The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Hi from Kyoto, Japan! New to bread baking and hoping to learn a lot from you all :)

crumbs's picture
crumbs

Hi from Kyoto, Japan! New to bread baking and hoping to learn a lot from you all :)

Hi. I've been baking since just before Christmas last year when I found a bread recipe on a site I was looking at to find ideas for Christmas. Well, my first bread wasn't great, but it did at least rise and with plenty of jam tasted good ;) This was, in my eyes, a moderate success and so I decided to try again, and again and again, until I finally got bread worth eating on its own. Since then, I've been baking a couple of times a week, mostly using recipes from Peter Reinhart's wonderful books.

I joined the forum to get (and maybe give once I am more experienced) advice about how to improve my bread, my techniques and knowledge of ingredients and the science behind the dough. From what I've read so far there are plenty of talented, passionate and creative people on here and I am pleased to join such a nice community of people and looking forward to sharing information and ideas.

proth5's picture
proth5

I'm spending some time in Okinawa - and I've seen some gorgeous breads here. I'm sure Kyoto has its share of great breads.

Plenty of stuff to learn here at TFL.

Happy Baking!

crumbs's picture
crumbs

Proth5: There are a few good bakeries in Kyoto, but I find that wholemeal breads and anything other than French, Italian or Japanese style (anzu donuts etc.) are rather underrepresented here. There are certainly some places you can find other types of bread, but on the whole, there is too much white bread and many Japanese people don't seem to like crust, which is sad, because crust is awesome!

Anyway, it was partly the lack of the kind of breads I really like (brown, wholegrain seedy and nutty breads) that got me into baking, so it's all good :)

What kind of bread has taken your fancy in Okinawa?

proth5's picture
proth5

are beautiful, but not - to my taste - very flavorful.

The bakery near my hotel makes a beautiful pain de mie that has a cust that looks like a parquet floor.  I would love to duplicate this with my own dough, to get both beauty and flavor.  Unfortunately I have no access to baking facilities while I am here...

They also make a sort of baguette like bread that appears to be partly laminated.  That is fascinating.

You are right, there seems to be a lot of white bread and very few whole grain loaves.  Even my colleagues have remarked on it.

Happy Baking!