How to Make Anpan (Red Bean Buns) From Scratch
Anpan is a Japanese style of bread filled with sweet red bean paste. It was invented in 1874 by Yasubei Kimura who was a Samurai.
It’s a classic! In fact, Anpan is the most traditional sweet bread in Japan. It is a perfect mix of western and Japanese culture and taste. The texture of anpan is a fluffy but chewy Japanese bread and is slightly sweet. The red bean paste, or anko, is also quite sweet, but not like western desserts.
As Japan became more westernized during the Meiji period, the Samurai were no longer needed. This led Kimura to open up a bakery called “Kimuraya” in Tokyo. However, only hops yeast was available for making bread at this time, but it didn’t fit the taste of the Japanese palette. Kimura wanted to try something new, something more familiar to Japanese people.
Kimura came up with the idea of making bread that tastes like the Japanese sweet, Manju (a steamed sweet bun), but using Sakadane (Rice yeast), which is used to make sake instead of hops yeast.
He started selling Anpan in his bakery as a snack. As he was quite good at marketing, he decided to present his anpan to Emperor Meiji as a nutritious food. Kimura stressed that anpan contains Vitamin B1, which would help people not to contract the beriberi disease, a widespread disease in Japan during that time. Thanks to Kimura’s effort, Anpan became popular nationwide.
It is best to use Sakadane for making anpan because it gives it the traditional flavor. However, it takes at least 5 days to make the Sakadane yeast, so we will introduce an anpan recipe using a water roux instead. Not only is water roux easier to make, but it also gives anpan a similar texture as if using sakadane. It contains a nice amount of water and helps to give anpan the chewy texture that it’s known for.
Depending on your tastes, you can use either smooth Anko or chunky Anko for the anpan filling. Many bakeries in Japan also make seasonal Anpan with different types of bean paste, such as Sakura-An (Cherry blossom Anko) for spring and Sweet-potato paste for fall.
Because Azuki beans are rich in nutrients, such as fiber, protein, iron, and manganese, it is a perfect snack for the afternoon. It goes very well eating it with Green tea, but it tastes surprisingly good also with coffee.
Anpan is such a simple bread, but it has had such a big impact on Japanese history. Follow along with this recipe to recreate the delicious yet nostalgic anpan.
Overview
Prep time: 40 mins
Cook time: 10 mins
Total time: 50 mins
Total servings: 9
Difficulty: Medium
Ingredients
- 40g Bread Flour (for the water roux)
- 40g Hot Water (for the water roux)
- 160g Bread Flour (for the bread dough)
- 3g Instant Dry Yeast (for the bread dough)
- 15g Cane Sugar (for the bread dough)
- 20g Egg (for the bread dough)
- 50g Milk (for the bread dough)
- 2g Salt (for the bread dough)
- 270g Azuki Paste (for the filling)
- 20g Egg (for egg wash)
- 1-2 tsp Water or Milk (for egg wash)
- 1g Sugar (for eggwash)
- 1g Salt (for eggwash)
- 1 Tbsp Black Sesame (for decoration)
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