Dutch Crunch Bread

Recently I tried my own Dutch Crunch Bread as I have had it several times and love it in 'loaf' and roll form for straight consumption or to build a massive sandwich!  What is it? You may ask...

The following quote is credited to Bacon Press, (as I try to keep it short and sweet here on my site for you) I find this paragraph to sum up its origin. ->

Like your typical sourdough loaf or baguette, Dutch Crunch didn't originate here, although the name probably did. In the Netherlands, it's known as Tijgerbrood and sold in the UK as "Tigerbread". It gets its name from the color and texture of the crust, which is striped with dark brown crunchy spots with light blond bread peeking out from underneath. The crust gets its flavor and texture from washing the top prior to baking with a mixture rice flour, butter, yeast, sugar, and salt. The final product is a mildly sweet, light, and fluffy white loaf with a somewhat crunchy, savory crust. ~ Bacon Press 

In addition, I find that Dutch Crunch Bread is a 'bay area' California thing and does not reach far out of this area...as in its prevalent in all our grocery stores and bakeries.  Supposedly the name originated from San Francisco when the bakeries there started making it.

My attempt to make it did produce a good tasting product, BUT I found two mistakes in my own rendition:

1. I made my dough too soft and I was not using a baguette pan, so my bread was a little 'flatter' in shape than I wanted. (but that's my own perfectionism kicking in)


2. After looking at several recipes I was led to believe I needed to coat the top of my dough with a much thicker coating than I thought was necessary for the 'Crunch' effect and taste.

I used my own Easy White Dough recipe and went HERE for the topping recipe.

*I researched Dutch Crunch Bread only to find most information about it was not referenced or researched extensively, so for that, I apologize in advance to my Dutchy friends if you find me in error!

Did you know we have videos now?

Please "LIKE" and SHARE our videos! (click on "thumbs up" under our videos)

Our goal is a weekly video post (or more) on simple "cookin" preparations for a variety of foods. We would love to hear from you! Email us at showtime@tyronebcookin.com

Basil Overload!

Here on my site and on Facebook, I posted my findings from my first 'Farm Fresh to You' home delivery organic food box.  Which was noted as having at least ten bunches of Basil in it!

Well of course even I couldn't use that much without getting sick of it!  So I cut the stems off and processed all the basil down with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and a few heads of garlic.  Then I scooped the mixture into a Ziploc bag and cut the corner off.  I piped the whole bag into two ice cube trays and put them in the freezer for future use!

I would have made pesto but I don't like what the freezer does to cheese (Parmesan) and nuts (pine nuts, or in my case I like to use roasted sunflower kernels, their cheaper too!) which are both ingredients of pesto.

Later when you want to cook something with a little garlic and basil 'zip' you just throw in a cube or two while cooking or sauteing.  They also use this ice cube trick with stock (chicken, beef, pork...) too, so if you are only cooking in small amounts you can throw a few frozen 'stock' cubes into the pan or food to meltdown and help the flavor.

Did you know we have videos now?

Please "LIKE" and SHARE our videos! (click on "thumbs up" under our videos)

Our goal is a weekly video post (or more) on simple "cookin" preparations for a variety of foods. We would love to hear from you! Email us at showtime@tyronebcookin.com

Make Ricotta Cheese: its easy!

Over at Stumptown Savoury, Gareth has an excellent blog that I enjoy.  He also has a post about making ricotta cheese at home, which is great because I can share it with you! (without having to write about it again myself)

I have tested doing it the way he says and it came out as good as his pictures show.  Here is the link  Home Creamery: Whole Milk Ricotta.  Come on people, it has four ingredients: Milk, Heavy Cream, Citric Acid, & Salt!

What can you make with Ricotta?  Lasagna, Manicotti, desserts...Gareth has already listed two more ideas on his site to go with his ricotta recipe. (just click Stumptown Savoury above)

Also, there is a link on his site for ordering citric acid which is one of the ingredients...But if you don't want to wait maybe this will do the trick for you:

I have had great success in finding Sour Salt (brand ROKEACH) in the Kosher section of Safeway food stores. Sour Salt IS citric acid, check the ingredients there is only one – citric acid.

About 5 1/2 ounces for $2.19 – plenty of cheese making citric acid.

Did you know we have videos?

Please "LIKE" and SHARE our videos! (click on "thumbs up" under our videos)

Our goal is a weekly video post (or more) on simple "cookin" preparations for a variety of foods. We would love to hear from you! Email us at showtime@tyronebcookin.com

Pork Meatballs with Chorizo Seasoning

Anybody out there had Chorizo before?  Well for those of you who have and know what I am talking about, you can buy a packet of seasoning called Chorizo Seasoning/Spices.  Usually on the 'quick pick' rack of various seasonings not on the spice aisle in your grocery store, but on the international or ethnic aisle.  In the Hispanic/Spanish section - usually right next to the severely limited 'Asian' section - in one of those 99 cents bags.

So an idea came to me to use it with some ground pork for meatballs.  My wife is allergic to beef so I use different meats to create meatballs when we get the urge for a good meatball sandwich, with spaghetti, or some other kind of way.

Basically, for one pound of ground pork, I used 1 Tablespoon Chorizo Seasoning, 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, salt & pepper, a few bread crumbs, and fennel seed I had toasted then ground.

(next time I would add a minced shallot!)

I cooked my meatballs on top of the stove browning them nicely then finishing them in a 350-degree oven.  Sauteing some thick sliced 'baby Bella' mushrooms and adding in a quick marinara (combined in a processor) with fire-roasted tomatoes, a little tomato paste, garlic, and roasted red bell peppers...Later adding only oregano, salt, and pepper.  Then add the meatballs back into the sauce.

We had the meatballs and sauce over farfalle (bowtie) pasta.  I served basil and sundried tomato dip (basil also courtesy of the box) made with cream cheese with the fresh carrots and broccoli from the 'Farm Fresh to You' box.

Did you know we have videos?

Please "LIKE" and SHARE our videos! (click on "thumbs up" under our videos)

Our goal is a weekly video post (or more) on simple "cookin" preparations for a variety of foods. We would love to hear from you! Email us at showtime@tyronebcookin.com

Farm Fresh To You

I recently found out about a service available to me here locally (Northern California - San Jose area) thanks to Brandi who enjoys good food as much as I do and of course us 'foodies' usually look out for each other.

Farm Fresh To You.  Here is a snippet from their site: 

Welcome To Farm Fresh To You

As people are becoming increasingly interested about where their food comes from and how it was grown, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is becoming a popular alternative for getting high quality food from a trusted local farm. Currently over 800 families are participating in our family farm's CSA, Farm Fresh To You. By joining our CSA these families are connecting directly to our farm and receiving regular deliveries of nutrient rich, mouth watering, organic produce delivered directly to their home or office. See how it works or why join Farm Fresh To You.

Some of the things I like about it is:

• I can cancel anytime


• Home delivery - choice of weekly, bi-weekly, monthly


• Customized your delivery


• Satisfaction guaranteed

Customer service seems to be 'on the ball' too...last night I emailed a request to have something added to my 'box' and received a reply first thing this morning!

We'll see how it goes and maybe take some pictures from 'the box'.  Produce changes as to what's available changes.  There are many choices for different types of boxes.

Did you know we have videos?

Please "LIKE" and SHARE our videos! (click on "thumbs up" under our videos)

Our goal is a weekly video post (or more) on simple "cookin" preparations for a variety of foods. We would love to hear from you! Email us at showtime@tyronebcookin.com

Ice Cream That Doesn't Melt?

Ice Cream That Doesn't Melt? - Restaurant News - QSR Magazine.

And it has Jello-O pudding flavors?

Cold Stone Creamery's Tastemaster, Ray Karam, has created a new form of ice cream, JELL-O® pudding ice cream.

What I don't like about this claim is supposedly when or if the ice cream melts at room temperature it turns into pudding.  To me, this seems like a gimmick.  When ice creams are made they are usually with dairy cream and/or  'custard type' base.  So why would it be a stretch to use pudding?  Pudding would be considered a 'fast food' cousin to the custard would it not?

So let's say I made some pudding, then used the pudding in my 'ice cream maker' to make ice cream...when my ice cream melts it will still be pudding right?

I'm not knocking the ice cream if it tastes good, but it's not exactly a new form of ice cream, is it?  The story says it was developed through "rigorous testing & tasting".  You be the judge.