The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Latest Bake: Dutch Crunch

dvuong's picture
dvuong

Latest Bake: Dutch Crunch

Here is a picture of my latest bake - Dutch Crunch. I followed Peter Reinhart's forumla for Vienna Bread and applied the dutch crunch topping as suggested in BBA. 

I grew up eating Dutch Crunch bread so I was really excited to have found a forumla for this type of bread.  It was by far, hands down, the best dutch crunch I've ever tasted.  It had a slight sweetness and chewiness, while still crunch from the topping.  It made the most delicious sandwiches!

 

arlo's picture
arlo

Very nicely done. I have yet to make dutch crunch bread, but I really should. We have customers coming into the bakery in the early mornings at least a few times a month asking if we make dutch crunch.

I suppose I should see what it is all about!

Yippee's picture
Yippee

That gives me real incentives to try it!

Is there anything in particular that we need to pay attention to when mixing/applying the paste and during baking, like temperature, etc? Thanks for sharing!

Yippee

dvuong's picture
dvuong

Hi Arlo and Yippee,


Thanks for the compliment.  I would definitely recommend tryin this recipe!  I would definitely recommend anyone to try it.

Yippee, the time that you apply the topping determines how dramatic the cracking of the crust is.  I made my topping/crust during bench rest and just applied it with a pastry brush in thick layers as I began the final proof, right after shaping.  Some people have applied it right before it goes into the oven.  It just depends on how you would like your loaves to look. 

breadsong's picture
breadsong

Hello dvuong,
Your dutch crunch breads are really beautiful.
Lovely photos - thanks for posting.
from breadsong

 

JustinB's picture
JustinB

Nice cheetah print! Dutch crunch is yummy :) For my dutch crunch I use:

100% rice flour/water

25% EVOO

5% yeast

10% salt/sugar

 

I usually throw in a little more salt just cause it makes it taste amazing.

GSnyde's picture
GSnyde

I baked up a batch of the Vienna Bread rolls with Dutch Crunch today.  How could it be that nobody ever told me how perfect these are for sandwich rolls?!

Thanks for the post.

Glenn

Dobeda's picture
Dobeda

Can you please post the recipe for the vienna bread?

breadmantalking's picture
breadmantalking

I have used my variation of Peter Reinhart's Vienna Bread on my blog, all properly attributed if anyone is interested. It can be found at:  http://breadmantalking.blogspot.com/2011/02/back-to-source-sort-ofvienna-bread.html

I used it to make loaves of bread but it can easily be converted to rolls. Enjoy!! BTW, the book, The Bread Baker's Apprentice,  is truly excellent and anyone serious about bread baking should own it.

David at: www.breadmantalking.blogspot.com

ehanner's picture
ehanner

Your bread is beautiful! As Glen said above, I can't believe I haven't tried this before. What a nice post. I'll try Dutch Crust on my next batch of Italian/Vienna.

Eric

ehanner's picture
ehanner

Having now read PR's Vienna bread recipe and the note on Dutch crunch, I wonder if the added malt in the bread is necessary. He says the malt helps the crust brown up earlier, which it would. But, if you plan to brush a paste over the dough anyway, I wonder if it matters? Anyone have a thought about this?

Eric

GSnyde's picture
GSnyde

Barley malt also provides food for the yeast, which should enhance fermentation, and helps caramelization on the parts of the surface not covered with Dutch Crunch paste.  That said, I don't think it would make a big difference to leave it out.

Glenn

BellesAZ's picture
BellesAZ

A great bread and PR's formula is brilliant.. I've made it several times and love it.  My Mom used to use Cream of Rice cereal - back in the 60's, buying Rice Flour was difficult at best.  She used it on all kinds of breads, including white, sandwich breads.  We loved it as kids!

 

Amori's picture
Amori

Pictures dvuong =-)

Same here, as kids we used to pick the 'crunchies' from tigerbreads before biting into them. Lucca's still uses sesame oil and caramel in their paste, so yummy!

BellesAZ's picture
BellesAZ

Sesame oil would definitely add some nice flavor!

My Mother used to say, "It was Fancy Bread".. I'm not sure why, but looking at the pictures, I can imagine she'd think that.

dvuong's picture
dvuong

I haven't tried it with sesame oil but have tons of it at home!  I'm gonna make another batch of dutch crunch this weekend and will try it with sesame oil.  I'll report back to you.  :) 

ehanner's picture
ehanner

From my experience with baking with sesame oil in Italian breads, I would start with a very small amount. It tends to be over powering.

Actually when I was sniffing the aroma of this Vienna bread I was thinking that sesame seeds would taste and smell good on it also. I'm sure they would stick well on the Dutch Crunch paste too.

Eric

BellesAZ's picture
BellesAZ

A little goes a long way.  I love it, but it can overpower.

My Dutch Crunch came out with a superb flavor yesterday.. however, I wasn't happy with the crunch part.  It was nice and crunchy, but didn't crackle as dramatically as I would have liked.  I followed Reinhart's formula and his recipe for the crunch.  I mean.. they came out wonderful - we devoured nearly a whole loaf last night and I finished it off with toast this morning, but the crunch wasn't stunning to look at.  My husband said it didn't matter.. it is, one of his favorite breads thus far.  I pasted it on just after shaping before the final rise.  My saran wrap pulled off some of the paste, so I put a bit more on.. but did not do that with the sandwich rolls and they too were not as crackly looking.  In any event, the bread was fabulous.

Amori's picture
Amori

 

BellesAZ

Re: Sesame oil, when heated higher than 160F, the flavor fades quite a bit. There's a great cookie recipe that uses Lyle's syrup, 2Tb  of sesame oil for 1 1/2 C of flour; so in this recipe it should be fine.

Organic Tahini is my all time favorite for the crunch...1 ts of the oil from the surface and 1 ts of the actual paste,  Ochva brand to be precise..

This picture is from last year's BBA challenge #39 , most followed the recipe to the ' T ' :

I've made it several times since then, [on pain de mie is also great].

I have found that the topping recipe is way too much for the recipe so I often make half with farina instead, tahini, caramel and warm water [left] and the other half with rice flour [right]...

For buns, I proof the 4.2 oz shaped rolls for 20 minutes, brush the coating, proof again for 30 minutes then bake them at 375F convection oven [with steam pan] until tops are brown. About 16 minutes.

Crunch....No fries required:

BellesAZ's picture
BellesAZ

I'm so inspired by your photo's.  They are just gorgeous.  Can I come to your house for burgers?  LOL 

Did you add the tahini and the oil to the PR recipe in the BBA or did you substitute some things.  I like that you used the tahini.. that's very smart.  When I was thinking of sesame oil, I was thinking of straight sesame from a bottle - used in asian salads, dishes, etc.  It has an incredibly strong sesame flavor, which I just love, but I wasn't aware of the temperature/taste correlation.  Thanks for that!

I will say, this Vienna from the BBA is really a long lasting loaf.  We had toast again this morning on Day Three.  It seriously holds up well to the rigors of sitting in a bag and resting on my counter!  It's time to make more. 

It is a great loaf.. beautiful buns.  Looks like nice herb mayo too.. double yum.

Amori's picture
Amori

BellesAZ,

I haven't played with the bread part YET lol [love it too much]. The Mottled part has same amount of yeast, sugar, salt, no bread flour, one drop of caramel, one ts of tahini paste, 1 ts tahini oil, instant farina or rice flour and warm water to achieve a fluffy peanut butter consistency.  

You're very welcome to come over and try our Mushroom Swiss hamburgers on this buns.

Thanks dvuong for a wonderful inspiration,

Amori 

dvuong's picture
dvuong

Wow! Who would have known that my posting would inspire so many people to bake Vienna bread! This is exciting! :)

GSnyde's picture
GSnyde

Dvuong--  Your post started a frenzy of crunch baking.  I guess everyone was hungry for a new sandwich bread.

Thanks, again.

Glenn