Biskwi Bourbon

The Biskwi Bourbon is crispy, crunchy, twice -baked sweet biscuit that makes a delicious teatime treat.

This biscuit bears no resemblance to the Bourbon Biscuit which is a sandwich style biscuit consisting of two oblong dark chocolate-flavoured biscuit with chocolate butter cream filling.

The Seychellois Biskwi Bourbon is a sweet enriched bread that has been sliced and allowed to crisp up, by twice-baking in the oven, turning it into a biscuit, similar to a milk rusk. The purpose of the second baking is to dehydrate the bread almost completely, making it crispy, and to give it its light brown colour. Etymologically speaking, biscuit means ‘twice cooked’, ‘bis’ means twice and ‘cuit’ is a French term for cooked.

Origin of Biskwi Bourbon

The biscuit may have been named after the former House of Bourbon of France and Spain or  after  ‘Île Bourbon’, now Réunion Island. Réunion Island was named Île Bourbon in 1649 and  1793 was renamed “Île de la Réunion” by a decree of the Convention Nationale (the elected revolutionary constituent assembly) with the fall of the House of Bourbon in France,

This biscuit originated from a need by the sailors and settlers in the early years to have food items that could keep for a long time specially when at sea. Its long shelf life was also ideal for island life because it provided an insurance against hunger in the absence of fresh provisions. It keeps for ages if stored in an airtight container.

Biskwi Bourbon is a type of Rusk

The biskwi bourbon is a type of rusk which is essentially a twice-baked sweet bread. In Seychelles, we have two types of rusks, the larou saret and the biskwi bourbon. Rusks, however, are very popular worldwide and come in many types, for example:

• Italian biscotti are confections typically flavoured with anise and almonds, though there are a world of other variations as well.
• Zwieback is a twice-baked crispy sweet bread made with egg and enjoyed throughout Europe.
• The Greeks have a version called paximadia, which is often made with barley flour and served with savory ingredients such as olives and feta.
• The Jewish mandelbrot cookie is a rusk as well. Like biscotti, mandelbrot is often made with almonds, but it can incorporate other flavours as well, including chocolate.
• South African rusks, Beskuit, are also similar to biscotti, though they tend to be less sweet.

How to best enjoy a biskwi bourbon

Every time I eat biskwi bourbon I have flash backs. As a young boy, I grew up on small islands where we had no fridge and we did not have the knowledge or the facility to bake our own bread.  I had this biscuit for breakfast almost every day and sometimes for afternoon tea as well.

The best way I enjoy the biscuit is to top it with butter or margarine (and in my younger days it was Blue Band margarine) and dunk it in tea, made with sweetened condensed milk. The dunking is done a for a very specific amount of time because, if you do it for for too long, the biscuit will become too soggy and it may end up inside your cup. You still need to savour the soft and moist texture on the outside and the crispiness on the inside. I also at times enjoy it with a homemade papaya jam .

Traditional way to bake the Biskwi Bourbon

Traditionally, before the advent of electricity and gas, all bread in Seychelles was baked in ovens that were made of clay or cement and were wood fired. The ovens were heated up first and when they had reached the correct temperature the embers and ash were swept out and the dough was inserted in and the bread was baked. The bread that was to be sliced for the biskwi bourbon was usually baked the day before and kept. It was sliced the next day and after all the bread for the day was baked, the slices were placed on baking trays and put in the warm oven, left overnight to dehydrate and removed the next morning,  resulting into crispy biscuits.

Prepare the Biskwi Bourbon

Prepare flour and milk

In a medium size bowl mix the salt and three tablespoons sugar to the flour and keep. In a small jug add lukewarm water to milk powder and stir to mix.

Bloom the yeast

Place about 75ml of the milk in another small bowl and add ½ tablespoon of  sugar and dissolve, then add the yeast and stir and allow to bloom, about 15-20 minutes.

Blooming is used to test the yeast, checking if it is alive, especially if the yeast has been stored for some time. Active yeast will start to  froth after about 10 minutes when place in a sugary liquid.  Blooming is also the process whereby active dry yeast is made ready to be used in a recipe.

Make the Dough

Make a well in the flour and add the activated yeast mix and 50g of the melted butter and incorporate well, add the remaining lukewarm milk and mix. Use a wooden spoon to stir until combined and then use your hands to bring the dough together in the bowl.

Remove dough from the bowl and place of a floured working top and knead with your hand for about 7 minutes until smooth and elastic. Sprinkle with some more flour if you feel that the dough is still sticky. You require a very soft dough.

Coat dough with some oil and place on a bowl, cover with a damp cloth or cling film and let the dough rise for 1 hour in a warm draught-free place or untill it doubles in size.

Prepare oven and baking dish

Preheat your oven temp to 180°c

Brush a baking tin of about with the melted butter to lightly grease.

Knock back dough and transfer in Baking Tin

After the dough has risen and doubled in size, keep it in the bowl and punch it to release the air.

Add the remaining 25g of melted butter and incorporate  with your fingers. This will feel a bit messy but persevere and all the butter will be absorbed into the dough giving you a soft silky dough.

Place the dough on a working top and knead for about one minute. Shape it like a log to fit the baking tin. Gently lift dough and transfer it in the middle of the greased baking tin and even out and straighten the edges. Cover with a moist cloth and let rise in a warm place for about an hour or until it has doubled in size. Take care not to prove your dough too fast as the top of the loaf may collapse during baking.

Bake Dough

Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 30 minutes.

Take the tin out of the oven and turn the loaf immediately onto a wire rack and allow to cool. If left in the pan, the loaf will sweat and the crust will become soft. Allow to cool completely.

Slice bread and bake

Carefully slice the dough into ¾ cm thick slices, bearing in mind that the bread will be quite crumbly. Lay the slices flat on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake in an oven 180°c for 15-20 minutes until well browned and crisp. Keep and eye on the slices because some oven may heat at different rate.

Remove tray from oven and turn the slices over and bake again for another 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. The biscuit will be crispy when cooled completely.

Top with butter and dunk into your tea, or store in an airtight container.

Here is the recipe for Biskwi Bourbon

Did you make this recipe?

I hope you will enjoy cooking this dish. Please let me know how it turned out for you. If you have a different version of the recipe or have related questions, please leave your comments below.

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