Milk Rusk

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The ultimate twice-baked, crunchy tea-companion designed to soak up milk or chai; Milk Rusk is easy to make and super delicious.

This crowd pleaser recipe is mildly flavored and super customizable!

Prep Time1

Cook Time1 20

Proofing Time1

Total Time3 20

Course: Snack

Cuisine: Indian, world

Diet: Vegetarian

Servings: rusks

Calories: 58kcal

Author: Smruti

Ingredients

3 cups All Purpose Flour
1 cup Water
2¼ teaspoon Active dry Yeast
3 tablespoon Milk Powder
1 teaspoon Cardamom Seeds (optional)
1 teaspoon Powdered Cardamom (optional)
1 teaspoon Salt
3 teaspoon Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
3 tablespoon Unsalted Butter (room temperature)

Instructions

Making the bread

In a bowl add the water, 1 teaspoon sugar and salt. Mix well and warm it up till about 105-110 F.
1 cup Water, 1 teaspoon Salt
Then add the yeast, mix and rest covered in a warm place. The yeast will bloom in about 10 minutes.
2¼ teaspoon Active dry Yeast
In a mixing bowl or the base of the stand mixer add the flour, milk powder, remaining sugar and vanilla extract. Mix well.
3 cups All Purpose Flour , 3 tablespoon Milk Powder, 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract , 3 teaspoon Sugar
Then add unsalted butter, cardamom seeds, cardamom powder and bloomed yeast.
1 teaspoon Cardamom Seeds, 3 tablespoon Unsalted Butter , 1 teaspoon Powdered Cardamom
Mix and make a dough adding more warm water if required. Knead it till it is smooth. Then coat with oil or butter and rest covered for an hour in a warm place.
Meanwhile, line a 9 inch square pan with parchment paper or non-stick spray.
After an hour the dough should have doubled in size.
Knead again for 5-7 minutes and roll the dough to a square of 9 inches. Place the dough in the bread pan and cover it. Rest for another hour.
When the hour is almost up, preheat oven to 400 F/ 210 C. Once the loaf rises till the top of the pan, place it in the oven.
Bake for 15-18 minutes, till the top is golden. Then remove and cool for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Making the Rusk

Slice the bread into equal sized slices. I divided the bread into half to get two loaves of 4 ½ inches length. Then I sliced the loaves into ¼ inch slices.
Place the slices on a baking tray leaving some space between them.
Bake them in an oven preheated to 275 F. Make sure you turn them over every 7-10 minutes to ensure even baking and prevent burning. Continue for about 20 minutes.
Then raise the temperature to 300 F and bake for another 30 minutes, flipping twice in between.
Remove once the rusk are golden brown. Cool and transfer to an airtight jar.
Enjoy with some hot Masala Chai.

Notes

Adjust the sweetness: I have used a small amount of sugar to make the rusk slightly sweet. Adjust the sugar to make them more or less sweet. Moreover, omit the added sugar to make sugar-free rusk.

Change the add-ins: Add some crushed fennel seeds, saffron strands, nutmeg powder or cinnamon for a different flavor profile. Plus, some slivered almonds or tutti frutti give the rusk a different flavor.

Slice them even: Make sure all the bread slices are evenly sliced. That is key for them to bake evenly and together. Otherwise, bake the thin ones for lesser time and then remove them. Bake the thicker ones for some extra minutes.

Watch the rusk while they bake: The thinly sliced bread slices go from golden brown to black in a matter of seconds. So keep an eye while these toast.

Note: Nutrition values are my best estimates using an automated calculator. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.

Nutrition