I took a walk around old neighborhood in Tokyo last weekend and I found Japanese plum blossoms are in bloom. The plum is associate with the start of spring in Japan. In a couple of weeks, cherry blossoms will be starting in bloom throughout Japan.
<Ingredients>3 cups of hard wheat flour (Haruyutaka flour, made from wheat flour from Hokkaido, Japan- or some other flour that is high in gluten-like Manitoba flour or Wheat flour type 550)1 teaspoon salt1 teaspoon dry yeast1 cup lukewarm water1 teaspoon olive oil1. In a large bowl combine flour and salt. Add 1 cup lukewarm water with yeast in it, and stir until blended. Make dough into a ball. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 6 hours to rise, preferably at warm room temperature.2. Dough is ready when the size is 2 times. Put dough on a floured work surface. Sprinkle a littlebit flour on dough and flatten dough and fold it over on itself twice of more. Then quickly shape dough into a ball. Put dough seam side down on and cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.3. Put dough into a floured basket for the second rise. Let dough rest at least 1 hour to rise, preferably at warm room temperature.4. Put 1 teaspoon olive oil over the pot and put dough in it.(I use staub) Make cuts on dough then close the lid. Bake at 230 degrees C for 55 minutes.*Photos, recipe and text by Masanori Sugiura
I met Masa, some winters ago. He came from New York and he was so interesting.A guy from Tokyo that lives in New York. So special.We’ve learnt secrets about sushi and we spent warm, winter evenings with him.He bakes the most beautiful bread I’ve ever seen and captures it in all of it’s crispness and softness. I’m so happy that we’d hung out together.
Hleb i lale 
Nevenice…ja mogu samo da se poklonim pred tvojim hlebom…nikada necu uspeti tako da ga napravim ! Maksimum mogu da dobijem neku foccaccu…Lepo izgledaju ovee "japanske" tresnje…jel' ste se preselili?
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Marinnaaaaaa!!! Juhuuu vratila si se!!!! Jedva čekam da se opet družimo!
Ovaj hleb je Masanori umesio!Ni ja nikad ne bih uspela ovako savršenstvo da umesim, al ima da vežbam pa će valjda ova lepota i kod mene na stolu da se pojavi:)
Subota je dan za selidbu;)
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Srce mi je zaigralo♥A hleb možda jednoga dana naučim da umesim. Možda.
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Hello Masa and welcome to Serbia, at least this virtual way. I though at the first sight these were cherry blossoms. I loved the week in Washington DC when they are in full bloom. They were the present from the people of Japan. Beautiful bread indeed. I love the use of the basket,and the long rise of 6 hours. Hope you will be visiting Nevena in Serbia some day.
ps Many thanks to the people of Japan, especially your ambassador for many thing they have donated to my country. Some of the busses in Belgrade have a sign – Donation from the pople of japan. Thank you!
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Predivan je kruh. Predivno je imati prijatelja iz daleka od kojeg možeš tolko toga naučiti. Još jedan predivan post;)
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Hleb je do bola! Napraviću ga ovih dana!
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"and captures it in all of it's crispness and softness." – to sam točno pomislila kad sam gledala fotke :)))
And for Masa – thanks for sharing this great recipe, I`m in love with homemade breads, but rarely have the time to bake them. It looks wonderful 🙂
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Bjanka, tebi dobro idu te skoro nemoguće misije tako da znam da će ti uspeti:)
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Baš mi dragoooo! I ja se oduševila kad mi je poslao post što je tako japanski:)Za hleb je najviše potrebna ljubav i strpljenje. Ja sam u početku uvek dobijala kamene verzije hleba al vežbanjem polako dostižem mekoću i hrskavoću:)
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Iskra bi vrlo uskoro trebalo da počne da jede hleb. To znači da se hvatam u koštac sa brašnom! Ljubav i strpljenje- tu:)
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:)Još kada oni dolaze iz toliko drugačije zemlje od naših prava je milina naučiti stvari iz prve ruke:)
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I ja kad sam videla fotke, tačno sam zamislila kako krcka korica… A tek miris! Znaš onaj miris svežeg hleba….Omiljeni!!!
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Krasno gostovanje, a kruh jednostavno osvaja ! Hvala na receptu, hvala na kruhu, na ovim divnim fotkicama, …., odlično !
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