How To Make Dutch Crunch Bread

Dutch Crunch bread is a San Francisco bread sensation that is not sourdough! These rolls — generally used for building sandwiches — are made from a tender white bread but topped with a rice flour coating that bakes up incredibly crisp and crackled, making for a bread roll that is both beautiful and delicious.

Making Dutch Crunch is way cheaper than a plane ticket to San Fran, and the results will elevate your summer sandwiches, burgers, and even breakfast sandwiches. Here’s how to make Dutch Crunch bread at home.

Dutch Crunch is ubiquitous in San Fransisco, but it has origins in other parts of the world. Tiger Bread, a similar bread in taste and appearance, is found in the Netherlands, hence the “Dutch” in the name.

The “crunch” comes from the thin, crackled topping that coats the top of the bread. It’s made from a mixture of rice flour, sugar, and yeast that is brushed on the bread before baking. Dutch Crunch bread is usually shaped in rounds or small baguette-shaped loaves. It’s chewy, with a dense crumb and slightly sweet flavor, making it an obvious choice for a really good sandwich.

While it is unclear how the bread became so well-loved in the Bay Area, the crunchy topping is what we are all here for. The topping is a thick mixture of rice flour, yeast, vegetable oil, sugar, and water . You’ll make this topping while the bread is rising. Before baking, you top the rolls with a thick coating of the mixture. The topping will set in the oven, then crack and brown as the rolls rise and bake.

The end result is a crisp topping that you’ll want to pick off and eat on its own — but hold off! This topping gives sandwiches a satisfying crunch akin to adding a few potato chips to the stack.

• Make the bread dough. The bread part of Dutch Crunch bread is pretty straightforward. You’ll warm some milk and water and mix them with flour, yeast, salt, and oil in your stand mixer. And then let the springy dough rise in the stand mixer bowl until doubled in size.
• Shape the rolls. You can shape these Dutch Crunch bread into round rolls, which we prefer for the ease and ability to support the topping. Divide the dough into six (five-ounce) portions, shape each portion into a round by pinching the ends together into a bundle, and then (with the pinched side down) gently roll the round in the palm of your hand. Move the rolls to baking sheets and let them rise.
• Mix up the topping while the bread rises. Stir together the rice flour, sugar, oil, yeast, and water in a small bowl. The mixture should be thick but drippy (about the consistency of glue). Add a little more water by the tablespoon if the mixture is thick or dry. Let the topping “rise” — it will get bubbly as it sits — while the oven preheats and rolls rise.
• Carefully coat the rolls with the topping just before baking. Here’s the most challenging part of Dutch Crunch bread: The rolls are going to be puffy and delicate, but you’ve got to smear them with the thickish rice flour topping. Be careful and do your best not to deflate the rolls when spooning this rice flour mixture over top. Wipe up any excess topping that drips down and pools around the dough on the baking sheet.

Bake the rolls in a hot oven — 425°F — for 22 to 25 minutes. The topping will take some time to brown, so give it time before pulling the rolls. Cool the rolls for at least 10 minutes before slicing for sandwiches. This roll will make every bite a chewy, crispy, unforgettable one!