The definitive
dutch Crunch recipe

This is not a recipe website. But this recipe was too important to share with the world, so it’s earned a small space here.

You see, if you asked most people what the definitive bread of San Francisco is (a perfectly normal question), the response you’d undoubtedly get is sourdough. And to a certain extent this may be true – it’s a loaf that’s intertwined in the genesis of the city, due in no small part to the work of Isidore Boudin, as well as the grizzled miners who earned the nickname “Ol’ Sourdough.”

But there’s another bread that’s so deeply a part of the San Francisco experience, that it hasn’t even bubbled to the surface of our consciousness. We consider it no more part of our identity than breathing air or drinking water. And that bread, my friends, is Dutch Crunch.

Go to any sandwich shop in The City, and you’re guaranteed to see it – alongside the Rye, the Whole Wheat, and yes, the Sourdough. In the Netherlands, where it originates, it’s called Tigerbrood – named for the sweet crispy golden top that gives it that characteristic crunch.

This bread was a part of my childhood. When I left the Bay to go to college in San Diego, I didn’t realize it couldn’t be found everywhere else. Maybe because my dorm cafeteria, presumably overwhelmed by the demands of NorCal ex-pats, was one of the few places you could find it in the Southland. But once I left college, I realized that it was virtually absent from life down here.

You may be asking – what was it that made Dutch Crunch journey from Holland to San Francisco so specifically? But I ask of you – what is it that has kept it from taking root anywhere else?

So I’ve made it my mission to correct that mistake. I’ve tried the few scant recipes available on the internet, and found them all to be lacking. The few that are out there all fail to get that crunchy topping right. Made from a yeasted paste of rice flour and sugar, a topping that has the right consistency and sweetness right is key to making this bread shine.

This recipe is the result of several iterations of testing, and I’m positive it’s the best homemade Dutch Crunch recipe on the internet. For my sake – try it out, make yourself a sandwich, and spread the gospel far and wide.

Dutch Crunch Sandwich Rolls