12/2/2010 - Vienna Bread

According to Peter Reinhart, Vienna was at one time the center of the bread universe and the true origin of many of the French breads we love today. This formula for Vienna bread is like a French or Italian bread formula with a few enrichments added; my take is that it's sort of a cross between French or Italian bread and white sandwich bread. Included with this formula is a grace note about Dutch crunch topping. This is a yeasted, slightly sweet paste that is brushed on the bread before baking to leave a crunchy coating on the top crust. It can be applied to any bread; PR suggests it for this formula, so I gave it a try.

This formula makes use of a preferment called pâte fermentée, which I made up the evening before and kept in the fridge overnight. The formula calls for 2 1/3 cups of preferment and the formula for the preferment makes 3 cups; I went ahead and used all 3 cups of preferment. In the morning I mixed my dry ingredients while the pâte fermentée warmed on the countertop. I added it and the wet ingredients, mixed and kneaded my dough, and left it to rise for two hours. It doubled during that time, so I kneaded it lightly to degas and returned it to the bowl to double a second time. I divided my dough in half, shaped two loaves, and set them on a sheet pan to proof for an hour or so. Then I mixed up the Dutch crunch paste and left it to ferment while the bread proofed. While the oven preheated, I brushed my Dutch crunch topping on the loaves. There was a lot of topping; I decided to use it all, so it was spread pretty thick. I baked the loaves hearth style for about 30 minutes and then set them on a rack to cool.


I quite liked this bread; it makes a nice, slightly fancier stand-in for normal sandwich bread. The crunchy topping was fun and added a slight sweetness. We especially enjoyed this one toasted. I think in the future I will try halving the recipe for the Dutch crunch paste. While it wasn't bad the way it was, the bread definitely didn't need that much.