Tea Rusk

Everyone in our family loves rusk/tea rusk. The kids love to dunk it in their milk and we love it with our tea. As a result we can easily go through a newly opened packet in less than a week. The difficulty is that the closest store that sells these crackers is about 10 miles away and now along my daily routes. So, most of the times we are out of this at home and it becomes a rare treat. I had been thinking about making this at home and thought that it would be similar to making croutons at home. So, one evening I tried it and it worked beautifully. I would recommend using a French bread to get the store like effect. You can also use a baguette for smaller size crackers. Now I make this at least once a week and there is always a stock of low calorie crackers in the snack closet for anytime snacking. 

Ingredients
French bread loaf or baguette 

3-4 tbsp unsalted butter

2-3 tbsp sugar (optional), caster/fine if possible

Method

Remove the bread from its packaging and let it stay on your kitchen countertop or table for a few hours or a day. The purpose is to make it drier so that it is easy to slice. If possible keep it on a cooling rack for better air circulation. Then use a serrated knife and slice the bread into slices that are of about ½ to 3/4^th of an inch. Use a sawing motion to slice the bread, so that it doesn’t get squished.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan or the microwave. Use a brush and brush on the melted butter on both sides of the bread slice. If using sugar, sprinkle it lightly onto both sides. 

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Place a cooling rack on a cookie sheet. Then line up the bread slices on the rack. Place in the oven for about 15-20 mins till the toast starts to get a nice golden brown. Remove from oven and let it cool completely. Store in an airtight box.  

Tips
If using the microwave, heat the butter in a deep enough bowl, so it doesn’t boil over. Also, heat the butter in intervals of 10-20 seconds till the butter melts. You can line the cookie sheet with a silpat or parchment paper for easy cleanup. If using a baguette, the bread will brown in 12-15 mins.