Japan's Bakeries & Bread Culture

About this book

Written and produced in Japan by a Japanese author and a Japanese company — this is the complete guide to the bread Japan actually eats.

200 entries in eight parts, each in one fixed format — Overview, Signature Breads, Craft, Flour and Fire, and How to Visit and Enjoy. The old masters: Kimuraya's anpan, Pelican's Asakusa loaf, the port bakeries of Yokohama, Kobe and Hakodate. The everyday glories: yakisoba pan, curry pan, melon pan, cream pan and the humble koppe. Shokupan in all its forms, from school lunch to the premium nama loaf and the Nagoya morning set. Regional loaves from Hokkaido milk bread and Morioka's koppe counter to Fukuoka's mentaiko France and Okinawa's brown-sugar breads. The land itself — Hokkaido wheat, rice flour, tea, citrus and sake lees in the dough — and the craft underneath: sakadane and natural yeast, yudane, wood ovens, frying, lamination and the baker's night shift. Plus bread in the life of the town, the new sourdough and gluten-free waves, and a regional index and glossary to plan a journey by bakery instead of by map alone.

The 200 entries are bakeries, breads and bread cultures, not shop reviews: no shop is ranked and no shop's prices or hours are asserted — shops change them; cultures endure. No health claims are made for any food, and common allergens are stated honestly.