The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Hello from Tokyo and baking with sourdough, Japanese flours and Hoshino yeast

PDTokyo's picture
PDTokyo

Hello from Tokyo and baking with sourdough, Japanese flours and Hoshino yeast

HI there, I'm a beginner baker although I own and run a small Australian/NZ style meat pie shop near Jiyugaoka, Tokyo.  I have successfully made my own starter and even mad e a few loaves from it. Mixed results so far but edible. But in all honesty I am trying to find out more about how to use Hoshino dry active yeast and how to get the best from it. I want to try making a poolish using that and perhaps mixing that with some of my own starter.  Does anyone else here have any experience with Hoshino yeast? 

I look forward to hearing from you and being part of this group. 

idaveindy's picture
idaveindy

That gave me a blast from the past.  

Did you do that on purpose?   

Was this what you had in mind?  ;-)     https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/blueoystercult/godzilla.html

Welcome!

 

 

PDTokyo's picture
PDTokyo

Lol, no, sorry, but still a fun reference. Catchy song too. I always ha more of a London Calling vibe in my youth so, funny I end up in Japan. 


I really m based in Tokyo and really do have a little weekend meat pie shop. and have started learning to bake bread but my Japanese is terrible so I can't read a lot of info about the ingredients I use. I am lucky though that there seems to be a growing awareness of Japanese flours. And some of the yeasts here seem interesting. While I have made my own starter, I am interested in using a combo of both, my starter and Hoshino yeast for flavour. I was wondering if anyone has much experience with this. But I have found the choice of flours to be overwhelming too.
So anyone else here have any experience with baking in Japan or using Japanese ingredients? I would love to hear your experiences.  

Ruke's picture
Ruke

Hello, 

I was looking up the history of Hoshino Yeast and randomly found this post! 

I am a Japanese armature baker and have been baking with Hoshino Yeast on and off for about 7 years. I used to take Hoshino bread class when I lived in Japan. I highly recommend taking those lessons as I got to learn various types of bread with which Hoshino goes well. 

The bread I normally bake with Hoshino is Anpan (red bean bun). Hoshino has a mild sake scent, and I think it brings up the red bean flavor. 

Wild yeast sometimes give you a hard time. I can't even count how many times I failed. I recently came back to my old blog and started writing about my wild yeast journey, so please come check it out if you are interested :) It's called Yeastern Philosophy. 

Good luck with your baking!

 

Edo Bread's picture
Edo Bread

This is very interesting. I have many friends in Japan but no bakers and I haven't been able to share much information. I appreciate the posts.

Unfortunately looking for you blog is said the users have deleted it.

Ruke's picture
Ruke

Ah, one more thing! : If you are looking for Japanese flour that goes well with Hoshino Yeast, try Kitano Kaori and Haruyo Koi. You should be able to purchase them at Tomizawa shoten (baking store, there are bunch in Tokyo/Yokohama area). 

Here is a link to my blog: https://yeasternphilosophy.wordpress.com/

Happy Baking! 

 

Edo Bread's picture
Edo Bread

ありがとうございます

PDTokyo's picture
PDTokyo

Yes, thank you. We used haruyo koi in our pastry and recently we also tried haru yutaka which is lovely for bread (but for some reason really sticky and wet compared to other flours?) Right now we use Dolcie and a Hokkaido version of E65 four which is recommended for pastry and french style breads apparently.

By the way have you any experience using both Hoshino yeast and a starter together? Or a sponge or preferment using hoshino?

ありがとうございます。よいお年を

PDTokyo's picture
PDTokyo

Hi Edo Bread, I am very eager t learn more. I am not so interested in Japan bread ( though it would be interesting to make there are already so many people here making it and making it well), but I am really interested in learning how to apply it to more french style and Tartine style breads. I have been astounded by the sheer number of flours here, as well as the breads and textures themselves, I will have to check out your pages. 

Thank you for your response. Do you have much connection to japan yourself may I ask?

PDTokyo's picture
PDTokyo

Hi Ruke, はじめましてどうぞよろしく

Thanks for your reply. Yes I think Hoshino yeast is interesting and it also has several different varieties too which I don't quite understand but would like to try. I also like Shirakawa, but it seems very expensive. I have made my own starter and it has been an interesting journey. 

I will definitely look up your blog, great name by the way, it made me laugh.  Thank you

Ruke's picture
Ruke

Hello PDTokyo, こちらこそ、よろしくお願いします。

 

It's so nice that I get to talk about different kind of flours and yeasts since I don't get to meet people who have similar interest where I live (currently I live in the states). 

You might have found Japanese flours would get sticky if you used U.S. recipe. It is because Japanese flours (like Haruyokoi and Kitanokaori) have a bit less gluten than typical U.S. flours do. Most of the recipes that I had was based on using Japanese flour, so I needed to add a bit more water when I moved here and start baking with King Author flour. (My bread teacher in Japan reminded this before I moved here actually) 

I also make my own yeast using strawberry and blueberry, but I never mixed them with Hoshino. It would be an interesting experiment :) I am also interested in trying different kind of Hoshino too! They have a specific kind for French bread, so I would love to try that. U.S. doesn't sell Hoshino, so I just buy bunch when I get to go home. 

Thanks for checking out my blog!  

Peavey's picture
Peavey

Hello,

I stumbled across this thread while doing research on Hoshino Natural Leaven and have been wondering how others use it.

I activated the 50g packet in 75g of water for 24 hours. I then created a levain using Hoshino yeast and water (now bubbly and sweet smelling) as a starter. I had some leftover starter and have been feeding it. 

It produced a boule with fantastic oven spring and a very light crumb.

Am experimenting and producing good results but am wondering how to use this product? Like yeast or a starter which which is continuously fed?

Would be delighted to hear the experience of others.

Ruke's picture
Ruke

Hello Peavey, 

I think the package says you are supposed to add twice the amount of water.....so if you are using the 50g package, I think it might be good to add 100g of water instead of 75g of water according to their instructions. 

I have never fed hoshino....I always use it up within 3 weeks, so I am interested if you could keep them alive longer than that...! :) 

Happy Baking!