The Dutch Crunch (Tiger Bread), Daring Bakers March Challenge

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Baking, bread and rolls, daring bakers, daring kitchen, dutch crunch bread, milk bread, rice paste, soft white bread roll, Tiger bread

A special Thank YOU, I want to acknowledge all my blog buddies who have been veryhelpful to me on my journey to grow my blog. You made my day, and seriously, I was stuntly jumping happily all day yesterday and today to see you all besides me. Each of you have been very supportive with your likes or kind words and comments and I am grateful and humbled by your kindness, that the least I have to say, THANK YOU! Also, I’m extending same Thank YOU to WordPress.com team for selecting me at freshly Pressed, I have been honored with your promotion. Thanks to everyone else; non-bloggers and social media friends, you are appreciated too.THANKS from the bottom of my heart.

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 have to say this is my first time I make this kind of bread, or even know about it. But it was very delicious. The beautiful combination of crunchy sweet topping with very very soft inside, that the most signficant feature for the bread also I liked the color pattern on the top of it.

I made the same recipes given by Sara and Erica, and it turned out very successful bread. I made the soft white roll bread, I didn’t use all the 4 cups of flour, it took about 3 1\2 cup to make 6 large rolls of bread. I made the crunchy topping, and put a thick layer over the bread, didn’t let the bread to rest after the adding, I just pop it immediately in the oven.

I made some sandwiches from the bread, very light and healthy caprese sandwich with fresh mozzarella, tomato, arugula and spinach. On the side I made some baked potato chips.

Thanks Sara and Erica for this wonderful recipes, we all like it and enjoy making sandwiches out of it.

A little about Tiger Bread:

The bread is generally made with sesame oil and with a pattern baked into the top made by painting rice paste onto the surface prior to baking.The paste dries and cracks during the baking process. The rice paste crust also gives the bread a distinctive flavour. It has a crusty exterior, but is soft inside. Typically, tiger bread is made as a white bread bloomer loaf or bread roll, but the technique can be applied to any shape of bread.

The name originated in the Netherlands, where it is known as tijgerbrood or tijgerbol where it has been sold at least since the early 1970s. In the USA, it is generally sold as “Dutch crunch”. Though recently, some stores began to sell it as “Dutch crust”. In the United States it is also sometimes known as dragonette bread.

The Dutch Crunch Bread (Tiger Bread)

Soft White Roll

Servings: Six sandwich rolls
This recipe approximates the quintessential white sandwich roll found throughout the Bay Area. The recipe is simple, quick, and addictive.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon (1 packet) active dry yeast
¼ cup warm water (105-110º F) (41-43°C) (No need to use a thermometer – it should feel between lukewarm and hot to the touch).
1 cup warm milk (105-110º F) (41-43°C) (We’ve tried both nonfat and 2%, with no noticeable difference)
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

Directions:
1. 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).
2. 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. (The photo to the right is with the first 2 cups of flour added).
3. Add remaining flour a quarter cup at time until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, as shown in the photo below (For us, this usually required an additional 1½ to 2 cups of flour).
4. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 4 minutes, until smooth and elastic.
5. Place in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled (or more) in size

6. 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).

7. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 15 minutes while you prepare the topping.
8. Coat the top of each roll or loaf with the topping as described above. While the original recipe recommends letting them stand for 20 minutes after applying the topping, I got better results by putting them directly into the oven.
9. Once you’ve applied the topping, bake in a preheated moderately hot 380ºF/190°C/gas mark 5 for 25-30 minutes, until well browned. Let cool completely on a wire rack before eating.

Dutch Crunch Topping

Servings: This recipe should make sufficient topping for two 9×5 loaves (23cmx13cm) or 12 rolls. If you make only 6 rolls in the first soft white roll recipe, you can cut the topping recipe in half.

Note, however, that you should not prepare the topping until the bread you’ve selected to bake is almost finished rising (~15 minutes from baking).

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons (2 packets) active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (105-115º F) (41-46°C)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
½ teaspoon salt
1½ cups rice flour (white or brown; NOT sweet or glutinous rice flour) (increase by 1 cup or more for home-made 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

Baked Potato French Fries:

Cut the potato into thin sticks, season with salt, black pepper, and paprika. Spray an oven sheet with some oilve oil then spray the potato sticks to coat. Put in 400 f preheated oven for 20 min.

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My All Favourite Pita Bread

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Baking, Dough, Flour, gridler pita, Kneading, making freah bread at home, Middle East, Olive oil, pita bread, storing pita bread, whole wheat pita, خبز الشوايه, خبز بيتا, خبز عربي, عمل الخبز العربي بالبيتو تخزين الخبز

Born and raised in the Middle East, found it much difficult in the beginning at least, 13 years ago – to adapt here in US without pita bread served in the breakfast, or even in every meal. That was before I got to know every place in the city I’m living in. Although, after we introduced to some local stores who sell the pita, it was not like what I used to eat. So why will be amazed to make pita at home when I can buy it? At how much better the home-made pita than the commercial pita?
The home-made is much better, the texture is chewy and very soft, more pliable, and don’t tear when you fill it unlike the ones you bought from stores. Very hard to stop at one, the smell of the fresh bread is totally different. Once you start making your own bread, you and your family will be spoiled. Besides, it’s really fun to make, even the kids will enjoy it. While my memories always taking me to those beautiful childhoodish moments, where I was my grandma’s helper when making the pita at home, she was the best in making very delicious pita bread, with the aromatic calming smell of baked fresh pita, you will know you are home…

The pita bread originated in the holy land, dating back to Biblical times. Arabic bread, Kmaj or pita are all names refer to a round hollow crust evenly baked flat bread found throughout the Middle East. An air pocket forms in the middle during baking, turning the bread into balls of dough skin, they are flattened only once cool.
Knives, forks, and spoons aren’t necessary in most of middle eastern meals as long as bread is present. A single layer of bread torn into bite-sized pieces serves as a scooper of dips and salads, meat wrapper, olive twister, and plate cleaner.
When cut across the diameter, it provides an instant pocket to fill with any type of food. Triangles of bread are often fried, toasted or baked and used to embellish main courses. They also serve as bottom layer of many fattat (dishes using bread as a main component in which meat or chickpeas are heaped in layers over bread, then topped with alternating layers of rice and garlic flavoured yogurt, sprinkled with layers of pine nuts parsley and mint). Dried bread finds its way into salads much as using croutons.

Pita bread is best when it baked traditional way, in a very hot stone oven, but making pita bread at home is very easy too, and you can meet a very good result with home oven. I usually bake my bread on ceramic tile, after heating the oven at 500 deg f for at least 20 min. The quarry tiles (be careful not to use the glazed surface) also is very good for baking bread, usually found at home improvement stores. Pizza stone works also can be used.
Kneading the bread for sufficient time is a very important step in making pita, and this will assure the forming of the pocket or the puff inside the bread.
 Here is some important hints for making the pita:
1. the basic plan in making pita is to get steam inside to puff up inside the bread before the bread bakes. This is why you need soft moist dough with little fat in it. Also this is why the bread is baked in a very high temperature at the bottom of the oven.
2. If you are using a cookie sheet to bake the bread, thick one may not allow the heat to penetrate quickly enough to the pita bread dough. This will cause the bread to cook before it has a chance to puff up, so use thin cookie sheets.
Remember the basic for better pockets: Moist dough, sufficient Kneading, resting, very hot oven temperatures.

Pita Bread (all white dough)

1 package of dry yeast, 2 1\2 teaspoon
1/2 cup warm water
2 teaspoon granulated sugar
4-4 1\2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoon dry milk
1 1\2 cup lukewarm water
2 tablespoon olive oil

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Let sit for 10-15 minutes until water is frothy.

Combine 4 cups of flour, milk and salt in large bowl, or the stand mixer bowl.

Make a small depression in the middle of flour and pour 1 tablespoon oil and yeast water in depression.

Slowly add 1 cup of warm water, using the hook attachment, stir to form a dough, add the rest of flour as kneaded, continue kneading until elastic, about 5-7 min.

Place dough on floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, add the remaining oil and knead some more to incorporate the oil into the dough. When the dough is no longer sticky and is smooth and elastic, it has been successfully kneaded.

Coat large bowl with oil and place dough in bowl. Turn dough upside down so all of the dough is coated. Allow to sit in a warm place for about 1\4 hour.

Once rested, pinch out 10-12 small pieces, depending on the size you like your pita. Place balls on floured surface. Let sit covered for 10 minutes.
Roll out each ball of dough with a rolling pin into circles. Using a wooden cutting board let this process more easy. Each should be about 5-6 inches across and 1/4 inch thick or more if you want it a little more thick.

place circles of dough on flat boards or a table, cover with dry cloth and let rise for 1 hour. Meanwhile, Preheat oven to 500 deg F. and make sure rack is at the very bottom of oven. Be sure to also preheat your baking sheet, if you are using a ceramic stone you will need to allow more time to heat.

Bake pita bread in batches for 2 minutes until the bread puffs up. Once puffed, flip them to the other side so the top side becomes the bottom on the sheet or stone, and the moisture surface is now exposed and rises more easily the other side, bake for 2 min more. Remove using a spatula and add other pita for baking. Cover and keep the pita in a kitchen cloth to keep it warm and soft.

Push down the puffed pita. Immediately place in storage bags. take your daily serving and store the rest in the freezer.

Whole Wheat Pita Bread

The same recipe as above, just add an equal amount of white and whole wheat flour, and may use more water than the white flour alone.

The Gridler Pita

The same recipe as the whole white, but cut in small balls and  baked in the gridler, which is more easy and quick especaillay with small amounts.

 

Storing Pita Bread

Pita bread will remain soft outside at room temperature in a bread box for 2 days, and up to a month in the freezer. Be sure to use freezer bags when storing in the freezer. I usually double the amount given in the recipe, and keep it in the freezer.
Don’t refrigerate it, it will dry out.

Honey Buttermilk Oatmeal Coffee Cake: For The Daring Bakers February Challenge

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& Muffins, Baking, Bread and Pastries, breakfast, buttermilk, Cake, coffee cake, Cupcake, daring baker, daring kitchen challenge, honey, oatmeal, pecan, quick bread

The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lisa stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.

Bread that is quick to make because it doesn’t require kneading or rising time. That’s because the leavener in such a bread is usually baking powder or baking soda, which, when combined with moisture, starts the rising process immediately. In the case of double-acting baking powder, oven heat causes a second burst of rising power. Eggs can also be used to leaven quick breads. This genre includes most biscuits, muffins, popovers and a wide variety of sweet and savory loaf breads.

Some tips from Lisa:

•Quick breads can be sweet or savory, they are a modern innovation they became common after the introduction of baking powder and baking soda.
•Baking powder is a combination of acid and alkaline that reacts together when moistened to form gases that raises the baked quick bread. Usage 1 to 2 teaspoons per cup of flour.
•Baking soda (an alkaline salt, sodium bicarbonate) is used when the liquid is acidic, such as buttermilk, honey, molasses, tomato sauce etc. Usage ½ to 1 teaspoon per cup of acidic liquid.
•Be sure your baking powder and baking soda are fresh.
•Measure ingredients accurately, using the measuring tools and techniques suggested.
•Preheat the oven to the correct baking temperature. Arrange racks so that the bread will bake in the center of the oven which has the best heat distribution in the oven.
•To allow for good air circulation while baking, leave at least 1 inch of space between pans and between pans and sides of oven. Switch pan positions and rotate pans halfway through baking.
•The two top secrets to moist, tender quick bread is 1)in the mixing always use a quick light technique so you don’t over-mix the batter 2) don’t over-bake since this cause dryness in the final baked product.

Biscuits, coffee cake, muffins_ they’re all quick breads. My recipe for the quick bread challenge is for the coffee cake, simple, light and healthful, perfect for afternoon tea or breakfast with tea or coffee.
A lot of thanks to Lisa and the Daring bakers for sharing with us some tips and recipes for quick breads.

Honey Buttermilk Oatmeal Coffee Cake

The honey mixture bakes at the bottom of the pan for this dessert. Then flip the finished cake over to reveal a sweet glaze on top.

1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 Tbsp. light-colored corn syrup
2 tsp. finely shredded lemon peel
4 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1-1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2/3 cup buttermilk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup butter, melted
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
Honey (optional)

Grease a  baking pan. In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup honey, 1/3 cup melted butter, corn syrup, lemon peel and lemon juice. Stir in 1/2 cup chopped pecans. Pour into prepared pan; set aside.

For cake: In a blender or food processor, blend or process oats until finely ground. Transfer to a large bowl. Stir in flour, brown sugar, 1/2 cup pecans, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, combine buttermilk, eggs, 1/4 cup melted butter, and vanilla. Add the milk mixture all at once to the flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy).

Spoon batter evenly over honey mixture. Bake in a 375 degree F oven about 25 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven and immediately invert cake onto a serving plate. Cool about 10 minutes. Serve warm drizzled with additional honey, if you like. Makes 9 servings.

A Tip From My Kitchen:

I learnt from Martha Stewart Very helpful tip about buttermilk.
When I buy a quart of buttermilk, I never need all of it. Luckily, it freezes well and is great to use later in pancakes, cakes, or marinades.

Biscuits For Every Meal : The Daring Bakers January Challenge.

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Appetizer & Sides, apricot, apricot biscuits, Baking, biscuits, breakfast scones, cambil cream of chicken soup recipes, cheddar biscuits, cheddar garlic biscuits, Chicken, corn, corn and chicken chowder, corn soup, creamy corn and chicken soup, daring bakers, daring kitchen challenge, fan tan rolls, herbed biscuits, light lunch, scone, Soup, sweet biscuits, tea time biscuits

Blog-checking lines: Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!

It only took me 25 minutes to get these fluffy and tasty biscuits from the fridge to your table. Which is the most thing I adore about making these all the time, and whether it’s for breakfast, snacks or even for lunch these are very welcome in my family.

The recipe was given by Audax was very successful, I followed every step in the recipe, I really like it. I played with the flavours and added a little to the original. Very special thanks to Audax Artifex for sharing these awesome recipes and dedicated her tries to get the best of the biscuits recipes.

actually, I made two kinds of biscuits, and hoped to make more but as always, the time is my big problem.

The savory one which is the Buttermilk Cheese and Garlic Biscuits. Mmm! Warm and cheesy biscuits are a snap to make, and it went very well with the warm chicken and corn cream soup. That was a superb for satisfying light lunch meal. In the biscuit batter I used grated cheddar cheese, garlic powder and sprinkle of dried parsley leaves, Other delicate fresh herbs (tarragon, chives, chervil) will work in this recipe in place of the parsley. For a browner crust, brush the tops of the biscuits with melted butter after baking, it’s also intensify the butter flavour in the biscuits.

The other kind is the sweet biscuits-Stacked Apricot Biscuit. Tender and slightly sweet, these treats are perfect for afternoon tea, and perfect  for breakfast as will. Serve with softly whipped and sweetened whipping cream, or even a your choice of jam.

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Cheddar and Garlic Herbed Biscuits

For the original recipe check audax recipes here

When the weather outside gets chilly, nothing beats this hearty chicken and corn cream soup, complete with freshly baked flaky buttery biscuits.

1 cup plain (all-purpose) flour
2 teaspoons fresh baking powder
1\4 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons frozen grated butter (or a combination of lard and butter)
1\2 cup cheddar cheese , shredded
1\4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon dried parsley
about ½ cup cold buttermilk
optional 1 tablespoon buttermilk, for glazing the tops of the scones
1 tablespoon melted butter, to glaze after baking

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to very hot 450°F

2. Triple sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl.Add the cheese , dried parsley, and the garlic powder (If your room temperature is very hot refrigerate the sifted ingredients until cold.),
3. Rub the frozen grated butter (or combination of fats) into the dry ingredients until it resembles very coarse bread crumbs with some pea-sized pieces if you want flaky scones or until it resembles coarse beach sand if you want tender scones.

4. Add nearly all of the liquid at once into the rubbed-in flour/fat mixture and mix until it just forms a sticky dough (add the remaining liquid if needed). The wetter the dough the lighter the scones (biscuits) will be!
5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board, lightly flour the top of the dough. To achieve an even homogeneous crumb to your scones knead very gently about 4 or 5 times (do not press too firmly) the dough until it is smooth. To achieve a layered effect in your scones knead very gently once (do not press too firmly) then fold and turn the kneaded dough about 3 or 4 times until the dough has formed a smooth texture. (Use a floured plastic scraper to help you knead and/or fold and turn the dough if you wish.)
6. Pat or roll out the dough into a 6 inch by 4 inch rectangle by about ¾ inch thick (15¼ cm by 10 cm by 2 cm thick). Using a well-floured 2-inch (5 cm) scone cutter (biscuit cutter), stamp out without twisting six 2-inch (5 cm) rounds, gently reform the scraps into another ¾ inch (2 cm) layer and cut two more scones (these two scones will not raise as well as the others since the extra handling will slightly toughen the dough). Or use a well-floured sharp knife to form squares or wedges as you desire.
7. Place the rounds just touching on a baking dish if you wish to have soft-sided scones or place the rounds spaced widely apart on the baking dish if you wish to have crisp-sided scones. Glaze the tops with milk if you want a golden colour on your scones or lightly flour if you want a more traditional look to your scones.
8. Bake in the preheated very hot oven for about 10 minutes (check at 8 minutes since home ovens at these high temperatures are very unreliable) until the scones are well risen and are lightly coloured on the tops. The scones are ready when the sides are set.
9. Immediately place onto cooling rack to stop the cooking process, serve while still warm.

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Corn and Chicken Cream Soup

3 chicken tenders, cut into small cubes
1\4 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon butter
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cups water
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1\4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon cream cheese
1 teaspoon dried basil leaves

In a large pot over medium heat, combine the onion, butter or margarine, and the minced chicken. Saute for about 1-2 minutes, then add the corn kernels, sauté for about 5 min more.
Add the cream of chicken soup, water, salt and pepper. Add in the cheddar cheese, whisk in the cream cheese and allow to heat through. Add the herbs, Stir together, test the taste and serve.

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Apricot Biscuits

Stacked biscuits, baked in muffin cups and sweetened or not, make an attractive opener for a feast.

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1\4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2\3 cup dried apricot, cut into small pieces
1\2 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
2 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup fat-free milk
turbinado sugar (row cane)to sprinkle on the top
cinnamon (optional)
1 tablespoon melted butter for the top and between the folds

Preheat oven to 410 degrees F. Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add in the dried apricot, the granulated sugar, and the lemon peel. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make a well in the center; add milk. Stir just until dough clings together.

Knead the dough gently for 10 to 12 strokes on a lightly floured surface. Divide dough in half. Roll one portion into a 12×10-inch rectangle. If desired, sprinkle turbinado sugar and cinnamon over rectangle. Cut rectangle into four 12×2-inch strips. Cut into each strip into 4 square. Stack the strips one on top of the other. Place stacks, edge-side down, in greased muffin cups. Repeat with remaining dough.

Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden. Serve warm with cream cheese or apricot jam.