Super mochi mochi

Improved cooked rice bread

This might be it! I have been experimenting with the cooked rice bread recipe for a while and I think I achieved near perfection! It’s moist, soft and awfully pale. Though it has almost no nutritional value compared to its whole, 7 or 10 grains dark, chewy and hay like aroma counter parts, many Japanese prefer it that way. Thanks to the bread machine doing the most of work, my part is easy – just two extra steps to reach this super mochi mochi texture! I adore this method better than one that I posted before.

This recipe is like a blank canvas. The possibilities are endless. Just by changing the filling you could make a savory roll or a sweet snack. My husband’s favorite is custard cream filled bread (クリームパン）and my favorite is always savory curry bread (カレーパン) - deep  fried, crusty outside with warm curry filling inside is hearty and satisfying. There is bread called Melon pan  (メロンぱん) which usually does not have melon as one of the ingredients. The name came from the shape; it remotely resembles a cantaloupe melon? Whether there is actually melon in the bread or not it is still quite popular among Japanese. Then there is this sweet azuki bean bread (アンぱん) that is the go-to bread with the older, I mean rather distinguished generation. My friend, who is not that old, at least not at heart, makes incredible sweet azuki bean bread. She gave me her recipe but I don’t know where it is now due to my stupendous disorganization skill. I hope she coincidently sends me the recipe via email.

Ingredients

2 8-1/4 X 4-1/4 loaf pan lined with parchment paper for plain loaf style bread

Cookie sheet lined with parchment paper if doing the filled buns

I made both kinds of breads with this so you’ll see each of them in the pictures below.

• Cooked rice 100g
• Water 100g –substitute plain yogurt to give the bread sourdough flavor.
• Milk 20g
• Heavy cream 20g
• Bread flour 250g
• Sugar 25g
• Salt 1/2 teaspoon
• Unsalted butter 1 Tablespoon
• Dry yeast 4g about 1/2 packet

1. Put rice in small sauce pan. Add water and bring to boil. Turn off the heat and cover with lid. Wait for 30 minutes.
2. Put rice in food processer and make loose paste.
3. Set the brad maker to the dough setting. Put the rice, milk, cream, flour, sugar, salt, butter in the pan then sprinkle in the yeast.
4. When the dough is done, turn onto a flat clean surface dusted with flour. Roll out dough with flour-dusted rolling pin to a rectangle of about 10 x 8. Cut into 8 pieces or if making small buns, cut 16 equal parts.
5. Make balls and lay the ball seam side down then cover with clean moist towel and rest for 15 minutes.
6. Roll out the ball of dough to about 7 x 4 oblong shape or about 6 diameter round for filled buns. Picture below is sweet azuki paste.
7. Roll up the dough and put in the prepared loaf pan seam side down or fill with your favorite stuffing then gather the dough together on top, lay on cooking sheet seam side down.
8. Let the dough rise in warm place to double in size. About 40-45minutes.
9. Heat oven to 302 F. Bake for 20 minutes (stuffed dough take 5-7 minutes more). If you want the color to stay white, cover with foil half-way through. For shiny look, brush with an egg yolk and 1-2 tablespoon water or milk mixture on top.
10. Take out from pan and cool it on a wire rack. Keep the bread in a plastic bag after it cools down bit so that it stays moist.

I had a swell time in Utah last weekend. My friend as promised made us a mont blonc cake.Yes! It tasted like one I had in a famous pastry shop in Tokyo.  I didn’t take my big camera with me so the photo doesn’t do it justice but it was amazing!. Oishii (美味しい) was the word that we repeated many times without effort. Thank you so much.My friend who made the cake is on the left.

It was the very first time that I drove a rental car. Although the Garmin GPS my daughter gave me for last Christmas was very helpful, it tried to take us to a wrong but same name store in Las Vegas. It recalculates way too often. Sheesh!  And I don’t want to name anybody (because I can’t) but Utah drivers were awful!. Can’t you see I’m driving at the speed limit?

Snow in front of the Swadee Thai Restaurant

Skate rink at the downtown Marriott

Brunch at the Copper Onion Restaurant

It snowed Sunday. Not frost but actual snow.

Natural

Mugwort rice cake/ 草もち

At the ridge of a rice field, there are lots of mugwort (よもぎ) grass growing and my friend would pick them and take them home. The next day, she shared mugwort rice cake with me which her mother had made. I was totally jealous of her. How marvelous is it that weed-like plants transform into a deliciously sweet confection? I decided I want more! I plucked plenty of mugwart to take home to my mother but she dismissed me with just one glance at grass then told me that was a mugwort look-alike and not the real thing. This stuff will make you sick, she added. You’re joking, right? It was just like the ones that my friend picked a few days earlier though? I felt defeated, how can you argue with an adult who seems to know everything?  Not only I got the wrong grass but it was poisonous. That was a frightening thought to a young child. 

My grandmother on rare occasions took me to a woody hill side to pick some ostrich fern called zenmai. I don’t really like them but I loved to spend time with her. I didn’t put any effort at all into finding wild edible ferns because I already knew I suck at it, so, while she looked for them I played hard at exploring nature, digging, discovering and destroying things. She called me when her small bucket was full. Me and my clothes were all dirty from head to toe.

That was long ago in spring. Both my grandmother and mother have passed away now. I already forgave my mother for lying. That was real mugwort. She was bombarded with tasks and had to deny my request. Back in that era, you had to make everything from scratch. She simply did not have time to spoil me. Although she could have said she would make it later or some other time but that was not her style. She didn’t have “round about” in her wording. It’s OK mom, nobody’s perfect. Not even me.

Ingredients-Make about 12 rice cakes

• 300g of Sweet Azuki bean paste. comes in can or refrigerated pouch (this is less expensive)
• 3g of dry powdered mugwort grass available in flour section of Japanese market
• 1 tablespoon of water
• 200g of rice flour, I recommend Joshinko  available in flour section of Japanese market
• 160ml of warm water
• 40g of ultra fine baker’s sugar

1. Make balls with azuki bean paste-about 20g each. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, sift mugwart with coarse sifter then add the 1 tablespoon of water. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, put Joshinko and add warm water little by little while you knead; about 5 minutes.
4. Lay a clean dish towel on the steamer. Tear the dough into small pieces with your hands then put all on the top of towel. Loosely wrap the dough with the dishcloth. Cover and steam for 30 minutes.
5. After you finish the steaming, grab the end of towel to transport dough to a bowl. Cool for a minute or so then start kneading while dough is still warm. You need lots of strength to do this task.
6. Wet your hands once in a while to knead the dough. Add sugar 1/3 at a time.
7. When sugar and dough are completely combined, start adding mugwort powder a little at a time. Add more water if the dough is too stiff or dry. It should feel about the same as your earlobe does
8. Roll about 30g of dough to1/8 inch thickness then cut out with round 3-1/2 inch cookie cutter (I used a glass).
9. In the middle of round dough, put 1 azuki ball. Fold in half. Cover with plastic wrap or moist dish towel to prevent drying out while you make the rest of rice cakes.

My husband and my son traveled to Tokyo Kobe,Osaka, Ise, Nagoya and Kyoto after finishing volunteer work. They ate plenty and they were fed well and they visited many konbini, bakery and of course Mr. Donuts which is my son’s favorite sweet shop.!

My neighbor brought flowers from her garden to my husband on his birthday. She even sang Happy Birthday to him. She is awesome!