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!
In my long history of bread baking I had never made Dutch Crunch bread or rolls. I have eaten Dutch Crunch often enough to remember what it looks like with the famous crackled top, sort of like bread dough that morphed into ginger snaps. Because I needed to make a sandwich I went for rolls rather than a loaf of bread and because I needed a reliable roll recipe under the crunch topping I used my grandmother’s roll recipe. You can read that recipe here and read more about Grandma Carroll here.
Well, I should say I started to make my grandma’s roll recipe, but it became apparent that I was going to need to make a few substitutions. First, I normally cook with 1% or 2% milk, but Mom had come home with a gallon of skim milk by mistake last week and we are trying to use it up. Then, when I measured the corn oil I found that I only had 1/3 cup and I needed 2 Tbsp of that for the crunch topping. Second substitution — subtract 2 Tbsp oil from the dough and replace it with 2 Tbsp butter. Done. Third substitution: Grandma’s rolls are a rich, eggy dough and I wanted a little more wheat flavor in a sandwich bun, so instead of using 5 cups of unbleached flour I used 4 cups unbleached and 1 cup whole wheat. Four: we had several bargain-priced packets of Rapid Rise yeast that I wanted to use up: normally, I use loose active dry yeast that I buy in bulk. Since the yeast bubbled adequately in its warm water I knew it was fine: what I didn’t know is how long the roll dough would take to rise.
What I like about roll dough, as opposed to bread dough, is that it is light enough to knead by hand — I can just stand at the bread board and work. I had to add 2 Tbsp extra flour to the dough, probably because it was a rainy day. I learned from The Cheese Board Collective Works to add flour by the tablespoon when doughs are too sticky or wet to hold their shape. Sometimes it takes several tablespoons to fix wet dough but you don’t run the risk of getting dry, floury dough because you got impatient and dumped in half a cup at a time.
Just before I made up my dough I put an orange-marinated pork loin in the oven to roast. For the real recipe, visit Bewitching Kitchen. I used Sally’s marinade, but did not make the accompanying sauce. By the time I had kneaded the dough and corrected its stickiness it was time to look at the pork loin and think about side dishes. Mom wanted applesauce and thawed some and I saw an opportunity to use some cabbage. I heated a skillet over medium heat with a little olive oil and a half-Tablespoon of butter while I sliced cabbage. Since the pork loin was not done, I basted it with marinade and tossed some cauliflower and carrots in a little olive oil, adding them to the roasting pan and turned down the skillet to a low simmer to keep warm until I was ready to cook the cabbage. We usually eat lunch at noon, but noon had come and gone before anything was ready. By the time I sliced the meat and fried the cabbage and heated plates and microwaved the applesauce, it was nearly 12:30.
Lunch was ready just when the bread dough was ready for shaping, of course. Uh-oh. Hoping for the best, I punched it down for the third time so that I could eat my lunch while it was hot. I poured my tea and brought it back down to the kitchen. I cranked up the oven to 400 degrees and got out my dough cutter to divide the dough in half.
Perhaps because some people call Dutch Crunch “Tiger Bread” or perhaps because we still have a lot of oranges I got the idea to make half regular Dutch Crunch rolls and half orange Dutch Crunch. For the orange rolls, I zested one orange, added an extra Tablespoon of sugar to the dough and squeezed in 1 Tablespoon of fresh orange juice. I kneaded it just enough to incorporate these ingredients and let it sit while I shaped the regular Dutch Crunch rolls. I used half the recipe to make six large buns to use as sandwich rolls, which I placed as far apart as possible on a standard baking sheet that I had rubbed with a little butter.
Retrieving the orange dough, I shaped it into nine smaller buns.
Then I made the Dutch Crunch topping from a recipe provided by Daring Kitchen. The basic version called for
2 Tablespoons active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 and 1/2 cups rice flour (NOT sweet rice flour). Increase by a cup or more for homemade rice flour. I ended up using 1 cup sweet rice flour, 1/2 cup ground basmati rice and 1 and 1/2 cups ground brown rice.
When I pulled the rice flour out of the cupboard it was, of course, sweet rice flour! Undeterred, I measured 1 cup of it and then proceeded to check various containers for rice that I could throw in the blender to make instant rice flour. I used half a cup of white basmati rice and about a cup and a half of short-grain brown rice. What I learned is that the blender will make rice flour out of rice, brown or white, and probably black or red, too — there is no reason to buy any rice flour ever again.
So I whisked up the crunch topping, which looks like a thick, grainy paste, and let it sit for fifteen minutes as instructed, then used my hands to glop it onto the top of each roll, applying it liberally. By the time I had smeared it on all fifteen rolls it was time to bake them.
Silly me: I forgot that the orange crunch rolls would brown faster because of the extra sugar in the dough. Oops. I managed to get them out just in time after about twelve minutes. The regular Dutch Crunch rolls took another three minutes, probably because I made them larger.
Now I’m supposed to make a splendid sandwich. How about orange-roasted pork loin with arugula on Dutch crunch? I’ll spread the bun with a little peach chutney mixed with yogurt, but before I do that I’ll toast the bun in the toaster oven.
Food Notes: You should make this if you adore Dutch Crunch and you might as well grind your own rice, which takes less than a minute.
This is so far my favorite recipe! I love grainy breads AND orange roast pork loin? Sound delcious. Wish I lived close enough to come for lunch 🙂
I wish you did, too, Jane.
Thanks for the link to the Bewitching!
I love “tiger bread” and made it a couple of times in the past, it’s a lot of fun to see the surface develop during baking, isn’t it?
I should make it again in the near future, thanks for the reminder of a great recipe!
You are welcome, Sally. By the way, I mixed a little more oil into the orange marinade left from the pork and roasted some carrots and cauliflower in it. They were delicious (Mom said so).
Wow, I love the idea of adding in some orange to the bread. Sounds like you ended up with delicious results. Great job with the challenge!
Thank you, Erica. Now I’ll go visit you.
I’ve seen a couple of other posts on this crunch bread, and it sounds delicious!
Yes, that’s what happens at challenge time — we all write about the same thing. Since it is just the rice-yeast topping that creates the “crunch,” you can use any bread recipe you like to make it.
Nice work with the rice flour – it’s pretty amazing huh? Thanks for joining us this month!
Thank you, Sara. It’s called “seat of your pants” baking!
I just love how quick you can make substitutions when you’re baking, Sharyn. I hope some day when I grow up I can be half the baker you are! Crunchy topped homemade bread rolls and orange marinated pork tenderloin…sounds wonderful.
Thanks, Betsy. I come from a “make do” sort of family and I learned common substitutions when I was young: have you noticed that things you learned when you were younger stick in your head longer?
Absolutely! 🙂
Sharyn, You’ve made my day! Let me tell you why. My mother used to make a cheese stuffed/baked sandwich that we all loved. She used bakery purchased Dutch Crunch rolls, and for years we’ve found them very hard to find. Often the name is still attached, but they aren’t what we recall from twenty-five years ago. Your grandmother’s recipe sounds to me to be very much like the ones I remember. I can’t wait to try making them. I can’t wait to surprise my mom. I agree with Betsy about your substitutions! I don’t have that kind of flexibility in my baking! I also love the orange crunch rolls. Pardon the pun, but I am definitely going to be “on a roll” with these. I can’t wait…and I love your painting! Debra
Debra, I’m so glad this is useful to you — I hoped that someone would be looking for Dutch Crunch rolls. Will you tell me what your mother put in her famous sandwich? P.S. Since it was the Daring Baker’s challenge there should be recipes all over the internet for these right now: you might want to look at a few. Maybe you can tell from the photos whose look like the ones you want.
Great job on the challenge. I think it brings out the most creative ideas. Well done! I want to give your sandwich a try. Take Care, BAM
It was a good sandwich, BAM. It’s nice to be told what to make every once in a while.
Your patience never ceases to amaze me…. I love making bread. To be honest, baking is the only form of cooking I actually enjoy, but I avoid bread recipes that require kneading. For some reason, kneading makes me feel extremely impatient. It is not that I find it difficult. I exercise every day and my arms can perform the task without strain. I just hate it. Which brings up a question: Is there any cooking process that you do not enjoy and that you avoid? …Orange-roasted pork loin with arugula on Dutch crunch is something I would definitely order if I saw it on a menu!
I focus on the results desired when I knead, Granny — I know from experience that if I don’t knead the bread enough I won’t get the fine texture I desire. I try not to watch the clock. It made a difference to me when I learned to knead on a board (as opposed to in a bowl) where the board’s resistance does a lot of the work. I avoid deep-frying, having caught the stove on fire twice the last time I tried it. And I don’t do things involving pastry bags and piping or make crepes.
oh wow, that sandwich sounds amazing! Makes me feel like I’m ready for lunch already 😛
Thanks for stopping by. Can’t go wrong with a few good ingredients.
This sandwich and crunchy bread sound so delicious – Definitely a satisfying meal if there ever was one 😀
YUM!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Thank you, CCU.
I’d no idea that so many of the blogs I follow were participating in this challenge. Loved that you were able to find viable substitutions for ingredients that you were lacking. This is a new type of bread for me but it does sound good. And with that orange-roasted pork loin of yours, I bet it made one heckuva tasty sandwich. 🙂
Thanks, John. I guess “Substitute” should be my middle name (“Substitute me for you…”)
I’ve never heard of Dutch Crunch rolls before, it sounds like you did a marvellous job making them. And as ever your illustration captures your cooking delights.
Thanks for the link too, as I really enjoyed reading your post about your grandmother’s noodles, between you and john you will have me making pasta noodles before long!
Oh, my tricky grandmother, queen of chicken and noodles.
Heh, it’s so strange – 24 hours hours ago I’d never heard of Dutch Crunch topping and now I saw two places which did it. It sounds so cool – though you say that some call it tiger bread? I’ve heard of that before, so maybe I just know it as something different.
Sounds yummy 🙂
It’s the Daring Baker’s Challenge, Charles: we all agree to cook the same thing once a month and there is a reveal date.
yum yum yum Sharyn! We call it tiger bread here and I love it!! I love the idea of orange juice in it too. 🙂
You, too, can make tiger bread, Lauren — all you need is the rice topping: it works beautifully, although the weight of it deflates your bread slightly.
I can please have an orange-roasted pork loin sandwich right now? It sounds great with the Dutch crunch bread.
daisy
Yes, you may, Daisy, as there is still pork loin and Dutch crunch left.
I love the crackled top part of the bread, I friend of mine recently made these, so tasty! 😉
Thanks! I think the crackled part of the bread is the whole point to Dutch Crunch — you can do it to any bread you like (well, maybe not pizza, but you could crunchify calzones).
I saw Tiger Bread going on in another post.. This is a very cool recipe with that paste applied on top! I would just love your variations and perfect to make them into rolls that you can also freeze and take out when you want a yummy sandwich!
Freezing them is a good idea, Smidge. Usually when I make rolls I make small cloverleaf rolls and we just scarf them down, but these are substantial since they were meant for sandwiches. The cool thing is that you can apply the rice paste to any bread and get the crunchy, crackled top.
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It seems obvious enough about rice flour, I just never thought of it! Thanks!
I never thought of it either, Eva. The Daring Bakers’ instructions told me. Some people actually put the rice through a sieve after they grind it, but I saw no need for doing that for crunch topping.
Hi, just wanted you to know that I’ve nominated you for The Versatile Blogger Award. Please visit http://www.susartandfood.wordpress.com for more details. 🙂
Thank you, Susie. I just visited your post and thanked you there.
Playing with substitutions is great fun and thrifty, and I love the orange pork loin, that really does sound good.. c
We enjoyed the orange pork loin — what we didn’t eat for dinner and in sandwiches got turned into twice-cooked pork on Friday (Chinese stir-fry with cabbage, carrots and spring onions). Substitutions are a way of life around here and, as you say, they can be fun and thrifty.
Hi, first time visitor, and such a unique way to show your recipes, I love your gouache paintings.
Thank you for visiting Yvette. I’m glad you like the paintings — it’s more fun for me to do them than to take photographs.
I just love your artwork and blog! That is why I nominated you for a Versatile Blogger Award. Keep up the great work!
Thank you very much, Elizabeth. I shall have to do an award post soon.
I just love your artwork and blog. I see that you have been nominated before, but I too nominated you for a Versatile Blogger Award. Keep up the great work!
So sorry I missed this on challenge reveal day. Congrats on your award,it is very well deserved
This challenge was my first contract with this bread and I loved the experience
Thank you, Sawsan. I revealed it on the 28th, rather than the 27th since Wednesdays are one of my regular blogging days.