Tiger tiger tiger!

In most supermarkets that have an in-store bakery, you can buy a type of bread called tiger bread. It's, in my opinion, probably the best shop-bought, mass-produced bread available - as far as bread that's come from the Chorleywood Bread Process, it's a definite winner. So I thought it would be nice to try making it myself... the only problem is, that there's a lot of debate as to what actually goes into tiger bread. But, going with the (admittedly dangerous) assumption that the internet will get things right when averaged across sufficient users, I've taken what I view as prevailing view (as there is clearly no consensus) from this forum thread. The base bread is a standard plain white loaf and is baked in the normal way except for being brushed with the tiger paste before going into the oven.

Tiger Bread

Ingredients

For the bread

• 500g Strong bread flour
• 300g Water
• 10g Salt
• 3/4 sachet Fast-acting dried yeast
• 10g Light olive oil

For the tiger paste

• 1/4 sachet Dried yeast
• 5tbsp Water
• 1 1/2 tsp Caster sugar
• 1 tsp Light olive oil
• 60g Rice flour

Method

1. Mix all the bread ingredients into a rough dough.
2. Tip out onto a large, clean work surface and knead until smooth and elastic.
3. Shape into a round and return to the mixing bowl. Cover and leave to rise until itroughly doubles in size.
4. Uncover and tip onto the lightly-floured work surface and squash all over using your fingertips to deflate the dough.
5. Knead for 5 minutes, divide and shape as required - I baked it as a loaf (mainly because I wanted to use the loaf tin David bought me for my birthday).
6. Cover and leave to prove for ~1hr-1hr30 until roughly doubled in size again.
7. Mix all of the ingredients for the tiger paste in a bowl and cover. Leave in a warm place for 25 minutes.
8. Spread the tiger paste over the loaf.
9. Place into an oven preheated to the maximum temperature, with a roasting tray of boiling water in the bottom.
10. After 10 minutes, turn the oven down to ~200C/Gas Mark 6 and continue to bake until done - about 40 minutes.
11. Remove from the tin and allow to cool on a wire rack before slicing.

Here's the dough just after shaping and ready for proving (end of step 5).After proving (end of step 6).

The tiger paste.The loaf ready for the oven (end of step 8).
Here's the finished loaf. The top didn't crackle - I wonder if I spread too thick a layer of the tiger paste on the top. Oh well. Bet it still tastes good though!