Tiger bread (Dutch: Tijgerbol) or Dutch crunch is made with sesame oil and with a pattern baked into the top made by painting rice paste onto the surface prior to baking.[1] The paste dries and cracks during the baking process, creating a two-colour effect similar to a tiger's markings, hence the name. The rice paste crust also gives the bread a distinctive flavour. It has a crusty exterior, but is soft inside. Typically, tiger bread is made as a white bread bloomer loaf or bread roll, but the technique can be applied to any shape of bread. Some supermarkets in the UK have taken to naming the shapes of bread, such as Tiger Tails for sticks, Tiger Paws for small rolls, and Tiger Chest for the large loafs. Tiger bread originates from the Netherlands, where it is known as tijgerbrood and has been sold at least since the early 1970s but probably originates from the time when the Netherlands had trade with South East Asia.
It is sold as "Dutch crunch" in delis throughout the San Francisco Bay Area,[1] Sacramento, and other parts of California and Oregon that are served by Winco Foods and Save Mart supermarkets, but is little known in the United States outside that region. Recently, Raley's Supermarkets and its chain of stores in the Sacramento metropolitan area began to produce and sell traditional Dutch style tiger bread as "Dutch Crust". In the United States it is also sometimes known as dragonette bread.