No- knead Dutch Crunch Bread ( Tiger Bread)

Dutch Crunch Bread or Tiger Bread, originated in Netherlands.

A paste made up of rice flour, sugar, yeast and sesame oil then, painted on the top surface. During baking, the paste dries and cracks. It gives the bread a distinctive flavour.

Recipe and inspiration from here and here

Ingredients (artisanbreadwithstev)
3 cups of bread flour
1 + 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp instant dry yeast
355ml cool tap water



For the topping ( artisan 5 minutes)
1/2 cup warm water
1 tbsp yeast ( I used instant dry yeast)
2/3 cup rice flour (from the Asian grocers)
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp sesame oil

Note from Artisan 5 minutes:
 With the yeast in it, the mixed up paste will be doubled in volume, so it is good to use a quite large size of bowl to allow it to grow. The paste will be deflated  again once you stir it. As said, you need 1/2 cup to spread all over the dough. For the remaining topping, it can be stored in the fridge for a week, cover with a cling wrap, vented, to avoid pressure build up in the fridge.

For mine, I felt the paste was a bit runny, so I added another 1/4 cup rice flour to bring to the paste consistency.

Mix all ingredients, cover and sit on kitchen counter overnight ( 8 to 18 hours)

lots of flour on the working area, with the help of your rubber scraper, bring the dough into a ball shape.
note: no kneading or deflating gas here

here is the paste that I kept in the fridge a day earlier...

spread 1/2 cup all over the top to the bottom of the entire ball dough (quite thick actually)
let it rise, uncovered, on kitchen counter for one to 2 hours or, until the size is doubled.

dump this well-risen ball dough into the preheated dutch oven and get it baked

soft inside, crusty outside.

Methods ( with modificaitons)
Make the topping paste : Mix all ingredients in a large bowl, the yeast will make the topping double it's size ( note: you may need a bit more rice flour if it is too runny. I added extra 1/4 cup rice flour).




Making the dough
In a large bowl, add in the salt and yeast. Well combined.
Pour in the cool water.  Using a wooden spatula, stir everything well.
Cover and let it sit in the kitchen counter overnight, 8 to 18 hours.

Transfer the dough to a floured surface ( quite a lot of flour).
Without deflating gas or any kneading, use your rubber scraper to help gather the dough into a ball shape.
Transfer the dough onto a floured parchment paper.
Spread the topping paste all over the dough.
Let it sit on the kitchen counter, uncovered, for 1 to 2 hours, or until the size is doubled.

Meanwhile, preheat your dutch oven in the oven, set to 450F (you need 30 minutes to preheat).
When the pasted dough is ready to get baked,  grib two sides of your parchment paper, drop the dough into the dutch oven. Send it back to the oven and let it start baking.
(Place a pan filled with boiling water in the lowest shelf of the oven)

After 30 minutes, remove the lid, continue to bake 5 to15 minutes, depending the kind of crust you like to have ( I had it for 15 minutes).
When it is done, transfer the bread to cool on the cooling rack, uncovered.
( if covered, the crust will turn soggy).