Africa → South Africa → Western Cape
🥔 SIDE
Roosterkoek (South African Braai Grill Bread)
Soft balls of simple yeast dough baked right on the braai grid over the coals until crusty and hollow-sounding, split hot and spread with butter and apricot jam.
South African · easy · serves 6
prep 20 min · cook 20 min · plus 1 h 15 min hands-off time
~486 cal · 8g protein · 82g carbs · 13g fat · 3g fiber · 15g sugars · 6g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Roosterkoek means grid cake in Afrikaans, the rooster being the grill grid of a braai. It is plain bread dough, flour, yeast, salt, a little sugar and oil, left to rise, pulled into rolls and baked directly on the grid over the coals, turned now and then until the outside is crusty and marked with brown spots and the rolls sound hollow when tapped.
It is the traditional bread of the South African braai, the outdoor wood or charcoal fire at the centre of weekend and holiday gatherings. The rolls usually go on once the meat is nearly done and the coals have burned down to a steady heat, so they come off hot just as everything is served.
The ritual is to break one open straight off the fire and spread it with butter, which melts into the steaming crumb, and then apricot jam or fig preserve, or grated cheddar, or a slice of the steak from the braai.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
- 4 cups (500 g) plain (cake) flour, plus a little for shaping
- 1 sachet (10 g) instant dried yeast
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil
- about 1 1/3 cups (325 ml) lukewarm water
- 4 tbsp butter, to serve
- 1/2 cup apricot jam, to serve
Instructions
- 1Mix the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add the oil and most of the water and mix by hand, adding the rest of the water as needed, until the dough comes together without dry flour.
- 2Knead on a lightly floured surface for about 8 to 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Return to the bowl, cover and leave in a warm place for about 1 hour until doubled.
- 3Knock the dough back and divide it into 12 pieces. Shape each into a ball and flatten it slightly to about 3 cm (1 1/4 inches) thick. Set on a floured tray, cover and leave to rise for 15 minutes.
- 4Place the rolls on a lightly oiled braai grid over medium coals, the kind you can hold your hand above for 6 to 7 seconds. Grill for 15 to 20 minutes, turning often, until browned in spots, firm and hollow-sounding when tapped.✎ Chef’s noteCoals that are too hot burn the outside before the middle is done, while a fire that is too weak lets the soft dough sag into the grid. Indoors, cook them in a dry, heavy griddle pan over medium-low heat for the same time.
- 5Break one open to check the crumb is cooked, then serve hot, split and spread with butter and apricot jam.
South African braai tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Western Cape. The province is a wine and wheat region on a Mediterranean climate: wet winters, dry summers, vines through the Boland valleys and a cold Atlantic on the other side bringing snoek and crayfish. The braai is a social form more than a technique, an open fire that is a reason to gather rather than a fast way to cook.
🗺️
South Africa. Cape Malay cooking came from people enslaved and exiled to the Cape from the Indonesian archipelago, India and Sri Lanka under Dutch rule, and it brought cinnamon, cumin and dried fruit into a European framework. Bobotie is where the argument sits: Cape Malay and Dutch parentage are both defensible and neither has been settled.
🌍
Africa. Much of what reads as timeless African cooking is younger than the Atlantic crossings. Maize, cassava, groundnut, chilli and tomato all arrived from the Americas after 1500 and pushed older crops aside; millet, sorghum, teff, yam and fonio are the ones that were already here, and the map still shows the join.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from South Africa
Chakalaka & PapA punchy curried vegetable-and-bean relish beside smooth white maize porridge, braai-day essentials.
Bunny ChowA hollowed half-loaf of bread filled with fiery Durban curry, the ultimate hand-held street meal.
BobotieCurried spiced mince baked under a golden savory custard, sweet with dried fruit and fragrant with bay, South Africa’s national comfort.
Browse all South Africa recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Grill or barbecue.
Storing it: Best straight off the heat. Leftovers keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated and reheat well in a hot oven rather than the microwave.
Make it a South Africa meal
Rooibos Iced TeaDrink
Malva PuddingDessert
Similar dishes from around the world
Blitva (Dalmatian Swiss Chard and Potatoes)Croatia
Marineeritud Kõrvits (Estonian Sweet Pickled Pumpkin)Estonia
Patates Lemonates (Greek Lemon Roast Potatoes)Greece
Chirmol (Guatemalan Charred Tomato and Mint Salsa)Guatemala
Batatas a Murro (Portuguese Punched Potatoes)Portugal
Guineítos en Escabeche (Puerto Rican Pickled Green Bananas)Puerto Rico
Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Roosterkoek (South African Braai Grill Bread)?
Soft balls of simple yeast dough baked right on the braai grid over the coals until crusty and hollow-sounding, split hot and spread with butter and apricot jam.
Where does Roosterkoek (South African Braai Grill Bread) come from?
Roosterkoek (South African Braai Grill Bread) is a South African dish from Western Cape, South Africa.
Can Roosterkoek (South African Braai Grill Bread) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Roosterkoek (South African Braai Grill Bread) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Roosterkoek (South African Braai Grill Bread) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Roosterkoek (South African Braai Grill Bread) take to make?
About 1 h 55 min in all: 20 minutes prep and 20 minutes cooking, plus 1 h 15 min of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 6.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.