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Portuguese Introduced Bread to Japan!? |
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In Japan, bread is the second staple food next to rice. As there are various types of breads around the world, Japan also has their traditional bread. Before I talk about Japanese bread, let me tell you how the Japanese met bread. It was 460 years ago that the Japanese were introduced to bread. One day in 1543, a Portuguese ship came to Japan accidentally because of a terrible storm and the Japanese saw the Portuguese eating something unfamiliar. That was bread! However, the majority of Japanese were not allowed to eat this Western food because Japan didn't have diplomatic relations with other countries at the time. During this period, bread was baked only for the Dutch living in the southern part of Japan. When a new era started and the Japanese government began to propel the Western culture, bread was finally permeated into the Japanese culture. That was about 150 years ago. This movement became the turning point that changed the Japanese food culture. But despite the government's policy to change the staple food from rice to bread, the Japanese still preferred rice over bread until a very unique bread was invented: anpan. |
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Japanese Style Bread is Born! |
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Have you ever heard of anpan? An means sweet bean paste and pan means bread. Just as the name implies, this is a type of bread with red bean paste filling. Anpan is the oldest type of bread in Japan and was invented in 1873 by a man interested in bread. In those days, bread was still not very popular among the Japanese, so he decided to invent a bread that would become popular with every Japanese. He noticed that there was a popular food that was similar to a bun called a sake-manjyu, which was stuffed with sweet bean paste. The sweet bean paste was wrapped in a soft dough-type crust using yeast. He tried to make something similar using the yeast in bread, and discovered that he was able to make the softest bread. He stuffed this bread with sweet bean paste like a sake-manjyu, and finally the first anpan was made! The Japanese welcomed this new product and it became very popular! After the anpan was introduced, other types of bread with filling were invented. For example, jam pan, (custard) cream pan, etc. There is the baguette from France, the nan from India, and the anpan from Japan. Each country has its traditional bread. How wonderful! Here, I will show you how to make anpan. You can make the dough easily with the Zojirushi Breadmaker!
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Let’s Make Anpan! |
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| When I think of Anpan and how it came about, I think of the Japanese furoshiki. Furoshiki is a cloth that is used to wrap things up in Japan. The Japanese like to wrap everything up with beautiful paper or cloth. Let’s wrap red bean paste or whatever you like with dough to make Japanese bread! |
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| * Sweet red beans (available at any Japanese supermarket) |
| * Jam (can be made in Zojirushi breadmakers) |
| * Chocolate bars |
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| 1. |
Prepare the filling ingredients. |
| 2. |
Prepare the bread dough using Zojirushi breadmakers’ DOUGH setting. |
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Divide the dough into balls. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each ball to 4-inches in diameter. Make the center thick and the edge think. |
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Place 3 on the palm of your hand, and place your ingredient in the center. Wrap it up to make a ball. |
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Bake until the top of the bread turns brown (about 12 minutes) at 380 degrees. |
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[to Part 2] |
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