Japanese Bread

I must confess. I have a new appreciation for bread. Specifically, Japanese bread. It’s amazing. This is coming from a bread snob. I have no time for a loaf of Wonder Bread. It’s not the carbs or the sugar, I will gladly eat a bowl of pasta, plain boring bread just doesn’t do it for me. As a result, bread usually goes stale before we get around to eating it. 

All of this changed when I was introduced to Japanese bread. It is delicious. Soft, sweet and available in the perfect proportions. Japanese bread is sold in a sliced loaf just like in the U.S. The difference is the size of the loaf and the variety of the numbers of slices you can select. I have seen varieties from 4, 5, 6 or 8 slices. The picture illustrates 6-sliced loaf and about half the size of the loaves we are accustomed to seeing. The loaves are all the same size, so a loaf with 6 slices will have thinner slices than a loaf with 5 slices. The more slices, the thinner the slices. 

Here is another loaf we purchased on Saturday. It has five slices. 

This stumped me at first. Why would you buy 5 slices of bread? A sandwich takes 2 slices. So there will be a left over slice. Remembering the need to shift my paradigm. The bread is thicker, so maybe one slice will do for a sandwich. Or toast. Only one slice needed for toast. One for each day of the work week. All of the sudden 5 slices seemed logical. 

Another funny thing about the toast, it doesn’t quite fit into the toaster. It’s too tall. The first thing I have found in this country that is too tall for me (or my toaster anyways) – the bread! Only 3/4 of the bread gets toasted. 

The bread also makes a pretty good grilled ham and cheese sandwich. 

Dinner is served and I must eat!