The piictured bread is given free to diners at the Bonefish Grill chain in my area. It looks like a small glossy golden presliced Ciabatta. But, oh my what a crust. The crust is thick, glassy and crystalline and easilly shatters when chewed. It continues to give a gloriously satisfying crunch when chewed and the crumb has a nice tooth feel as a bonus. Not only that, but it tastes good too. It is perfection. But I have no idea on how to make this at home.
I make Pan de Cristal and Ciabatta at home but the Cristal lacks a satisfying crumb and has a very thin crust while the Ciabatta has a good crumb but a drab often leathery crust. Neither approaches the overall delightful experience of the Bonefish Grill bread.
Does anyone know how to make this stellar bread? Or is there a hack to give Cristal or Ciabatta breads that beautiful thick, golden, crispy, crunchy, satisfying crust?
Any help will be appreciated. Thanks!
To Whom This May Concern,
Hope this email finds you well. While I haven't had the pleasure of dining at one of your restaurants a fellow bread enthusiast has and was curious about the bread they were served.Sorry, I have no recipe. But like your friend, i would like to find one. I wonder if combining an egg white wash and a starch wash might do the trick. Or perhaps adding some sugar to either or both of them together. I am hoping someone has some experience with this or another hack that could do the job. Help! I do not want to waste a bunch of ingredients in a fruitless search for that Bonefish Grill perfection.
Sincerely, Oneoldude
I've sent them an email on your behalf asking them for their recipe. I'll let you know what they say.
Thanks, Oneoldude
I made a no-knead bread once and my husband said it was just like the bread at Carrabas. Their bread is soft, not crispy though. I will say that you should look into the New Orleans Po-boy bread. I seem to recall that one of the more experienced bakers on here (might have been Abe or Txfarmer) did one and it had 10% rice flour and they said that was the ticket to getting the thin crispy crunch. It was my first time reading about that. You could also look into possibly a Vietnamese bahn mi bread?
I'll try to find that post and will post it here if I do so. It does sound, and look like, a ciabatta but with a thin crispy crust. There must be some way to do that. See my comment below... they ain't giving away their secrets.
This one?
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/23875/36-hours-sourdough-baguette-rice-flour-b%C3%A1nh-m%C3%AC-inspired
Hi Abe,
Thank you for taking the time to contact us. Our founders, along with our research and development department, have spent years to perfect our products and recipes. As you can imagine, this information is proprietary. Unfortunately, we are unable to share our recipes.
Thank you for your interest!
Sincerely,
Amanda
Guest Relations
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So i'm afraid it'll need to be trial and error on your part. Give it a go. Tweak recipes until you home in on something you like. They might not all be perfect but i'm sure they'll be delicious.
My husband recently requested a very crusty roll with a flattish shape that he remembered from childhood. I used this recipe:
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/crusty-european-style-hard-rolls-recipe
but shaped as katre pao (not the same shape you are looking for, but might give similar results):
https://vimeo.com/529329266
then baked 3 at a time in a big Dutch oven. They did turn out very crunchy as desired, although clearly darker than the rolls in your photo. Might be a good starting point.
Image
Do you have a photo of the crumb?
While the restaurant chooses not to share the recipe, we are assured there is nothing new under the sun.
The dough is likely enriched, and glazed. What are the ingredients and methods for enrichment and glazing of a savory bread?
Sorry no photo of crumb yet.