Daring Bakers' March 2012 Challenge: Lions, Tigers, and Bears, Oh My!

Dutch Crunch Bread

Yield: 6 rolls

Ingredients:

For the soft white roll:

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

¼ cup warm water (No need to use a thermometer – it should feel between lukewarm and hot to the touch).

1 cup warm milk

1½ tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons vegetable oil (plus additional olive or vegetable oil for greasing bowl during rising)

1½ teaspoons salt

Up to 4 cups all purpose flour

For the dutch crunch topping:

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cups rice flour (white or brown; NOT sweet or glutinous rice flour) (increase by 1 cup or more for home-made rice flour)

Directions:

For the soft white rolls:

Preheat oven to 380ºF.

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. (It took about 1 and 1/4 cups of flour for me)

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 4 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Place in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled (or more) in size.

Once the dough has risen, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 6 equal portions (if you’d like to make rolls) or 2 equal portions (if you’d like to make a loaf) (using a sharp knife or a dough scraper works well). 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. Once you’ve applied the topping, bake for 25-30 minutes, until well browned. Let cool completely on a wire rack before eating.

For the 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, 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. A thin layer will not crack properly so don't be afraid to be generous with the topping. When baking, place pans on a rack in the center of the oven and bake your bread as you ordinarily would. The Dutch Crunch topping should crack and turn a nice golden-brown color.

Adapted from The Bread Bible and Baking Bites