"Sakadane" - the rice sourdough

The last samurai: you might remember one of the scenes of this epic movie with Tom Cruise about the transition from the shogun to the imperial era late 19th century. Mr Kimura was one of these last samurai who decided to open his own bakery. He learnt from a western baker the art of sourdough making but was not satisfied with the taste and flavour. Having access to a long tradition of local fermentation techniques he converted his sourdough from flour to rice.

Since 1875 Kimuraya bakery is offering a wide range of An Pans and other breads to the Japanese consumers. From the four corners of Japan people are lining up to get a piece of these unique buns or a selection of various filled An Pans. The main item is the Sakura An Pan. A bun filled with red bean paste and finished with a salted pickled cherry blossom. Once made for the emperor who fell in love with its taste. Having this sourdough as #100 in our library is a great honour. To have this story told and shared with you, I decided to go to Tokyo and make a new movie in our series on "The Quest for Sourdough".

I must say that I was surprised by the aroma and the flavour of this sourdough. From now on we are not only dealing with plenty of different types of flour in our library to refresh the sourdoughs, but also cooked rice. A new challenge that we are glad to accept. I really would like to take the opportunity to thank all the people of Kimuraya bakery and my colleagues from Japan who made this possible. Not to forget the camera team who has done a very nice job. Enjoy the movie. And may the flavour be with you.