One thing that sets Japanese panko apart from its Western counterparts is the fact that the crusts of the bread are removed to make pure white breadcrumbs from the fluffiest parts of the bread. This is one of the reasons panko creates such an ethereally crisp crust. The problem, of course, is that you're left with the crusts to contend with. I hate wasting food, so I've found a few ways to use them up. Croutons and bread pudding are a few tasty uses, but my favorite method of using crusts is to make rusk.
Rusk is one of those obscure European foods that the Japanese have picked up and turned into an entire genre of confections. I imagine it started here as a way to reduce food waste, but today some bakeries are better known for their rusk than they are for their bread.
The concept is simple, take almost any cake, pastry, or bread. Saturate it with butter, and then apply a liberal dusting of sugar before baking it until the bread is crisp and the sugar juuuust starts to caramelize.
My trick for next-level Japanese rusk is to use cultured butter. Cultured in this context just means the cream has been fermented before being churned. The result is a butter with a high concentration of diacetyl, the compound responsible for giving butter and cheese its distinctive taste. Put another way; this makes my rusk taste like a decadent cheesecake with a crisp texture that melts away in your mouth.
Units
Ingredients
- 150 grams sandwich bread crusts
- 3 tablespoons cultured unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons evaporated cane sugar
Instructions
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Put 3 tablespoons cultured unsalted butterin a large glass bowl and microwave at 500 watts for 1 minute or until the butter is mostly melted. Whisk it together to emulsify the butter.
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Add 150 grams sandwich bread crusts into the melted butter and toss with your hands to soak an even coating of butter into the surface of each piece.
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Sprinkle 2 tablespoons evaporated cane sugar onto the buttered bread crusts in several additions, tossing with your hands in between each addition (you’re allowed to snack on one at this point).
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Lay the buttered and sugared bread onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and place it on the middle rack in the oven.
- Set the oven to 300°F (150°C) and bake the rusk for 15 minutes.
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Flip the bread over and continue baking until the bread is crisp (no moisture remaining), about 15 more minutes.
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Allow the rusk to cool on a wire rack, store it in a sealed container or zipper bag, and snack accordingly.
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