Yakitate! 焼きたて！

When Melissa visited last summer, she loved the characters from the show Yakitate! Japan. Yakitate means something like "hot and fresh." Since "pan" is the Japanese word for "bread," Hot/fresh Ja-pan is a cute pun. The Japanese initially learned about bread from Portugeuse missionaries (and later Dutch as well) in the 16th century, which is why "pan" is called "pan."

Recently, Ryan and I have been watching many slow-moving, dialouge-overloaded episodes (i.e. anime) of this show in which Azuma Kazuma and Friends work to be the best breadmakers ever. Azuma's goal is (very cute) to create a bread called "Japan" that will be more delicious than rice. It will also represent Japan to the world, as French bread represents France. Ryan loves it for the drama and wierdness and I love it for the drama of Ryan being super happy about a bread cartoon of all things. There's a lot of yelling from the computer (where we watch it) and from Ryan on the couch.

Anyway, the point is, we were getting a bit down about not having an oven lately, since we both love to bake and create. Ovens have yet to become a staple of the Japanese household. In our apartment, we live using a 2 range gas stove, a rice cooker and microwave. So, especially after watching the bread show we truly desired to make some homestyle bread! Japanese bread is very different from Western bread, it's very spongy/doughy feeling, most breads here are wonder-bread-white and it's difficult to find nutrient&fiber-filled wheaty bread. While the breads here are yummy, I really miss the not so sweet, yet flavorful, wheat bread loaf that you can find for just 60 cents in any U.S. market (or, better yet, fresh and for free at Ryan's Mom's house!). Also since eating brown grains is known to prevent weight gain around the belly and the fiber in brown breads is VERY important in digestion and can also assist in dieting or just daily calorie balance ^_^

So we were delighted when the 27th episode of Yakitate! Japan demonstrated how to cook bread in a rice maker! I made my first (and second) ever loaf(ves) of bread yesterday!

The first loaf was milk-tea (chai)! (Sorry, for some reason this upright picture only tranlates sideways.)
It's a white bread loaf (only white flour in Toke! Wheat'll require a trip to the big city) using a bit of brown sugar and milk tea mix. The texture is a little heavy, yet soft/fluffy and the taste is sweet with a hint of tea spice flavors--good for eating while having black tea!


The second was made with cranberries and oats. It was a bit like a soft scone really. It was thicker and a bit more crumbly than the first since the oats soaked up the extra water I added while baking. Next time, the plan add a bit more water and some marmalade jam to make an oaty orange-cranberry flavored bread! YAY!


In other news, Ryan wore the 1/2 piano-key necktie I found for $4 for him in Harajuku! When he stepped into the living room that morning I thought he was on his way to go play in a ska band, but instead he just went to school and recieved many many compliments and even played a duet rendition of "Heart and Soul" on his necktie with a student.

So Completely Charming He Is.