Photo: The Imperial Hotel Co Ltd
food

Hotel develops new 'shokupan' bread with white crusts to curb food waste

12 Comments
By grape Japan

Many Japanese people enjoy eating fluffy, soft, and chewy white milk bread, known as 食パン shokupan, baked into square loaves.

Whether it's in delicious egg sandwiches or "Lunch Pack" sealed sandwich pockets, almost all shokupan sandwiches sold in Japan have their crusts removed.

Crusted bread lovers do exist but the prevailing perception is that crusts aren't as tasty as the bread inside. This could be a remnant from the days when bread crusts were harder, but this perception has remained and shops all over Japan continue to do this since it corresponds to an expectation that still exists among customers.

Although some companies, like Yamazaki Baking Co Ltd, who makes the above-mentioned Lunch Pack series, give crusts to farmers to use in animal feed and reuse them in other baked goods, not all companies do the same and the practice of removing crusts invariably results in food waste.

White-Crusted Bread

But what if the crusts were just as tasty as the bread inside and didn't need to be removed?

This was the concept behind a new type of shokupan bread developed by The Imperial Hotel Co Ltd.

The hotel used to cut off crusts when serving sandwiches, but from October 1, they will begin selling sandwiches made with this new bread, crusts intact. The sandwiches will be available at the Gargantua Delicatessen, a luxury bakery that has been serving hotel guests and the local community since 1971.

Tokyo Chef Sugimoto, who has been actively promoting the U.N.'s sustainable development goals through food, took the lead in developing a new concept: instead of thinking of a way to recycle the cut-off bread crusts, he decided to develop a bread that would not be discarded. After about six months of trial and error, the team came up with "white bread with a new texture" that eliminates the need for cutting off and discarding crusts.

The newly developed bread is baked slowly at a lower temperature than conventional shokupan bread, resulting in a more moist texture, and is soft and white all the way to the crusts.

In addition to the white bread, yellow bread made with carrot puree will also be available.

WhiteShokupan_3.jpg
Photo: The Imperial Hotel Co Ltd

The company will gradually upgrade its production facilities to expand the use of this bread to sandwiches served in the Imperial Hotel's restaurants and at banquets, eliminating all crust-related food loss by the end of fiscal year 2023.

Read more stories from grape Japan.

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-- Tokyo civil servant reported for eating ice cream in front of convenience store

-- Japan’s one-person fryer is a game-changer for tonkatsu, tempura, and all your favorite izakaya pub fried foods

© grape Japan

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

12 Comments
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Looks under baked.

The crust is the most flavourful part of a loaf.

A nice crisp, crunchy crust to a loaf of freshly baked bread is one of the simple pleasures of life (with lots of good butter!).

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Why not just learn how to bake bread properly? It shouldn't take sugery, crusts stay on, and isn't cut so wide you need a snakes jaw to eat it.

Start by making multigrain bread available.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

My whole wheat bread is baked with a soft but brown crust which is tasty and easy to eat. But I also like a hard crusty crush, like with French bread. Especially when dipping into the coffee.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

I would never eat white bread. Whole wheat, grain, oats only, dark or black, but this crap, no way.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

There are many good white breads, French and Italian. Pitas and Naan. Japanese milk bread is great for breakfast. Pizza is white bread.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

There are many good white breads, French and Italian. Pitas and Naan. Japanese milk bread is great for breakfast. Pizza is white bread.

Ok, that’s great, but I would never eat it. Especially if it’s made with bleached flour.

https://cookingtom.com/why-is-white-bread-bad-for-you/

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

bass4funk

I can not believe you would never eat a pizza or a burger bun, both are white bread.

You have never had a curry with Naan bread? You have never had a French baguette? You have never eaten Mexican bread?

I mostly eat whole wheat but at times I also like good white bread.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I can not believe you would never eat a pizza or a burger bun, both are white bread. 

I usually don’t unless I make it or if they sell the alternative breads

You have never had a curry with Naan bread?

I don’t like Indian food

You have never had a French baguette? You have never eaten Mexican bread?

I don’t and never liked baguettes or would touch Mexican bread. But I do eat a lot tortillas, corn all the way.

I mostly eat whole wheat but at times I also like good white bread.

That’s fine, but I avoid white bread.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

You have made numerous posts about your favorite burgers.

Yes, and I don’t need to take the bun. That’s the best part.

There is no comparison between bread and tobacco. silly.

Not for you, but for me it is.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

I'm really hoping for an increase in the Vietnamese population here, and hope they stay long enough to open bakeries. They know how to make bread that tastes good. Japanese think this rubbish tastes good but are very much incorrect.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

I think this is really weird, but I kind of get where they're coming from. I eat crusts now, but as a kid I used to think crusts are bitter and disgusting. I guess a lot of bakeries around here overbake their loaves, resulting in a burnt-tasting crust. I don't know if I just have more tolerance as an adult, or if bread are just better these days, but even though I'm now okay with crusts, that childhood memory still make me hesitate to eat crusted bread without a hefty amount of jam sometimes... I can see why the stigma of "awful-tasting crust" can make people fear them just on sight.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

There are many good white breads...

And this is not one of them.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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