Part 2: Crackle Bread, Dutch Crunch, or Tijgerbrood...

Last night I decided to make another trial batch of Crackle Bread and experiment with glopping more rice batter onto the bread as well as increasing bake times.  I am happy on both accounts.  Still, I think there is some mysterious trick to getting an extra crackly crust that I'm not quite getting.  It crackles, but some pictures I have seen of Dutch Crunch, Crackle Bread or Tijgerbrood shows an even deeper cracked crust than mine.

What I did:  
I took 9 frozen Rhodes Rolls from the freezer and thawed them on a greased cookie sheet.  (Parchment paper might have been smarter).

About midway through the bread proofing, I made a single batch of the  rice batter recipe and let it double in size.  When the bread was through proofing and was approximately double in size, I smeared the rice batter generously over the 9 rolls.  I had the oven pre-heating to 380* F and popped them in for approximately 20 minutes or until deep golden brown.

The result was a very crisp crust and a soft chewy interior.  Served warm (not hot), these were really terrific.  We all sampled them before padding off to bed.  I left them on the counter overnight to completely cool and we had Dutch Crunch with our morning coffee.  Scrumptious!  I did end up putting three of my five loaves of crackle bread into plastic bags to store in the freezer since we really don't need to eat that much bread in a day or so. 

About the frozen bread rolls -- it's a simple way to get delicious bread without the work, however, I think I would rather make the bread using either a homemade white bread recipe or wheat recipe because the dough would stand up to the rice batter more.  I think frozen bread tends to be wimpy and will easily go flat when jostled too much.

Whenever I make a wheat bread, I add at least half unbleached flour or white flour to my flour mixture.  I prefer a lighter bread, even if it is wheat.  I have also found that I can add more fiber to my loaves by adding ground oatmeal.  I just dump a cup or so into my blender and whir it until it resembles flour.  You can make it as fine or course as you like.  Add to replace one of the cups of flour in your recipes.

As I was browsing CookingBread.Com (shouldn't that be BAKINGbread.com?) I found another recipe that I'd like to try called Maple Seeded Bread.  If you choose to go to this recipe, notice how the entire loaf is coated with seeds.  I have always used an egg wash and then sprinkled seeds or grains on top of my loaves before baking, but in their bread making instructions, they coat the shaped bread with egg white and then roll the whole loaf in a pan of seeds to completely coat it and then brush more egg white over that to keep them glued on.  Smart!  I still think you might have some bits falling off as you cut your bread, but I like the look and the method used in coating loaves with seeds or grains.

Happy Baking!

P.S.  Thank you ALL for your sweet comments on my bread baking.  I can't wait to see if any of you try it out and what your results are like.