Each countries have their original bread. For instance, France has Baguette and Croissant, UK has Tin bread and Muffin, Denmark has Danish. These are so famous that people who vist there are going to eat them. Well, what kind of bread comes to mind when you hear Japanese bread? Actually, in Japan, there are a lot of delicious breads and these are called "Souzai Pan". In spite of their popularity in Japan, most of them is not recognized by foreign. They are various so you can enjoy a lot of the taste and the looks.
What does "Souzai Pan" mean?
Souzai means the dishes accompanying the rice and Pan means bread. So Souzai Pan is a bread which is put a dish in or on it. If it is not dishes but sweets, it is called "Kashi Pan" (kashi means sweets). they are various like dishes and sweets are so. Moreover they are so popular and you can buy them in any markets or convenience stores or bakeries. Many Japanese often eat them as breakfast or lunch because they are cheap and delicious.
The beginning of Souzai Pan
First one; An Pan
The first is "An pan"(An means sweet bean jam). It was made by Yasubei Kimura and Eisabro Kimura who are the proprietor of 'Kmuraya Sohonten' in 1875. It became popular and it was presented to Meiji Emperor.
Second one; Jam Pan
And Kimura Gishirou who was a third generation of 'kimuraya Souhonten' made "Jam Pan" in 1900. This jam was apricot one. In Japan, strawberry one is more popular than apricot now but strawberry was cultivated after about 1912.
Third one; Cream Pan
Cream Pan was made by Aiba couple who are the proprietor of 'Shinjoku Nakamuraya' in 1904. When they ate a cream puff for the first time, they were surprised at the taste. Thus they wondered if putting cream into a bread, it might be deliciuos.
Top 10 of the popular bread in Japan
Various breads are sold by many companies and this is the ranking of them.You can buy them from convenience stores or supermarkets in Japan.Because of the low price and the good taste,many Japanese eat them as their breakfast or lunch.
1.Passo White Cheese Pan of Japanese wheat
The white dough is soft. Cream cheese and dice cheese are in it. The balance of sourness and salt is compatible with the dough.
2.Yamazaki Lunchpack Tarutaru Fish Fry and Egg
This is one of Lunchpack series. The fish is a white-meat fish and the sourness of Tarutaru source is very good for accent. Thus you don't taste oily when you eat it.
3.Yamazaki Lunchpack Tsuna Cheese & Ume Tuna & Tsuna Potato
This is one of Lunchpack series. There are 3 of Tsuna so it makes your lunch time fun.
4.Fujipan Wasaroll
Wasabi is a Japanese spice so it is spicy a little bit. You can taste better if you heat up it.
5.Yamazaki Lunchpack Chickenkatsu with Ume and Tsuna mayonnaise
This is one of Lunchpack series. Chickenkatsu seems like fried-chicken and Ume is a Japanese apricot. Tsuna mayonnaise is popular in Japan.
6.Yamazaki Menchkatsu Denish
A big menchikatsu is in the denish. Menchikatsu is a Japanese dish that minced meat of pork or beef is fried. It is in the denish so you might be full when you finish eating this.
7.Fujipan Mentai and Mochi Cheese
Mentai is eggs of salmon with spice. This is often eaten with rice but it is also delicious when you eat it with bread. Mochi is a traditional Japanese cake so, at first, you might think the combination of Mochi and Cheese is weird. However, you're goin to change your mind after eating it, for sure.
8.Itopan A Mochiwheat Pan of Salty Tangle and Steamed Chicken
Mochiwheat is a kind of wheats and it is springy like a Mochi. This is made Japanese taste using salty tangle. it is good when you want to eat a something light dish.
9.Yamazaki Rice flour Pan Tuna Corn
Tsuna with corn is popular in Japan like the canned is sold. The dough is soft becouse of rice flour.
10.Yamazaki Onion Cheese Pan
A lot of onion and chees are in it. You are going to like it if you don't like the Japanese taste.
Kinds of weird Souzai Pan
There are too many Souzai Pan and all of them is delicious because the seller makes a big point of the taste. However, Suigyokudo, which is a bakery in Saitama prefecture, focuses on how unique their breads are.
Suigyokudou
The look is so simple that you can feel relaxing atmosphere. It looks calm but their breads are so weird that they attract to a lot of costumers. They make original breads when the chief events of the year come. All of them breaks ordinary concepts about bread. The owner never taste them before they are sold. That's because he doesn't afford to eat them. If he ate, the cost would be over the budget. Anyway, he doesn't know the taste of his weird breads.
Valentine's Day
Everyone buys or eats chocolates at the Valentine's Day. So there are many kinds of chocolate's sweets. Of couse, there are also various chocolate's breads. Then, the owner decided to make a new bread for the Valentine's Day and he did try and error. Finally, he made this simple one. A slab of chocolate just put into a bread.
Christmas Day
Christmas is a special day for most people. They usually eat a turky or a cake at the Christmas and these foods make the special atmosphere. The owner thought he made a new bread for the christmas and this one was sold.
Of course, the owner makes not only these unique breads but nomal ones and all of them are delicious. However, when the other events come, the owner makes a new bread. For sure, the looks and tastes of them are so unique. This bakery is walking in own way.
Popular Bakery
DONQ
Genjiro Fujii began to a bakery business in 1905. The name was"Fujii Pan" because his family's name was Fujii. Then his son succeeded to that and built DONQ in 1947. The name was derived from Don Quixote because his father, Genjiro Fujii, was a daredevil person. DONQ's feature is that they are a scratch bakery. That means they do all progress of making bread by themselves. This way makes the best use of wheat so that's why their all breads are delicious.
ANDERSEN
Shunsuke Takagi, who is the founder, ate danish pastry in Copenhagen and then he was impressed in the taste. So Andersen follows the Denmark's way and Andersen was named from Hans Christian Andersen, who was a Danish fairy tales writer. They have their own site written in English.
VIE DE FRACE
Yamasaki Pan, which is a major bread's company in Japan, and Les grands moulins de Paris, which is a miller in France, cooperated to build this bakery in 1983. They established a cafe space in their bakery. The number of that is over 200 (include the franchise moments). As you guess, they follow the French way. they have their own site written in English.
KOUBEYA
It was founded at Osaka in 1918. Their motto is 'Every breads are always hot and freshly cooked. They never use a food additive in their breads and they want customers to eat the originally taste of ingredients. Their way to make breads is that they don't use the yeast food and the emulsifying agent which a lot of bakeries use for making the prices cheaper.
There are a lot of bakeries in Japan. All of them have their peculiar features. When you are in Japan and have no idea what you have as breakfast or lunch, you should try to have Souzai Pan. It is probable that you are satisfied with them. If you don't be so, you can try others because they are various. You can definitely find your favorite one. So let's check them out!