Monday, February 26, 2007

Patchy Blotchy

Hey friends, how how you been? For those who celebrates Chinese New Year, there's still a weekend for 'house visiting' and festivities to go. Hope you are enjoying the gatherings and feastings :p

After all that cookie baking sessions for the past weekends, it's about time I break away from the cookie trays and get back to kneading some breads.

Do you find the above picture interesting? That's the top crust of the bread. This is baked using the Vienna Bread recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice, and the top is brushed with a paste made from rice flour and water. During baking, this topping will develope into a patchy coating. This type of breads is also known as Dutch Crunch or Mottled Bread.

Unfortunately, my topping didn't turn out as the way it should be, which should be much more 'dramatic' than in mine. If you have the book you will know what I mean. But a not-so-successful crust aside, this bread is a lovely loaf. The interior is softer, and the crust less chewy than most rustic breads. I love it that it is not as sweet as the usual sweet breads, just a tinge of sweetness, so I spread on some sweet-tangy cloudberry jam. It went well with brie cheese too, I had them just this morning :)

The final piece of crust and crumb.

9 comments:

Gattina Cheung said...

Yes, very patchy :D :D
So the flour on top is rice flour? or just regular bread flour?

Anh said...

Oh Angie, look at the interior texture! SO beautiful, so well done! And I love the top crust, too.. :) Recipes from BBA are on my to-do-list! Dunno why but I have real craving for home-made bread and jam lately. :D

Baking Fiend said...

Interesting bread, Angie...I'm sure it taste wonderful!

Unknown said...

Gattina,
The paste is made from rice flour, a bit of bread flour, water, sugar, oil and a bit of instant yeast(yes, yeast!)

Anh, thank you! Yeah, I bet you'll have fun trying out BBA's reciopes as much as I did :)

Ida, thanks so much :)

Edith said...

Yo friend no long time no hear. Bread looks sooooo nice and delicious. BTW, do you own a breadmachine? I am thinking really hard to get one now.

Rene said...

Hi Angie, What lovely crumb! And interesting jam too, if I may add. (^.^)

Unknown said...

Hey ya Edith,

Been missing you too! Nope, I don't have a breadmachine. Looks like you are thinking of making breads more oftern ya? :p

Sher, I'm totally with you on that. I can do without rice, but certainly not bread!

Hello Rene, thanks for your kind words. The cloudberry jam is from Sweden, quite an interesting taste and texture.

Helene said...

Lovely bread! Great ahpe too and I bet the flavors were great.

Anh said...

Angie, I baked your cinnamon oat cookies today (to use up my oat :P). The cookies are very nice. Love it. Thanks for sharing. :)