Monday, March 26, 2012

crackle buns

I don't know what I enjoyed more this month, the challenge, or the fact that I had an entire week off to play around with it. Love March break!


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!

I started out by making simple soft white buns using the recipe provided in the challenge, with the crackle on top. They turned out beautiful! Soft and fluffy inside with a crunchy exterior.


Soft White Roll
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
¼ cup warm water
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

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. For me, this usually required an additional 1 1/4 cups of flour, tops.

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.

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

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.

Using your fingers or a spoon, coat the top of each roll with a thick layer of topping. You should err on the side of applying too much topping – a thin layer will not crack properly.

Once you’ve applied the topping, bake in a preheated moderately hot 380ºF for 25-30 minutes, until well browned. The Dutch Cruch topping should crack and turn a nice golden-brown color. Let cool completely on a wire rack before eating. 


Our Daring Baker hostesses explained that Dutch Crunch bread is also called crackle, tiger or giraffe bread in some parts of the world. To me, the buns looked more like turtle shells than tigers or giraffe, and I have particular thing for turtles... so I did not make one of a kind sandwiches with it, but I did make one of a kind buns...


A little creative shaping, a little food coloring, food marker... and you've got turtle buns!


27 comments:

  1. Those turtles are too cute to handle! I bet you made someone very, very happy with those!

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  2. I really really like your clever idea to make them into turtles...so cute!

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  3. Oh, my gosh! I just love those little turtles! What a great idea to get your kids excited about bread. Dutch crunch bread is our favorite bread and I definitely am going to make this recipe. Your rolls are just beautiful.

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  4. Oh the turtles are so cute! I hope you don't mind, but I have linked this post from my place. These turtles are so cute that I had to share it with everyone!

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  5. That first picture is just beautiful! And those turtles... so cute! What a great idea :)

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  6. so cute. you've done a brilliant job.

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  7. Yours were defenetly one of the most interesting and original version of the dutch crust bread. Ana amazing contribution :D
    Congrats

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  8. Those turtle rolls are just too much! Amazing job.

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  9. Those turtle rolls are too adorable what a fabulous result and the first batch is excellent. Lovely work on this challenge. Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.

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  10. such a creative spin on a bread roll. love it!!

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  11. Great challenge :) Lovely turtle rolls :)

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  12. Those turtles are the absolute winners for this month's challenge. They are so cute, and SO clever. Amazing job on the challenge!!

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  13. This is too cute! What a great idea! Beautiful photos!

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  14. I absolutely adored the turtles! So impressed with your creativity!

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  15. You definitely win for cutest looking rolls - the plain rolls look great too. The turtle rolls are very creative - but I suppose it is pretty hard to shape a roll like a tiger.

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  16. Like so many others, I'm totally impressed with your creative turtles. Wonderful job with this challenge!!

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  17. Those turtles are so cute! And you were so creative! Your buns are stunning, so golden and beautifully patterned! You seem to have had so much fun! Bravo!

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  18. I love the turtles, I really can't wait to make them with the kids,
    your bread and photography are stunning

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  19. Not only are your turtles ADORABLE, but your original bread is among the prettiest I've seen. Nice work, and thanks for joining us this month!!

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  20. I've seen this recipe on a few blogs recently, but you certainly managed to bake the cutest!

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  21. The turtles are too cute! great work. Best, Sandie

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  22. Cute Overload!!! You did a wonderful job with the turtles.

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  23. This has gotta be the most creative of all the crackled rolls out there, very well done! The turtles look great and kudos to your creativity.

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  24. those turtles are freaking amazing! wowzers!

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  25. This reminds me of `tiger bread' that I used to pick up in my local supermarket - now I know that it's possible to actually make it home with the crunchy topping I am a happy baker!

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  26. Adorable turtles!! very creative!! :)

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