Making Tiger bread at home isn’t difficult at all once you know how! Follow my tips on how to make a perfect Tiger loaf with that trademark golden, mottled crust.
Making bread is my new favourite thing. I LOVE it. It’s possible I love it even more than making cakes. I am fascinated by the science and magic behind making your own bread – I never get tired of watching the dough rise! Or maybe I need to get out more.
This tiger bread is just divine fresh from the oven spread with butter, but it also keeps very well for a couple of days. It toasts beautifully. Make this and I promise you, you’ll never buy supermaket tiger bread again!
what is tiger bread?
Tiger bread is simply a white bloomer style loaf with a mottled golden crust that is supposed to resemble tiger stripes. It is known as Tijgerbrood in the Netherlands.
The golden crust is made with a yeasted paste made from sesame oil and rice flour. The paste is brushed over the top of the bread before baking which produces a beautiful loaf with a golden, mottled crust. The sesame oil gives a lovely flavour, so I wouldn’t recommend you skip it – it’s not the same without it. It’s quite a unique taste, which of course is what makes Tiger bread special.
are tiger bread and giraffe bread the same thing?
Do you remember tiger bread hitting the headlines several years ago? Apparently, a little girl sent a letter to a national supermarket suggesting that the mottled crust on top of the bread looked more like a giraffe than a tiger and it should be renamed. The letter ended up going viral and as a result, “tiger” bread is now also known as “giraffe” bread!
is the rice flour essential?
In short, yes. Rice flour contains no gluten, so as the bread rises in the heat of the oven the paste cracks instead of stretching, creating a mottled effect. If you don’t want to buy a bag of rice flour just for making Tiger bread (and I totally get that – I can’t bear buying items to just make one recipe) you could also use it to make my Scottish Shortbread recipe.
looking for more bread recipes?
Perfect soft white sandwich loaf
Easy cheese soda bread (no yeast needed)
Easy Focaccia Bread with cherry tomatoes and thyme
soft and fluffy Brioche burger rolls
did you make this tiger bread recipe?
Let me know what you thought of the recipe by leaving a comment below and rate the recipe by clicking on the stars in the recipe card.
If you share a picture of your tiger bread on Instagram, don’t forget to tag me – I love to see what you’ve been baking!
Tiger Bread
It's not difficult at all to make Tiger bread - follow my tips on how to make the perfect tiger loaf with that classic golden mottled crust.
Ingredients
- 500g strong white bread flour
- 1x7g sachet fast action yeast
- 10g table salt
- 10g caster sugar
- 200ml water
- 100ml milk (not skimmed)
- 25g soft butter
- FOR THE SESAME PASTE
- *you will have more sesame paste than you actually need here, but in my experience I find it is not really worth halving the recipe because it's awkward to split a packet of yeast in half and it keeps very well in an airtight container for up to one week anyway. Once you make this bread you'll no doubt have requests to make it again (you could also make tiger rolls) so it shouldn't be too much of a problem, but if you want to halve the amount please do!*
- 1x7g sachet fast action yeast
- About 100ml warm water
- 2 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 60g rice flour
Instructions
- Place the flour, yeast, salt and sugar into a large bowl or stand mixer fitted with a dough hook (keep the salt and yeast at separate sides of the bowl).
- Gently warm the milk, water and butter in a small pan. Keep the heat low and don't let the mixture get hot. Once the butter begins to melt, take it off the heat and stir until the butter is completely melted. The liquid should be tepid - if it is too hot it will kill the yeast. Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients and mix to form a rough dough. Knead by hand for at least 10 minutes until the dough is very bouncy and elastic or knead in a stand mixer for 5-7 minutes. Turn the dough into an lightly oiled bowl and leave to prove for one-two hours or until doubled in size.
- While you're waiting for the dough to rise, make the paste for the tiger effect topping. In a small bowl, mix the yeast, warm water, sugar, salt, sesame oil and rice flour together until you have a smooth paste. If it is too thick you might need to add a few drops more water, too thin a little more flour. You're looking for a not too thin paste that coats the back of a spoon without dripping off.
- When the dough has proved, tip the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and lightly knead for a minute. Using one hand, stretch the dough out away from you. Fold the part you just stretched back into the middle. Turn the dough a little and repeat the stretching.This is giving your loaf stability and support so it will rise rather than spread out into a flat shape. Once the dough feels tight, cradle the dough in your hands and smooth and shape into a neat, tight ball.
- Pop on a lightly floured baking tray and using a palette knife, evenly smooth the sesame paste on the top and sides of the loaf, taking care not to deflate the dough. The paste needs to be thick enough that it doesn't trickle off the dough. Leave to prove uncovered for about 45 minutes or until doubled in size and springs back immediately when pressed lightly. Preheat the oven to 220C/200Fan/400F/gas mark 7.
- Bake the bread at 220C for ten minutes, then turn down the temperature to 200C/180Fan/350F/gas mark 6 and bake for a further 20-30 minutes or until golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Leave to cool slightly on a wire rack before devouring!
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 227Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 5mgSodium: 405mgCarbohydrates: 39gFiber: 2gSugar: 2gProtein: 7g
Calories and Nutritional information are provided by a third party application and should be viewed as indicative figures only.
Wow! This effect is brilliant and I love sesame seed!
Thanks Erika 🙂
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