A Selection of our Artisan Breads
We bake 3 to 4 times a week, 3 to 4 varieties of bread from a rotating selection, each available in two sizes, typically 425 and 750 grams. However, some varieties are only available in one size, for example our baguettes are always 375 grams. Thanks to the rotation there is always something new to try. And the smaller sizes make it easier to order multiple varieties at once.
Batardette à l'Ancienne — Old Style Batardette
The big sister of the baguette. Half the length, twice the diameter for longer fresh keeping. Long fermentation with French sourdough (levain). Very soft moist open crumb thanks to high hydration. Complex flavours with notes of caramel and honey.
Baguette Complète — Wholewheat Baguette
A baguette made with 100% extra-fine whole wheat flour. Long fermentation with French sourdough (levain). Soft moist open crumb thanks to 98% hydration and 48 hours of fermentation. Complex flavours with notes of caramel and honey.
Pain de Campagne — French Country Loaf
A country bread made with 100% wheat flour of type T65. Long fermentation with French sourdough (levain). Open and moist crumb. Mild flavours.
Schweizer Landbrot — Swiss Country Loaf
A Swiss country bread made with 90% wheat flour of type T700 and 10% fine rye flour. Long fermentation with German rye sourdough (Roggensauer). Thick crust. Open moist crumb and rich flavours thanks to high hydration and long fermentation.
Dinkelvollkornbrot — Wholemeal Spelt Bread
A wholemeal bread made with 100% extra-fine whole spelt flour. Long fermentation with French sourdough (levain). Open moist crumb and rich flavours thanks to high hydration and pre-gelatinised ground dried bread.
Roggenbrot — Fine Rye Bread
A bread made from fine rye flour of type T815. Long fermentation with German rye sourdough (roggensauer). Moist crumb thanks to high hydration. Rich flavours.
Roggenvollkornbrot — Wholemeal Rye Bread
A bread made from whole rye flour. Long fermentation with German rye sourdough (roggensauer). Baked in a tin. Moist crumb due to high hydration. Strong rich flavours. Mild acidity.
Roggenmischbrot — Rye-Wheat Bread
A bread made with 65% rye flour of type T815 and 35% wheat flour of type T100. Long fermentation with German rye sourdough (roggensauer). Moist crumb due to high hydration. Mild rich flavours.
Krustenbrot — Crust Bread
A bread made with 90% wheat flour of type T100 and 10% of rye flour of type T815. Baked extra crusty. Long Fermentation with French sourdough (levain). Moist crumb due to high hydration. Rich flavours.
Weizenvollkornbrot — Wholewheat Bread
A bread made from 100% extra-fine whole wheat flour. Long fermentation with French sourdough (levain). Open and moist crumb thanks to 98% hydration and 48 hours of fermentation. Complex flavours.
Pane di Altamura — Durum Wheat Bread
A bread from Apulia (Southern Italy) with a 2000 year history. Made from 100% durum wheat semolina. Long fermentation with Italian sourdough (lievito). Soft and moist crumb thanks to high hydration.
A Selection of our Artisan Rolls
For our bread rolls we do not maintain a regular schedule. They are made to custom order only and there is a minimum order quantity of eight pieces per variety. Please take into account that we use long fermentation and place your orders at least 2-3 days in advance.
Shio Koppe Pan — Salted Japanese Brioche Roll
A salted Japanese milk bread roll made from 100% wheat flour type T65. Long fermentation with Italian sourdough (lievito). 75% hydration. Very fluffy and soft crumb.
Ciabattini — Small Italian Ciabatta Roll
A small ciabatta loaf made from 90% wheat flour type T65 and 10% durum wheat semolina. Long fermentation with Italian sourdough (lievito). Open, soft and juicy crumb thanks to 80% hydration.
Ekmek — Turkish Kebab Sandwich Bread
A Turkish flat bread made from 95% wheat flour type T65 and 5% durum wheat semolina. Long fermentation with Italian sourdough (lievito). 78% hydration. Fluffy and moist crumb.
A Selection of our Artisan Pretzels
For our pretzels too, we do not maintain a regular schedule. They are made to order only and there is a minimum order quantity of eight pieces per variety. Please take into account that we use long fermentation and place your orders at least 2-3 days in advance.
Does any Lye Remain on the Pretzels?
The lye accelerates the Maillard reaction during baking which gives the crust its characteristic maroon colour. The lye is transformed during baking and gives the pretzel its characteristic taste. But don't worry, no lye residue remains on the finished pretzels.
Pretzel, Bretzel or Brezel?
Pretzel is the English spelling. In German it is Brezel, but Breze and Brezn in Bavaria and Brezen in Austria. Bretzel is the spelling used in France and Switzerland.
Wiesn-Brezn — The Munich Oktoberfest Pretzel
The original Munich Oktoberfest pretzel. Made from 100% wheat flour type T630 with 55% hydration and 16 hours of fermentation with French sourdough (levain). Dipped in lye solution before baking and garnished with kosher salt. Firm but soft and juicy crumb. Wiesn Brezn weigh by regulation 250 g.
Laugenbrezel — The Classic Pretzel
The classic lye pretzel. Made from 100% wheat flour type T630 with 55% hydration and 16 hours of fermentation with French sourdough (levain). Dipped in lye solution before baking and garnished with kosher salt. Weight 125 g.
Mohnbrezel — Plain Poppy Seed Pretzel
A plain pretzel garnished with poppy seeds. Made from 100% wheat flour type T630 with 70% hydration and 16 hours of fermentation with French sourdough (levain). No lye bath. Available in 250 and 125 g sizes.
A Selection of our Artisan Pastries
All our pastries are made to custom order only. Fruit tart are seasonal and there is a minimum order quantity of six pieces for tartlets. Please place your orders 2-3 days in advance.
Kouglof Alsacien — Alsatian Bundt Cake
Alsatian brioche cake made with wheat flour and cherry brandy soaked raisins, garnished with caramelised almonds. Long fermentation with Italian sourdough (lievito). Baked in original Alsatian ceramic forms. Fluffy and juicy crumb. Rich flavours.
Panettone — Italian Sweet Bread
Italian brioche cake made with wheat flour, plenty of egg yolks, raisins soaked in raisin juice, candied and freshly grated citrus peels. Three stage long fermentation with Italian sourdough (lievito). Baked in paper forms. Extra fluffy and juicy crumb.
Paska — Eastern European Easter Bread
Eastern European brioche cake made with wheat flour and raisins soaked in raisin juice. Long fermentation with Italian sourdough (lievito). Baked in metal forms. Soft juicy crumb.
Stollen Alter Art — German Christmas Bread
German Christmas bread made very traditionally with raisins soaked in grape juice and rum, dates, figs, orange and lemon peels, lemon zest, crushed roasted almonds, almond and chestnut flour, honey and cane sugar, spices and Italian sourdough (lievito). Very aromatic. 750g loaf, sugar coated.
Rhubarb Tartlet
French rhubarb tartlet made with a wheat based pie crust, custard creme made in-house, morsels of rhubarb with a meringue topping, soft on the inside, crispy on top.
Alsatian Prune Tart
Alsatian prune tart made with a leavened wheat dough and fresh prunes. Long fermentation with Italian sourdough (lievito). Soft and moist base that absorbs the juices of the prunes.
Viennese Apple Strudel
Original Viennese apple strudel made with an unleavened hand-drawn thinned out wheat dough, lightly steamed sliced sour apples, bread crumbs, rum soaked raisins and cinnamon. Best served hot with vanilla ice cream or vanilla sauce.
Delivery by Japan Post or Bicycle, or Pickup
We ship our baked goods throughout Japan via YuPack through Japan Post. Shipping on the baking day, delivery on the following day. We also offer delivery by cargo bike in the vicinity of our workshop in Shibuya and for commercial orders and events in central Tokyo. Additionally, roadside pickup in Shibuya is possible by appointment.
Custom Orders
Didn't find here what you are looking for?
Not a problem. We welcome custom orders, especially from hotels, restaurants and for events, such as beer festivals etc. Please, contact us via the contact page.
Products that we Cannot Make
At present, we do not have a retail store and therefore only make products that can be easily delivered or shipped via Japan Post, in particular such products that keep fresh for several days. Unfortunately, this excludes a number of pastry products such as croissants as well as creme and mousse based products.
Further, due to dangerous production processes or lack of special equipment we do not make pumpernickel, nor baumkuchen, nor any fried pastries (doughnuts), nor pastries scalded in boiling water (bagels) nor dry pastries (cookies).
Thank you for your understanding.
Our Flours
Flours for Artisan Bakeries
Artisan bakeries tend to use darker flours with higher extraction rates, especially for bread. Unfortunately, such flours are difficult to come by in Japan. We therefore make them ourselves.
We produce our bread flours using multiple approaches: (1) milling from whole grain, (2) re-milling grist or coarse wholemeal flours and (3) mixing white flours with extra-fine wholemeal flour that we make ourselves.
Wheat Flour
Most of our wheat flours are made from Yumechikara, a Japanese hard wheat variety grown in Hokkaido.
Spelt Flour
Our spelt flour is made from Oberkulmer Rotkorn, a German ancient spelt variety that we import from Germany.
Rye Flour
Our rye flours are made from grains imported from Germany.
Durum Wheat Semolina
For Italian durum wheat breads such as Pane di Altamura, Pane di Matera and pane pugliese, we use durum wheat semolina from Caputo, imported from Italy.
Pastry Flour
For most of our pastries we use Mon Ami and Dolce pastry flours.
What do the Flour Types Mean?
Flour types indicate the approximate mineral content. Their values are in milligrams per 10 g for French flour types and per 100 g for German flour types.
The higher the value, the less refined and darker the flour, the more minerals, proteins and fibre, the higher the nutritional value, and ultimately the richer the taste.
Wheat Flour Types
French wheat flour types are T45, T55, T65, T70, T80, T100 and T150.
German wheat flour types are T405, T550, T630, T812, T1050, T1600 and T1700.
Rye Flour Types
French rye flour types are T70, T85, T130 and T170.
German rye flour types are T815, T997, T1150, T1370, T1740 and T1800.
Our Sourdoughs
Roggensauer — German Rye Sourdough
A sourdough made from rye, called roggensauer in Germany. It has an elevated level of acidity due to low hydration (drier and firmer) and longer refresh intervals, and strong aromas thanks to the higher enzymatic activity of rye.
It is used in rye based breads.
Levain — French Sourdough
A liquid sourdough made from wheat, with a mild acidity.
It is used in wheat based breads and spelt breads.
Lievito — Italian Sourdough
A sourdough made from wheat or durum wheat. It is dominated by wild yeasts and therefore does not have any noticeable acidity.
It is used in place of industrial yeast, also known as baker's yeast, either as the sole leavening agent or in combination with German or French sourdough.
In pastry products it is typically used as the sole leavening agent.
Nomenclature
The Problem with Fake Bread
In Japan, supermarkets sell so-called 'rye bread' with a rye content of only 2% or 3%. Isn't that cheating? In the UK and US, more and more industrial bakeries are selling so-called 'sourdough bread' that is not actually made with sourdough but simply made sour tasting by addition of vinegar. Artisans there have come to call this sour-faux.
These are just two examples of widespread large scale abuse by industrial bakeries. In general, wherever regulation of bread is weak or non-existent, abuse is rampant. When the cat is away, the mice will play.
French and German Bread Regulation
In France and Germany regulation is very strict. In France, such regulation is enshrined directly in food law. In Germany regulation is indirectly imposed through a non-governmental body of experts that compiles guidelines in the Deutsches Lebensmittelbuch, literally German Book of Foods. This has the weight of expert testimony on common best practice in court. Violation constitutes unfair competition.
We follow French and German Regulation
As a French-German artisan bakery in Japan, we voluntarily follow both French and German bread regulation. For French products, we follow French regulation, for German products, we follow German regulation. In borderline cases we tend to use whichever rule is stricter, or we apply even stricter rules that we defined ourselves.
Our Nomenclature in Detail
Sourdough
Sourdough is a dough that contains living micro-organisms, namely wild yeasts and lactic bacteria that cause the fermentation of the dough.
Sourdough Bread
Sourdough bread is bread made with dough fermented with active sourdough.
Wholegrain
Wholegrain is any cereal product that has the same composition as the whole grain. However, the seed coat (skin) of the grain may be removed.
Wholemeal or Wholegrain Flour
We define wholemeal or wholegrain flour as a milled wholegrain product for which it is not specified whether the seed coat (skin) is present or has been removed.
Fine Wholemeal or Fine Wholegrain Flour
We define fine wholemeal or fine wholegrain flour as wholemeal or wholegrain flour that meets the definition of German standard DIN 10355. This means that 90% of the material must pass through a sieve with 0.15 mm mesh size and the remainder must pass through a sieve with 0.3 mm mesh size.
Extra-Fine Wholemeal or Extra-Fine Wholegrain Flour
We define extra-fine wholemeal or extra-fine wholegrain flour as wholemeal or wholegrain flour that passes entirely through a sieve with 0.15 mm mesh size.
Wood-Free Wholemeal or Wholegrain Flour
We define wood-free wholemeal or wholegrain flour as wholemeal or wholegrain flour from which the woody seed coat (skin) has been removed. This corresponds to French flour type T150.
Farine Intégrale
Farine intégrale is French wholegrain flour with the seed coat (skin) present.
Farine Complète
Farine complète is French wholegrain flour with the seed coat (skin) removed. This corresponds to French flour type T150.
Wholegrain Bread
Wholegrain bread is bread made with at least 90% wholegrain or wholegrain flour.
Pain Intégral
Pain intégral is French wholegrain bread made with at least 90% farine intégrale.
Pain Complét
Pain complét is French wholegrain bread made with at least 90% farine complète.
Wheat, Spelt and Rye Bread
Wheat/spelt/rye bread is made with at least 90% of the name giving cereal.
Wheat, Spelt and Rye Mischbrot
Mischbrot is a German mixed grain bread that is made with more than 50% but less than 90% of the name giving cereal and one or more other cereals.
Barley, Oat, Maize, Rice and Millet Bread
Under German regulation, a bread is called barley, oat, maize, rice and millet bread if it is made with as little as 20% of the name giving cereal. This is being justified with it being more difficult to make a pure bread out of these cereals. Bakers mix them with larger amounts of wheat and rye flour to achieve good baking properties. We believe that this naming convention is misleading and dishonest. We therefore apply the same naming rule as for wheat, spelt and rye bread. We define barley, oat, maize, rice and millet bread as a bread that is made with at least 90% of the name giving cereal.
Barley, Oat, Maize, Rice and Millet Mischbrot
We apply the same naming rule as for wheat, spelt and rye mischbrot. Thus, a barley, oat, maize, rice or millet mischbrot is made with more than 50% but less than 90% of the name giving cereals and one or more other cereals.
Mischbrot with Less than 50% Barley, Oats, Maize, Rice or Millet
For wheat, spelt and rye mischbrot with barley, oats, maize, rice or millet we may also use both or more cereal names in the name of the bread. In this case, the order of the cereals in the name follows the ratio of the cereals in descending order. For example wheat-oat bread.
Pain de
French bread with conjunction de in its name contains at least 65% of the name giving cereal. This applies to all cereals.
Pain à, Pain au
French bread with conjunctions à or au in its name contains at least 20% of the name giving cereal. However, for spelt and rye, we use at least 35%.
French Bread Without Cereal Designation
In France a bread is considered to be made of wheat unless specified otherwise.
Baking Properties of Barley, Oats, Maize, Rice and Millet
Wheat contains proteins that form a visco-elastic gel called gluten when mixed with water. Microorganisms fermenting the dough produce CO2 gas that gets stuck in the dough which causes the dough to rise. Rye contains high levels of arabinoxylans (AX), fibres that form a viscous gel when mixed with water, leading to a similar effect. Therefore, wheat and rye varieties are said to have good baking properties.
All other cereals neither contain gluten as wheat does, nor sufficient levels of AX as rye does. As a result, their baking properties are significantly diminished. Dough cannot hold the CO2 gas and will not rise. In order to ensure a proper rise, bakers can either add gluten-extract, or a small amount of fleawort, or mix with a larger amount of wheat or rye flour. Fleawort contains a very high amount of AX.
Truthfulness of Names — Clarity of Names
In German law, there exists the principle of Namenwahrheit und Namenklarheit, literally truthfulness of names and clarity of names. Apparently, this principle was of no concern when the naming rules for barley, oat, maize, rice and millet breads were drafted. The names of these breads are neither truthful nor do they have clarity. The explanation that these cereals have diminished baking properties is no justification.
Imagine you go to a cabinet maker and buy an oak chest of drawers only to find out that it is made of spruce, and only the feet are made from oak. The cabinet maker then explains this was 'due to technical reasons'. Spruce being a softer wood than oak is of course easier to work with, meaning less effort for the cabinet maker. Not satisfactory.
Thus, in order to maintain truthfulness and clarity, our nomenclature differs in respect of barley, oat, maize, rice and millet from the naming rules in the German Book of Foods. The professional ethos of the artisan demands it.