Dutch Crunch Bread

[luvpyrpom]

Has anyone made Dutch Crunch Bread? I tried that today using Antilope's Vienna bread as the base. I thought I would make sandwich rolls but I underestimated the size and actually made rolls. Couple of thoughts - when I made the Vienna bread, it got really stiff and difficult to knead for the machine towards the end. And didn't get a very big rise with the first one. I don't recall it being so stiff before. The only thing different I did this time was that I used lactose-free milk vs. soy milk, and used 1/4 cup less of flour.

As for the crunch part - I used the recipe from Artisan Bread in 5 min a day which called for 2/3 cup of rice flour, 1/2 cup water, 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 tablespoon instant yeast. After letting it rise, it was really runny. There was no way I would be able to "smear it around" the rolls. I ended up adding more rice flour - like almost 1/2 -3/4 cup more - before I could get it thick enough to smear it around.

And then I got confused about how long to bake the rolls as the original Vienna bread was for loaves/baguettes. I set the timer for 40 min but I think next time I will shoot for 30 min as they got a nice crusty "dark" brown on the top and the bottom.

I did eat one of the rolls after they had cooled. Very very crunchy top, nice crumb inside. I think next time I make the Dutch Crunch, I'm going to try it with a challah base.

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[BakerAunt]

Luvpyrpom--I have found that Antilope's Vienna bread does seem to work better with somewhat less flour, but then I substitute in some whole wheat flour. In fact, I have played around with that recipe so much that I can not actually recall what the original is like. I think that BevM has baked it, so maybe she will have some thoughts on it.

[Mike Nolan]

I used to make Peter Reinhart's Vienna Bread from the Bread Baker's Apprentice, but I have discovered that if I substitute butter for the oil in the Clonmel Double Crusty bread and follow the instructions for shaping, scoring and baking Vienna Bread in BBA, it makes a very acceptable Vienna bread. In fact, I did a taste test with my family and the Double Crusty version won hands down.

When I was growing up, my grandmother would often take us to Savanna Illinois on Saturdays to go shopping. The highlight of the trip was a trip to the bakery. The Clonmel recipe has a smell that takes me back to that bakery. Now, if I could just figure out how to make their creme horns!

[BevM]

I have made the Vienna bread but from a different recipe. As I recall (I don't keep good records like BakerAunt!), there were no problems with it. Fortunately for me, my family will eat most anything I bake.
I also checked a recipe I have for Dutch Crunch topping and it is almost identical to the one used by luvpyrpom.

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