Roosterkoek Recipe

This roosterkoek recipe will help you make an old-time South African favorite! Roosterkoek is bread that is cooked on an open grill. It typically has the appearance of a bun.

Ingredients

2.2 lbs (1 kg or 7¼ cups) Bread Flour
1 packet Instant Yeast
5 tsp (25 ml) Sugar
2 tsp (10 ml) Salt
1½ cups (375 ml) Water
1½ cups (375 ml) Milk
3 Tbsp (45 ml) Margarine or Butter

Method

Mix the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Heat the water, milk, and margarine until luke warm and add to the dry ingredients in the bowl* (see note below). Mix the contents of the bowl and kneed the mixture until it is smooth and elastic. This takes typically takes about 15 minutes. Cover the bowl with a cloth and let it stand in a warm spot where is will rise (grow in volume).

Periodically monitor the bread mixture in the bowl. As soon as it reached twice its original volume, kneed it back down. Then divide it into 8 to 10 balls, and flatten the balls. (You may also flatten the bread mixture to about ¾ - 1 inch thick and cut into 8 to 10 rectangles.) Sprinkle a little flour on the pieces of dough and allow them to rise again to about double volume.

Put the pieces of dough on a barbeque (braai) grill with medium heat. True South Africans use coals, not gas ;-) Turn the dough regularly until properly cooked and golden-brown on both sides.

Roosterkoek is especially delicious if eaten while still warm. Split them like a bun, and liberally spread margarine inside. Yummmyyy!

* Note: Go easy when adding the liquid. We tried this recipe and found the mixture to be quite wet & sticky. So we added flour to make it elastic, but not sticky. I'll update the liquid quantities here when we perfect the consistency.