Make dutch crunch bread full#

It turns out Guerra’s is getting their Dutch crunch from Costeaux French Bakery, a nearly hundred-year-old bakery in Healdsburg. “I’m a stickler for quality and consistency, otherwise, it has no place in our shop.” “Coming from a strict Italian household, we have a high bar for ingredients,” Guerra says. They’ve been working with the same bakery for the past few years, and the crunch is a consistent fan favorite with customers.

Make dutch crunch bread full#

It first opened as a butcher on Taraval Street and 22nd in 1954, and expanded to a full market when they moved up to Taraval and 15th in 1988, which is now known for meaty sandwiches, stuffed with salami, coppa, and provolone.Ĭoming from an Italian-American family with roots in Lucca, Robert Guerra was on the hunt for crisp ciabatta, when he just happened to find a bakery that also sells excellent Dutch crunch. Guerra Quality Meat is an old-school butcher shop in the Parkside, now run by the second generation of the family. “And if the options were white, wheat, sourdough, or Dutch crunch, it was like, what’s Dutch crunch? Texturally, it’s really satisfying … and once you have it for the first time, you’re going to keep ordering it.” And of course, once locals have grown up eating something, there’s always a sugar sparkle of sandwich nostalgia. “The thing about Dutch crunch is that you didn’t really see it in grocery stores,” he says. Michelin-starred chef Brandon Jew grew up eating it as a hungry teenager, buying big sandwiches after school from Mister Pickle’s on the Peninsula. (Although at least one small child in England has petitioned to call it giraffe bread, to better describe its markings.) It’s not Californian at all - most sources agree that it comes from tijgerbolletjes in the Netherlands, known as tiger bread elsewhere in Europe. Let’s go crunching for answers.Īs local sandwich fans already know, Dutch crunch is an otherwise unremarkable white roll, but it has a mixture of rice flour and sugar brushed over, creating that magical crackle or crinkle topping. The one exception? This reader says that the best and last true Dutch crunch in the Bay Area is at Guerra’s, that old-school Italian-American butcher shop. The Dutch was denser, crunchier, and had a buttery flavor in the densest parts of the crust.” growing up being pretty different from what you get at most delis these days. “I don’t know if you’re from around here,” my fellow millennial said. So much so that a reader reached out, in search of the crunchiest crunch.

For a 1-pound loaf divide the ingredients in half).San Francisco may not have an iconic sandwich, but we do have a favorite sandwich bread - there’s kind of an obsession with Dutch crunch in the Bay. Once the dough has finished the second rise, remove the cover and bake. The second rise takes about a half an hour. If you have a lid you can cover the bowl to help the rise or cover it with plastic wrap. The process starts in the bread machine using the basic dough setting and the dough is then dropped into a well buttered bowl for a second rise. Brand names like Pyrex make bowls with this characteristic and most large casserole bowls have the same properties. What’s critical is that any bowl you use for baking in the oven is oven safe. It’s very good toasted or just eaten plain. This bread goes great with any meal and makes terrific sandwiches. This recipe is done in about 3 hours from start to finish. Some of those recipes take up to two days to make. Better yet it’s easy to make and is done from start to finish much quicker than breads finished in the oven in a conventional Dutch oven. The top is crusty with a bit of a chew much like you would get with an artisanal bread.

This bread is a basic white bread, but the double rise and baking in the bowl impart a flavor similar to sourdough without the sourdough starter. All you need is your bread machine and an ovenproof bowl. But you don’t need a Dutch oven to make this recipe. It was a standard way to bake for pioneers and made a crusty artisanal bread. It’s usually used for outdoor cooking over coals with some coals on top of a lid with a raised lip. A Dutch oven is a large cast iron pot with high sides and a lid.