Anpan Anko Bread

Anpan: Delicious Japanese Bun

Anpan are Japanese filled buns that resemble German milk rolls. The soft, sweet rolls are filled with a dark purple to dark brown paste made from adzuki beans. This paste is called “anko” and is also quite sweet. There is also a recent variant with a matcha filling, which you can recognize by its green color.

School Snack and Party Food

The sweet bread is a popular snack, especially among schoolchildren. Children love it with a glass of milk.

Anpans are so popular in Japan that there is even a cartoon series about them. In it, “Anpan-Man” fights evil villains as a superhero. Every Japanese child knows this series.

This Youtuber seems to have a special love for Anpan. She eats this giant Anpan all by herself. She is someone who is called an “Oogui-Eater” in Japan, or also known as “Mukbang”. The giant Anpan from the video is made by a popular bakery and is mostly bought for parties or birthdays.

How did Anpan come about?

The word Anpan is composed of “An”, which stands for the bean paste and “pan” which comes from the Portuguese word for bread “pão”. When the Westernization of Japan was at its peak in 1875, bakeries became increasingly popular. Mr. Kimura, a former samurai, opened his own bakery and loved to try out new recipes and experiment with ingredients. One day he combined the Japanese bean Mochi with western bread and out came the first Anpan.

Baking Anpans Yourself

Anpans are really easy to bake yourself. You just need a little patience, as the dough needs to rest for a long time. Here are the instructions:

Tip: You can buy the bean paste ready-made, but if you want to make it yourself, I recommend you prepare it the day before.

Ingredients

• 250 g flour
• 50 g sugar
• 4 g salt
• 3 g dried yeast
• 1 large egg (+ second egg for brushing)
• 50 ml milk
• 50 ml water
• 35 g butter, diced
• 280 g Anko 

Instructions

• Put flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a large bowl and mix well. Then crack an egg in a small cup and whisk well before adding it to the other ingredients in the bowl. Heat the milk and water and add it to the other ingredients (This step is important, otherwise the yeast can't work)
• Knead the dough well, it will be very sticky at first, but if you knead it long enough it will become drier and firmer.
• Dust a clean surface with a little flour and put the dough on it. Knead it for another five minutes. If it becomes too sticky, you can add some more flour.
• Now roll the dough flat and spread the soft butter on top. Then roll it up and knead it further.
• Cover the dough with a cloth and let it rise in a warm place for one to two hours until it has doubled in size.
• Then divide the dough into eight equal pieces and let it rise for another 15 minutes.
• Now it's time to fill the Anpan. Take one of the pieces and press a well into the middle. Put about 30-40g of the bean paste in it. Then close it with the sides of the dough and place it with the side down on a baking sheet. Let the Anpans rest for another 30 minutes.
• In the meantime, preheat the oven to 200°C. Whisk an egg with two tablespoons of water and brush the Anpans with it before putting them in the oven. They also taste delicious if you sprinkle them with black sesame seeds afterwards.
• Bake the Anpans for about 15 minutes until they are golden brown. Enjoy your meal!