“Bread is the king of the table and all else is merely the court that surrounds the king. The countries are the soup, the meat, the vegetables, the salad… but bread is king.”
Louis Bromfield
Sara and Erica of Baking JDs were our March 2012 Daring Baker hostesses! Sara & Erica challenged us to make Dutch Crunch bread, a delicious sandwich bread with a unique, crunchy topping. Sara and Erica also challenged us to create a one of a kind sandwich with our bread!
Tiger bread (also sold as Dutch crunch in the USA, tijgerbrood or tijgerbol in Netherlands) is the commercial name for a loaf of bread which has a unique mottled crust. The bread is generally made with sesame oil and with a pattern baked into the top made by painting rice paste onto the surface prior to baking. The paste dries and cracks during the baking process. The rice paste crust also gives the bread a distinctive flavour. It has a crusty exterior, but is soft inside.
On 31 January 2012, the UK grocery chain Sainsbury’s renamed the product “giraffe bread” after a letter written by a three-year-old named Lily Robinson, suggesting the alternative name, went viral. Sainsbury’s stated that “In response to overwhelming customer feedback that our tiger bread has more resemblance to a giraffe, from today we will be changing our tiger bread to giraffe bread”.
Thank you Sara and Erica of Baking JDs for a breathtaking challenge. Thank you and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice for hosting this fab kitchen!! Do stop by here to see the other bakers prowl the jungle!
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Recipe: Dutch Crunch Bread / Tiger Bread / Tijgerbrood
Summary: Dutch Crunch bread, a delicious sandwich bread with a unique, crunchy topping. A visually delightful bread which is a common option at sandwich shops all over the Bay Area and is often one of the first breads to run out.
Servings: 10-20 sandwich rolls / buns
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 60 minutes {plus resting time}
Ingredients:
- Dutch Crunch Topping
- 2 tbsp active dry yeast
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ½ tsp salt
- 1½ cups rice flour
- Soft White Roll
- This recipe approximates the quintessential white sandwich roll found throughout the Bay Area. The recipe is simple, quick, and addictive. Should make 10-12 rolls.
- 1½ tablespoon active dry yeast
- ¼ + 1/8 cup warm water {it should feel between lukewarm and hot to the touch}
- 1 ½ cup warm milk {low fat}
- 2 ¼ tbsp sugar
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil {plus additional for greasing bowl during rising}
- 2¼ tsp salt
- 5 ½ cups {750gm} all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp vital gluten
Method:
- Dutch Crunch Topping
- Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and beat with a whisk; beat hard to combine. The consistency should be like stiff royal icing – spreadable, but not too runny. If you pull some up with your whisk, as shown below, it should drip off slowly. Add more water or rice flour as necessary. Let stand 15 minutes.
- Coat the top of each loaf or roll with a thick layer of topping. We tried coating it with a brush but it worked better just to use fingers or a spoon and kind of spread it around. You should err on the side of applying too much topping – a thin layer will not crack properly.
- You can place the rolls directly into the oven after applying the topping, or let them stand for 20 minutes.
- When baking, place pans on a rack in the center of the oven and bake your bread as you ordinarily would. The Dutch Cruch topping should crack and turn a nice golden-brown color.
- Soft White Rolls
- In the bowl of an electric mixer or large mixing bowl, combine yeast, water, milk and sugar. Stir to dissolve and let sit for about 5 minutes. {The mixture should start to bubble or foam a bit and smell yeasty}.
- Add in vegetable oil, salt and 2 cups of flour. Using the dough hook attachment or a wooden spoon, mix at medium speed until the dough comes together.
- Add remaining flour a quarter cup at time until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 4 minutes, until smooth and elastic. {Thermomix:Place all ingredients in TM bowl. Mix at speed 6 for 7-8 seconds, and then knead for 2-3 minutes}
- Place in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled.
- Once the dough has risen, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 10-12 equal portions {or 2 equal portions if you’d like to make a loaf}.
- Shape each into a ball or loaf and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet {try not to handle the dough too much at this point}.
- Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 15 minutes while you prepare the topping.
- Coat the top of each roll or loaf with the topping as described above. {While the original recipe recommends letting them stand for 20 minutes after applying the topping, I got equally good results by putting them directly into the oven, and by letting them stand for 20 minutes while the first batch baked}.
- Once you’ve applied the topping, bake in a preheated moderately hot 190°C for 25-30 minutes, until well browned. Let cool completely on a wire rack before eating.
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Wowo they look so perfect and super beautiful grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr you are activating the tiger in me 😉 I was too lazy to make them and now i wish I did them lazy or not.
This looks beautiful and delicious. But shouldn’t it be “Leopard Bread”, since it’s leopards that have spots and tigers that have stripes?
Those rolls look amazing! I really like their crust. Perfect for making burgers.
Cheers,
Rosa
This is such an interesting recipe, a new challenge for me, since I love baking with yeast and making all kinds of dough. These buns look beautiful!
I learn about soooooooooo many new bakes or dishes from your site; stuff I’ve never seen or heard of before. Seriously!
These giraffe / tiger breads look amazing.
*raising hand* can i write a letter saying they look like cheetah bread? haha! 😛
What nice Deeba!! this bread look amazing!!
Wow…the bread looks so amazing! I can’t take my eyes away from it. Love the tiger pattern and its colors, I know right away I have to make this. I’ve been making various kind of bread but never seen anything like this before! Thanks for sharing Deeba!
What a gorgeous bread whatever it’s called.
What a beautiful looking bread. Love those sandwiches!
Deeba these are such a treat to the eyes! The cracks are so neat and I can imagine how crunchy it would be.
wow!! These look amazing!! But I am never going to try it at home :-p The first ingredient, yeast, scared me off the recipe 😀
Awesome awesome bread though…
Hugs,
Smita
this is definitely a pretty looking bread!!
btw, I sent you an enquiry via mail!!
Really pretty pictures..
Beautifully done challenge Deeba!!! I have yet to make these and hope I could able to make these atleat this weekend….
what beautiful buns (sic) babe! look perfectly feline!
I sat by the oven waiting for mine to crack just like I wait for mac feet. Your bread is gorgeous! It looks like you achieved sandwich perfection.
Beautiful job as always! Your Dutch Crunch is truly stunning! 🙂
Eating with my eyes is the only option right now! Love that burger…I wish I could just drop by have it 🙂
Great job-love all the photos!
I had never heard of this bread! They look so gorgeous! They sound tasty too…
I love coming to your blog so I can feast my eyes on your beautiful photos. Great work as always. Best, Sandie
Your crunch topping looks great!
Love its tiger look but I don’t think we can find dutch crunch topping in Malaysia.
Can we change it to other kind of topping?
Spectacular bread with the neat crunches. It would have been a wholesome lunch to have. I love the broken crust, no wonder it’s called giraffe bread now.
Your pictures are just breathtaking, and you clearly mastered the challenge. Thanks for joining us this month!
I want to attempt this gorgeous bread in bun-form for sandwiches…but I wonder if you might tell me about the vital yeast ingredient? Is this something I could find in Europe (France)…I can find fresh and dry yeast…is this different? Thank you for any enlightenment. Your blog is so well crafted..and I enjoy each and every post you so generously share!
Hey there Donna, Thank you for your sweet words!!
Vital gluten in something I add to plain flour since we don’t get bread flour in India. I think you can just use bread flour instead which is available across Europe. Yeast has many different varieties. There is a post on The Kitchn that explains them – http://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-instant-a-54252
Your Dutch Crunch rolls look stunning and that sandwich sounds so fresh and delicious. As always, impressive and inspiring work, beautiful photos and a great post.
Wow, your bread is just beautiful…as are all the cucumbers and tomatoes. YuM!
Stunning rolls and stunning photos! Really well done!
Beautiful bread, and GORGEOUS pictures! I love the contrast between the animal print bread and that tomato salad. yum!
Oh… what can I say, Deeba… your Tiger bread is beyond words! When I was having a hard time trying to find a substitute for the rice flour I was unable to find in Korea, I saw your wonderful bread at the forum… so inspiring! You got such a perfect pattern, and perfectly browned as well. Bravo to you!
As always your pictures are breath taking
I love the bread but can’t get over how colorful and bright the salad is
you did a brilliant job on this challenge
I wonder how they developed that topping. It is so unusual. I have been a bread baker for 30 years and never came across anything like it. The bread looks marvelous!
What a good looking bread, it’s true that beautiful food tastes even better doesn’t it?
Wow! Your tiger bread is just perfect 🙂
Deeba these are just PERFECT.
Dear Deeba, your images are simply mouthwatering! The colours are stunning! And the recipe sounds so delicious ~ I’m definitely going to make this (I also have Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Bread Bible, but might not have tried this bread for a very long time until I saw your delicious images! How sweet that Sainsbury’s have decided to rename their Tiger bread to Giraffe bread after the little boy’s message 🙂 I agree, it looks more like a giraffe’s pattern!
Thanks again for your delicious inspiration and writing, Deeba!
Hugs from Montreal,
~ marie
I love that bread! I’ve never tried making it at home though. Will have to give it a try!
Wow, these look so pretty. I’m adding this recipe to my bread to bake list. This list is getting longer and longer and every time I cross out an item my waistline is getting bigger and bigger 😉
Your bread, by the way, looks incredible!
I made these yesterday and they turned out picture perfect! Thanks for sharing Deeba
How nice Rekha. Your email reminded me of maybe missing out on a really old mail you sent me. Did I not get back to you? My apologies, but I have been very occupied of late.
Hi Deeba
Made these and when the topping got browned- i took the buns out of the oven. However the buns were not fully baked in the center. Also the topping did not look as good as yours. Thinking that I might have gone wrong in some measurements etc, I tried them again today, and still no luck.
I wonder what i could be doing wrong?
Preet
Thank you for the recipe. Today I made these rolls and it was very delicious.
OMG i just looked up some dutch recipes and found this amazing and delightful post. THe pictures let melt the water in my mouth and let me think of just preparing some salad with this little bread or make some sandwiches/burgers like you did. Anyways i know i will fail, maybe you have to make me some of those Tijgerbrood, because im not master in baking xD Thanks for this post mate! PS. Your pictures are really good!