Daring Bakers: Dutch Crunch Bread

SPICED TEMPEH AND CARAMELISED PINEAPPLE SANDWICH 

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 am so glad for this challenge. I have tried making the Dutch Crunch topping several times since I first enjoyed the bread last October when I was visiting my sister in California, but it's never come out right. I used recipes I found online, but it was only after reading the discussion on The Daring Bakers' forum that I found out the paste I was making all along was too runny. Thank you DBs! 

My heart goes out to all the Daring Bakers who found it difficult to find rice flour and had to make their own. Even then they did a wonderful job. See how they fared in the slideshow at The Daring Kitchen.

First batch (burnt) and second batch (pale)

Living in Malaysia, I didn't have that problem, but there were others. I left my first batch too long in the oven and it burnt. The second batch was a little pale and although my Dutch Crunch topping wasn't as vivid as I would have liked -- no tiger stripes or leopard spots or giraffe blotches :-( -- the crunch was certainly there. It tops off the soft and fluffy bread very well. I used some of the dough from the Hunger Games-inspired "fish bread”, which I posted on yesterday.

I had read somewhere that sesame oil is sometimes included in the mixture for the Dutch Crunch topping, so I added a few drops. The flavour was not intense, but I thought the aroma was rather nice.

My sandwich was made with tempeh, which I marinated overnight in a mixture comprising nine ingredients, not including salt and pepper. I can't say how much of each I put into the marinade because I simply adjusted the taste as I went along, and they are really random ingredients, but I liked how it all turned out. I started with hoisin sauce. Then there was ginger paste, soya sauce, chillies in adobo sauce, chilli oil, Indonesian kecap manis, palm sugar, jalapeño sauce, and finally honey. The marinade went on rather thick, but the next day, most of it must have been absorbed into the tempeh because there was only a thin layer of it left on the slices. The tempeh was then pan-fried, and layered in the Dutch Crunch rolls with Japanese sandwich spread, lettuce and a caramelised pineapple ring. 

What to top the spiced tempeh with but more chilli! 

The condiment was more chilli of course: jalapeño sauce and Sriracha chilli sauce with a little mayo. One can never have too much chilli.