Bloomberg Businessweek Europe - 23.09.2019

66

COOKING September 23, 2019

Supremely soft loaves from Japan redeem a childhood staple

By Kate Krader Photograph by Danny Kim

Got Milk Bread?

For anyone raised on

the packaged white

bread that lies around

on America’s super­

market shelves for

unspecified amounts

of time, the concept

of Japanese milk bread

is both a dream and

an affront. Known as

shokupan, Japan’s stan­

dard alabaster loaf resem­

bles its U.S. counterpart in

generally being long and

cut into square slices. After

that, the similarity ends.

Shokupan is extraor­

dinarily fluffy and sweet,

with a center that could

double as a cloud. The

best versions have a

bronzed, resilient crust

that adds a delicate tex­

tural contrast. The origin

of milk bread is obscure,

but it’s believed to be based on a Chinese technique for mak­

ing delicately sweet buns with a water­paste starter—which

yields a similarly soft texture—that the Japanese adapted in

the 20th century. It became more popular after World War II

with the influx of American wheat amid rice shortages. The

dough is a combination of flour, milk, butter, and/or eggs and

has approximately seven times the fat of its American cousin.

There are even $270 toasters to ensure the perfect experience.

Another part of milk bread’s allure is the extravagant thick­

ness of the slices. (Prepackaged sliced breads average around

half­an­inch thick.) Cha­An Teahouse in Manhattan’s East

Village, which bakes about 60 loaves a day, serves 3­inch­

thick pieces for toasts with simple toppings such as smoked

salmon and two kinds of butter—red bean and miso—to gild

the richness. Cha­An’s bread is also key to the popularity of

the Japanese porksandosat neighboring Hi­Collar, one of the

most in­demand sandwiches in New York City.

More than anything, it’s these sandos, the disarmingly

simple­looking snacks, that have helped jump­start milk

bread’s popularity in

the U.S. Konbi in Los

Angeles became an

Instagram staple for its

egg salad­filled versions,

made with bread spe­

cially commissioned from

the esteemed bakery Bub

and Grandma’s. Katana

Kitten, New York’s hot

Japanese pub, takes an

Italian­inflected approach

with mortadella­stuffed

bar bites. Thanks to

shokupan, white bread

sandwiches are as in

demand today as they

were in Queen Victoria’s

heyday. The bread is also

showing up at elite sushi

counters. At Shuko in

Greenwich Village, the

cakelike milk bread on

the $225 tasting menu

is almost better than the

bowl of toro tartare with caviar it accompanies.

But the ingredient is becoming most visible on non­

Japanese menus. At Orsa & Winston in L.A., chef Josef Centeno

makes sandwiches—from porchetta to tuna niçoise to less con­

ventional raspberries and mascarpone—with his homemade

loaves, while Carpenters Hall in Austin uses its milk bread in

a mean turkey club as a sort of highbrow Texas toast.

Chefs in San Francisco, sourdough’s spiritual home, have

particularly taken to shokupan for dishes that have a strong

American DNA. “It keeps its softness when it’s toasted, which

is perfect for sandwiches,” observes Sarah Rich, co­owner

and co­chef with her husband, Evan, of Michelin­starred Rich

Table. She uses it as the base for fried soft­shell crab po’ boys.

Prairie’s chef, Anthony Strong, likes it so much that it frames

his brunch service Impossible Burger and comes as a des­

sert slathered with salted maple butter and Vermont maple

syrup. At the Progress, Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski’s

new­American dining spot, milk bread stars in an off­menu riff

on the most American of dishes: a double­smoked hot dog. <BW>

Light as a cloud,

with about seven

times the fat

of its American

equivalent

INSIDER INGREDIENT

THE FOOD ISSUE