#Dutch crunch bread l.a. full#

Ike Shehadeh of Ike’s fame says he always specifically wanted a softer roll. Dutch crunch can dry out after a day or soften if it sits in plastic, but crunch level is also a matter of preference. They bake it fresh in the morning, wrap it in paper, and drop it at Guerra’s same day, to preserve that hallmark texture.īiting into a Guerra’s sandwich is definitely a crunchier experience compared to other bread around the Bay. Costeaux’s Dutch crunch is dark golden and truly crunchy. And they don’t skimp on the topping, which sometimes overflows onto the pans (but makes a delicious snack). “If people are fans, they really take a liking to it.” He explains that they use butter in the bread, which is more expensive, but adds flavor. “Our Dutch crunch gets rave reviews,” says CEO Will Seppi, who took over from his parents. First owned by an Italian family, then a French family, it’s now an all-purpose operation, supplying sandwich bread to roughly a hundred surrounding restaurants and markets. It turns out Guerra’s is getting their Dutch crunch from Costeaux French Bakery, a nearly hundred-year-old bakery in Healdsburg. “I’m a stickler for quality and consistency, otherwise, it has no place in our shop.” “Coming from a strict Italian household, we have a high bar for ingredients,” Guerra says. They’ve been working with the same bakery for the past few years, and the crunch is a consistent fan favorite with customers.

#Dutch crunch bread l.a. full#

It first opened as a butcher on Taraval Street and 22nd in 1954, and expanded to a full market when they moved up to Taraval and 15th in 1988, which is now known for meaty sandwiches, stuffed with salami, coppa, and provolone.Ĭoming from an Italian-American family with roots in Lucca, Robert Guerra was on the hunt for crisp ciabatta, when he just happened to find a bakery that also sells excellent Dutch crunch. Guerra Quality Meat is an old-school butcher shop in the Parkside, now run by the second generation of the family. “And if the options were white, wheat, sourdough, or Dutch crunch, it was like, what’s Dutch crunch? Texturally, it’s really satisfying … and once you have it for the first time, you’re going to keep ordering it.” And of course, once locals have grown up eating something, there’s always a sugar sparkle of sandwich nostalgia. “The thing about Dutch crunch is that you didn’t really see it in grocery stores,” he says.

Michelin-starred chef Brandon Jew grew up eating it as a hungry teenager, buying big sandwiches after school from Mister Pickle’s on the Peninsula. (Although at least one small child in England has petitioned to call it giraffe bread, to better describe its markings.) It’s not Californian at all - most sources agree that it comes from tijgerbolletjes in the Netherlands, known as tiger bread elsewhere in Europe. Let’s go crunching for answers.Īs local sandwich fans already know, Dutch crunch is an otherwise unremarkable white roll, but it has a mixture of rice flour and sugar brushed over, creating that magical crackle or crinkle topping. The one exception? This reader says that the best and last true Dutch crunch in the Bay Area is at Guerra’s, that old-school Italian-American butcher shop.

The Dutch was denser, crunchier, and had a buttery flavor in the densest parts of the crust.” growing up being pretty different from what you get at most delis these days. “I don’t know if you’re from around here,” my fellow millennial said. So much so that a reader reached out, in search of the crunchiest crunch. San Francisco may not have an iconic sandwich, but we do have a favorite sandwich bread - there’s kind of an obsession with Dutch crunch in the Bay.