Episode 179: Japanese Sweets

Andrea’s cookie catalog continues to expand and the latest addition to her line-up is the Chocolate Chip Cookie from Baking at République by Margarita Manzke. Will this new cookie rival her classic favorite, the Best Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie? Only time will tell! Stefin reminds Andrea of her favorite, Carolynn’s Chocolate Chip Cookie from Martha Stewart.

Bake Along: Shokupan Japanese Fluffy White Bread from Chopstick Chronicles

The hosts kick off Japanese month with shokupan, a delicious, soft, fluffy white bread. While Japanese milk bread is a new bake for both hosts, Listeners have posted previous recipes of the Kindred Milk Bread and discussed the Tangzhong method at length in the Facebook Listeners group. Andrea reviews the differences between the Yudane and Tangzhong methods and discovers that King Arthur Flour has a technique to translate a standard yeast bread recipe into one using tangzhong. If you bake along, be sure to start one day earlier, as the yudane needs to sit overnight.

Andrea and Stefin are going to use their regular loaf pans, although it appears this recipe would do better in a Pullman loaf pan.

Listeners, do you have a Pullman Loaf Pan? Do you use it?

Watch this helpful video for a review of all the steps in making the shokupan.

Anmitsu

Andrea’s fascinated with her newest Netflix obsession, Kantaro: The Sweet Tooth Salaryman. The story is about a publishing sales rep who attempts to wrap up his work quickly each day so he can visit some of the best sweet shops Toyko has to offer. Netflix describes the show as “quirky, absurd, feel good and goofy” and Andrea especially enjoys that the show is filmed on location in real Japanese sweet shops. The first episode is about anmitsu, a traditional Japanese dessert made with cubes of agar and anko; a variety of fruits such as peach slices, kiwis and cherries; green tea ice cream; and a topping of black sugar syrup, or mitsu. Wow! Here’s a photo from blogger Nami over at Just One Cookbook, take a look and see how beautiful anmitsu can be.

Listeners, have you ever had anmitsu?

Previously on Preheated …

Three Years Ago: Episode 29: I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream

Two Years Ago: Episode 78: Sweet Frozen Treats

One Year Ago: Episode 127: Completely Corny

———————————————————————————————————— If  you’re intrigued by our podcast, make it easy on yourself and subscribe on Apple Podcasts. That way you can listen to more than one episode, and have them download automatically on your phone or tablet. You can also bake along with us and share photos in our Facebook group, Preheated Baking Podcast Listeners. Finally, if you’d like a weekly email when our episode drops with the complete show notes and recipes, sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Amazon links are affiliate, meaning we receive a few cents when you purchase through our link.