Tijgerbrood (Dutch Tiger Bread)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large mixing bowl or stand mixer
• •Parchment-lined baking tray
• •Pastry brush or small offset spatula
• •Wire cooling rack

Instructions

1. 1

   Mix the dough

   Put the bread flour, yeast, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Add the lukewarm water, milk, and softened butter, then mix until you have a rough dough. Knead for ten minutes by hand, or seven minutes in a stand mixer, until the dough is smooth, elastic, and only slightly tacky. It should cling to your hand and then let go. That is enough drama for a weekday loaf.

2. 2

   Let it rise

   Shape the dough into a ball, return it to the bowl, cover, and let it rise for about one hour, or until doubled. A cool kitchen may ask for another twenty minutes. Bread is not late; it is simply honest about the weather.

   If you press the dough gently and the mark slowly fills back in, it is ready. If it springs back at once, give it more time.
3. 3

   Make tiger paste

   While the dough rises, stir the rice flour, topping yeast, topping sugar, topping salt, neutral oil, and lukewarm water into a thick paste. It should spread like full yogurt, not pour like milk. Let it stand for twenty minutes until it looks slightly bubbly and alive. Rice flour varies, so add a teaspoon of water if it is stiff enough to tear the dough, or a spoonful of rice flour if it runs.

4. 4

   Shape the loaf

   Turn the risen dough onto a lightly floured surface, press it gently into a rectangle, then roll it into a tight oval loaf. Pinch the seam closed and set it seam-side down on a parchment-lined baking tray. Cover loosely and let it prove for forty-five to sixty minutes, until puffy and almost doubled.

5. 5

   Paint the tiger

   Heat the oven to 220C, or 200C fan. Brush or spoon the tiger paste generously over the top and sides of the loaf, leaving the bottom bare. The layer should be thick enough that you cannot see the dough beneath it. Let the coated loaf sit for five to ten minutes while the oven finishes heating; the paste begins to dry, and that small wait helps the crackle form.

6. 6

   Bake it crisp

   Bake for ten minutes at 220C, then lower the oven to 200C, or 180C fan, and bake for another twenty to twenty-five minutes. The crust should be deep gold with darker islands between pale cracks, and the loaf should sound hollow when tapped underneath. Do not add a pan of water to the oven; the paste needs dry heat so it cracks instead of softening.

7. 7

   Cool before slicing

   Move the loaf to a wire rack and let it cool for at least forty-five minutes before slicing. Cut too soon and the soft crumb turns gummy under the knife. Wait, and you get the proper contrast: crisp tiger coat, tender white bread, one more reason the Dutch lunchbox was never as plain as people said.

Chef Tips

• •Use white rice flour, not wheat flour and not glutinous rice flour. The point is the lack of gluten; wheat stretches, rice cracks, and the name depends on that little failure.
• •The paste must be thick. If it runs down the loaf like cream, the crust will bake smooth. If it sits like soft yogurt, it dries into the cracked coat you came for.
• •This loaf is best the day it is baked, when the crust still snaps under the knife. By the next day the crust softens, but toasted slices come back beautifully.
• •For sandwiches, slice only after the loaf is fully cool. Dutch bread culture is patient in this one matter, and impatience gives you a crushed middle.

Advance Preparation

• •The dough can be mixed and left for its first rise overnight in the refrigerator. Bring it back toward room temperature before shaping, then make the tiger paste fresh while the loaf proves.
• •The baked loaf freezes well once fully cool. Slice it first, freeze the slices flat, then toast straight from frozen.
• •Do not apply the rice paste the night before. It should be mixed, rested briefly, and painted on shortly before baking so it dries and cracks at the right moment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 80g)