H2H - Going 'Dutch' with a German Sunflower Seed Bread

What do I mean? Let me explain - the brief snippit.

I used two versions of the 'Dutch Crunch' on the same German Bread.

For the 'longer' version...
A friend invited me over to her new house for tea. Since I couldn't come empty handed *for Asians, it can be considered rude visiting a friend without bringing something* or rather I wanted an excuse to try something new I decided on bread since I had most of the ingredients in the pantry.

Decided on the beautiful Sonnenblumenbrot generously shared by Jude.

For the Pâte Fermentée (Pre-fermented Dough)
60g bread flour
40g water
Pinch instant yeast
Pinch salt

For Final Dough
all of the soaker
242g bread flour
124g water
1 tsp salt
1 tsp instant yeast
15g light golden syrup
25g sunflower seeds

Method as described in Jude’s post. Note that I didn't have any cracked rye so I just omitted this and instead added the sunflower seeds into the bread mixture.

Enchanted by the crunch topping contributed by Karen of BakeMyDay and just waiting for the opportune time to use it. This is the ratio I used in orange:

100 gr rice flour (used 25g)
1/4 tsp salt (used a pinch)
1 tsp sugar (used
1/4 tsp)
1/2 tsp yeast (used a pinch)
400 gr boiling water (used about 80g as it was getting a
little watery)
[1 tsp oil] (used a drop or two)

Mix everything to a paste, adding the boiling water while
stirring vigorously (you don't want clumps like I had) and let cool to lukewarm.
Right before you're ready to apply, mix in the oil. Spread your shaped but not
risen bread with the paste, using your fingers or a brush. It will look and feel
like wall paper glue, thick and white opaque.

Cover your shaped loaves and let rest for their second rise and bake off as usual. Depending on how thick your layer it on your bread will get stark or less defined crunchy spots.

To be honest, until I downloaded the pictures I thought the bread may be a little burnt (on the dark side). But viewing the pictures now, I really like the cool golden dark streaks!!
Side note - covered the bread with a tent after 20 min as it was getting too dark.

All the way to my friend's place, the aroma from the bread was just intoxicating. Regretted not making another for the family.

Well since I didn't have an opportunity to try it, I decided to bake one for our house the next day. I wasn't entirely satisfied with the earlier surly Dutch crunch as I thought it was suppose to be a little more 'pasty' - I mean after all I did want to achieve some spots stripes. So for the second bread, I used less water and ended up with a slightly thicker paste, just enough to dilute the rice flour into a smooth mixture.

Version 2 (still had leftovers for another loaf or two)
18g g rice flour
pinch of salt
4 pinches of sugar
pinch of yeast
2 tbsp boiling water (or a little more, sufficient to mix the flour to a smooth paste)
[A drop or two of olive oil]

Yep, got my spotted wish!

The final bake. Hm, interesting look but thought the 'spots' were not dark enough. Reason was that the top of the bread was browning too quickly and so I don on a tent after 10min in the oven.

I liked the bread, the centre was soft and tasty with bits of sunflower seeds. Somehow for the edges, I kept on thinking that it tasted slightly nutty, a bit like 'peanut butter'!! M said I was lucky. Ha ha

The MOST exciting part of this bake was the bread 'singing' as it was cooling - snap and crackle....definitely music to my years! Ha ha, can't blame me for my excitement as this is my first 'musical' bread!

For that reason, I'll be submitting these streaky swingers for yeast sporting by Susan of WildYeast.

One final question....

From Marty (Zebra) of Madagascar: Am I black with white spots stripes or white with black stripes? Lolz