March 2012 Daring Bakers' Challenge - Potato and Rosemary Crackle or Dutch-Crunch Bread

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!

Recipe Source: The recipe for the Dutch Crunch topping came from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Bread Bible. The recipes for the breads we’ve suggested came from The Bread Bible and an adaptation of a recipe found on bakingbites.com


I decided to make my own variation so it would be egg free. The recipe below makes a 35cm x 25 cm tray. That's a lot of bread. The dutch crunch directions are straight from Sara and Erica.

I created a lot of sandwiches etc with the bread, I was a slacker with the photos though.
My favorite dish that I will recreate was made with the last of the bread. I buttered the bread well and fried it. Once it was beautifully golden I took it out of the pan and cut it into quarters.
then I whipped up 3 eggs with a tablespoon of cream, finely chopped parsley and dill and 1/4 cup diced smoked salmon.
Back into the pan with the bread and and then I poured the egg mixture around the bread. when it had set on the bottom I flipped the whole lot over and cooked the other side. It was amazing with a little sour cream drizzled over the top.

Potato and Rosemary Dutch Crunch Bread

Preparation Time: 30 minutes + 3 rises of approximately 1 hour

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup water from the potatoes or 3/4 cup of milk
•  1 cupcooked potato
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter or oil
• 3 cups plus 1 cups plain flour
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh  rosemary or 1 tablespoon dried rosemary.
• 1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry or instant yeast (not rapid rise)
• 1 teaspoon salt

Preparation:

·       Peel and cut the potatoes into 2 cm cubes and boil until soft.

·       While the potatoes are still hot add the sugar, potato water or milk and butter, and mix by hand.allow to cool to lukewarm.

·       In a separate bowl mix 3 cups of the flour, yeast, and salt and combine with potato mixture and mix well. Cover and set in a warm place until it has doubled about 1 – 1 ½ hours.

·       Add remaining 1 cup flour and, using the dough-hook attachment, knead for 7 minutes (or 10 minutes by hand). Place the dough in a clean, greased bowl, cover and let it rise until doubled.

·       Punch down the dough, press it into a 25cm x 30cm baking tin, let the bread rise until half risen. Cover with the tiger topping and let it rise until for at least another 15 minutes or until double the pre risen thickness. Bake 45 minutes in a pre-heated oven to 180° Celsius degrees.

Dutch Crunch Topping

Ingredients

·       2 tablespoons (2 packets) (30 ml) (15 gm/½ oz) active dry yeast

·       1 cup (240 ml) warm water (105-115º F) (41-46°C)

·       2 tablespoons (30 ml) (30 gm/1 oz) sugar

·       2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil

·       ½ teaspoon (2½ ml) (3 gm) salt

·       1½ cups (360 ml) (240 gm/8½ oz) rice flour (white or brown; NOT sweet or glutinous rice flour)

Directions:
1. 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.

2. 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.
3. Let stand, uncovered, for any additional time your recipe recommends. With the Soft White Roll, you can place the rolls directly into the oven after applying the topping. With the Brown Rice Bread, the loaves should stand for 20 minutes with the topping before baking.
4. 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.