us in Cyprus when Aimee was born and I’ve done made them a few times. Anyone who knows me well will know that I’m always looking for new, simple recipes to try out and I recently discovered some lovely rusk recipes in a South-African magazine called ‘Weg’. Today I attempted to make the Pumpkin and Cinnamon rusks as Ouma’s rusk supply has been devoured. The only diversion I took from the recipe was to use Butternut instead of Pumpkin. A most-delicious South African vegetable and close cousin to the pumpkin, butternut is sweeter and not as watery as pumpkin. Mmmmmm, its yummy!

The only ingredient we did not have in the house was instant yeast. I cooked the butternut and allowed it to cool while we watched an incredibly fascinating video on China with the children. This video was made by a very adventurous couple who have traveled to many places and gave us an awesome insight into life in China. It was jam-packed with information and they traveled to many far out villages using all the varieties of Chinese transport.

When the DVD was finished Diet, the children and I all took a walk to our local ‘shopping centre’. It’s a small little open-plan center with less than a dozen small shops and houses a Spar, a small supermarket. Spar is a bit more like shopping at Spinney’s in the Middle East or Alpha Mega in Cyprus, price wise. It sells almost exactly the same products as other stores, but stays open for longer hours and charges more for the convenience. We bought our instant yeast and an extra 1kg bag of flour, just in case we’d need it! It was around midday when we were walking, and it was actually very warm outdoors today. The walk must have been just over a kilometer in total and a great way to get outdoors and get some exercise.

I made the rusks just before lunch – when our day got really exciting! Uncle Gert and his son Gert popped in to see us. Gert is studying in Stellenbosch and is home for the Easter holiday and they were returning home after a 2 day motorcycle adventure through various nearby off-road moutain passes and ravines. It was really good to see them. Ethan asked Uncle Gert if he could ‘fit’ on his motorbike and he then took all the kids out and gave them a short, slow ride around the back yard. I wish you could have seen the smile on every one of their faces! Aimee especially beamed a huge grin - she was in her element! Uncle Gert was so very patient and took them all again for a 2nd round. Even Jed found it quite easy to mount the bike, only needing a little assistance to bend his one leg the correct way to get it across the saddle. Oh, man, they had so much fun!

The rusks had risen for just over an hour, and I then kneaded them again and let them to rise in the sun for another half an hour before putting them in the oven to cook. And they rose so nicely in the sun, and they rose even more in the oven, much to my delight! Working with yeast is not quite my forte, but this was a great result! The rusks are now drying (and tasted really delicious when cooked!), am I’m sure they’re going to be a great hit.

Here’s the recipe for my adventurous friends (you know who you are, LOL!):

PUMPKIN AND CINNAMON RUSKS

Ingredients:
1750ml cups of flour
pinch of salt
1pkt (10g) instant yeast
10ml fine cinnamon
300ml sugar
100ml lukewarm water
250ml melted butter
750ml pumpkin (cooked and puréed)

Sift together the dry ingredients.
Add the water and butter and mix.
Add the pumpkin and knead the mixture for 10 minutes.
Cover with clingwrap and let the mixture rise for 1 hour.
Knead the dough and then pinch off medium-sized balls of dough
Place the balls closely together in greased breadpans (two 33 x 11cm pans). Cover with clingwrap and leave to rise for 30minutes in a sunny place
Heat the oven to 180C  and bake the rusks for 50 – 60 minutes
Turn out the rusks and let them cool. Break into bigger pieces and dry out at 80C in the oven for a few hours. (If you don’t have an oven fan, remember to leave the oven door slightly open when drying the rusks)
ENJOY!!!!