by The gourmet manga “Freshly baked !! Japan” by Takashi Hashiguchi, serialized in “Weekly Shonen Sunday” (Shogakukan) from 2001 to 2007. This work is a story about Kazuma Azuma, who has the warm hand of the sun, which is the best warm hand for bread fermentation and grows as a professional bread maker to make “Japan” that is delicious enough to surpass Japanese rice.
“Freshly baked !! Japan” started as an orthodox gourmet manga. In the story, after that, when Higashi got a job at a major bakery chain, “Pantasia”, he sought the store’s prestige and fought fiercely with other stores and rival chain stores at the bread competition. The reaction of the judges who ate bread was so intense that gourmet manga and gag manga-like elements became popular, and in 2004 it was made into TV animation.
The highlight of this work is the unique “bread” menu. “Melon sushi bread” is made by baking cookie dough and bread dough at an exquisite temperature, squeezing abundant melon-flavoured cream in the meantime, and “Haniwa Japan”, which is a tubular bread waffle dough filled with ripe mango. The many innovative menus are beautiful, and many of you may still dream of eating them someday. Most of the “bread” that appears in the film is still fiction 15 years after the end of the series, but you know that some “bread” are now commonplace in our diet. Is it?
It goes well with natto and miso soup !? Soy milk toast
First, “soy milk toast” appears in the memorable first episode of “Freshly baked !! Japan”.
A young eastern boy, who was fascinated by bread by chance, decided to make bread with his own hands for the first time to make his grandfather, who is a genuine American sect, recognize the deliciousness of bread. The condition that his grandfather presented was “bread that goes well with natto and miso soup.” To solve this complex problem of making delicious bread even if it is eaten with natto like rice, Higashi Shonen worked hard day and night with a bakery owner in the neighbourhood.
And the finished product is “soy milk toast”. Since natto and miso soup is made of soybeans, it is a unique dish that uses soymilk instead of milk, but now this “soymilk toast” has gained citizenship and can be purchased at some shops. Of course, there are many recipes for people who want to make it at home.
“Sea urchin chawanmushi bread” and “Gopan bagel”
“Oma Japan” or “sea urchin chawanmushi bread” that Higashi showed in the decisive battle with rival chain “Saint Pierre”. I use lousy bread with a lot of water made by my colleague Kawachi. A bowl of chawanmushi that does not exude egg liquid is reproduced with bread by hollowing out the contents and tapping the sides with a mallet. Also, the hollowed-out bread is cut into small pieces and stir-fried with a sea urchin to make “sea urchin” and put in chawanmushi, an irresistible dish for the sea urchin lovers. Nothing is the same, but bread-based menus such as “quiche bread” and “gratin bread” are now familiar.
Lastly, I would like to introduce “Gopan Bagel” devised by Shadow White, the eastern opponent at the world bread competition “Monaco Cup”. The bread dough uses phantom glutinous rice, a female crane, and rice dream, a low-fat beverage made from brown rice. Furthermore, to prevent the glutinous rice from becoming hard, it is a dish created by a unique cooking method of boiling and frying without baking the dough. “The judges praised Gopan bagels” as “the ultimate texture and taste that humankind has not yet experienced”, but bagels using glutinous rice are now available online and at some stores. It is widely used in people’s lives. If you haven’t eaten yet, why not experience the fascinating feeling of mochi?
The “bread” that appeared in “Freshly baked !! Japan” was like a dream at serialization. This time around, I’ve introduced some of the “bread” that have become part of our diet, but everything may become commonplace one day.
