I know there’s no way I’m the only person that has ever wanted fresh home made crusty bread, without the day long process. I love my sourdough, I really do, But sometimes I want something NOW. Or sometimes I didn’t think yesterday that today I was going to want some delicious bread for something special I’m making for dinner. Because of all these reasons (and that it is just flat out delicious)  I’m so glad I came across this bread.

There’s a sandwich shop by my work that has dutch crunch bread and people rave about it. I’m not really a sandwich person, but my love of bread lead me to do some research. I found picture after picture of this gorgeous crusty bread and I was determined to make some rolls. When reading several recipes there were a few things I liked 1) the reasonable amount of dough the recipe made 2) that from start to finish it only takes 2 hours and 3) that it used a technique I’d never tried before - The crunch on this bread is actually produced by making a second dough, or “paste”, and placing it on top of the shaped rolls, letting it rise for about 15 minutes and baking. I’d seen similar techniques used in Latin American sweet breads and never tried it.

This bread is just flat out awesome. This is totally a recipe for yeastspotting. I made a batch the next day to go with soup! The inside is so fluffy, and the taste is yeasty, without being overwhelming. It was the perfect roll to go with the pulled pork I made. Below is the recipe for both the bread and the pork. It was a perfect meal, and eating it while watching USC destroy Notre Dame made it that much better…

Recipe From Baking Bites

Bread dough

1 package of instant yeast

1/4 cup warm water

1 cup milk

1 Tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2.5 – 3.5 cups all-purpose flour

Topping

1 tablespoon yeast

1/2 cup warm water

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

3/4 cup rice flour

Directions

• milk water and milk together in a small bowl or measuring cup, add sugar and yeast, let sit until foamy.
• In a large bowl mix 2.5 cups of flour and the salt.
• Add the foamy yeast mixture and oil to the flour. mix together. Add more flour if the dough is very sticky.
• Turn the dough out out the counter and knead a few times until it smooth, then place in a lightly oiled bowl to proof covered with plastic wrap from an hour.
• Heat the oven to 375° F
• One the dough has doubled in size, turn out onto a floured surface and divide into 6 equal pieces.
• Shape each sixth into balls – start by flattening out the dough and then folding the top half down over itself, followed by the two sides in towards each outehr and finish like rolling a burrito.
• repeat with the remaining 5 pieces. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. lightly oil the roll and cover with plastic wrap so they do not form a skin. (the oil is only to prevent the plastic from sticking).
• Mix all of the ingredients for the topping together and let rise. The mixture will become puffy quickly. remember this is rice flour, so it will not look like a normal dough ( I was convinced I had not done something right at first)
• Once the mixture is puffy, uncover the rolls and start placing equal amounts of the topping on each roll. 
• Let the dough with the topping rise for an additional 15 minutes
• bake rolls in the 375° F oven for 25 – 30 minutes until the rolls are golden brown and crunchy.

I used the pork for sandwiches and added barbaque sauce and a vinegar based coleslaw. YUM!