Go Mad for Gopan: Rice-Bread Fever Sweeps Japan

"Those who planned to buy their favorite Japanese home baker the “Gopan” for the holidays may be out of luck.

The world’s first kitchen appliance that makes bread out of rice finally went on sale Thursday, but were mostly limited to customers with the foresight to pre-order one. Shoppers who order Sanyo Electric Co.’s latest baking contraption now will likely have to wait until 2011 for delivery, according to a Sanyo spokesperson.

Demand for the Gopan – a name that combines the Japanese words for rice (“gohan”) and bread (“pan”) – has been brisk since Sanyo introduced the product in July. The company received roughly 10,000 orders within a month after the announcement. The flood of orders prompted the company to delay the expected October launch date by about one month."

Previously: http://www.japanprobe.com/2010/07/17/gop...ad-cooker/

Will this be the ジャパン that we were all searching for?

Is rice-bread good for you?

kainzero Wrote:Will this be the ジャパン that we were all searching for?

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/142150...ZZZZZZ.jpg

That's what I thought when I first saw it, too. That reminds me that I need to use that recipe for rice cooker パン soon. I think I've got some curry recipes I need to try out also, from that other cooking manga.

I've had rice bread... and all I see are 10,000 soon-to-be-disappointed people out a few thousand yen. I've chewed on rice bread and gotten a mouthful of drywall dust, and I can't tell you which was which.

I don't see the point unless you're allergic to gluten, in which case, more power to you.

rich_f Wrote:I've had rice bread... and all I see are 10,000 soon-to-be-disappointed people out a few thousand yen. I've chewed on rice bread and gotten a mouthful of drywall dust, and I can't tell you which was which.

I don't see the point unless you're allergic to gluten, in which case, more power to you.

There's a bit more to it than it being gluten free, for instance something about wheat production vs. rice and otherwise I don't see much 'point' to any type of bread except it's food that people eat, and also I've read that it's possible for breads to taste more than one way, i.e. different recipes and bakers achieve different results. I'm pretty sure Japanese people have an awareness of bread made from rice, I don't think 10,000 people are buying this machine with no clue. ;p

Personally I've read reviews for rice bread that sound really delicious (and some that have tried awful loaves), and supposedly these machines have the former sort of turnout, but we'll see...

nest0r Wrote:

kainzero Wrote:Will this be the ジャパン that we were all searching for?

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/142150...ZZZZZZ.jpg

That's what I thought when I first saw it, too. That reminds me that I need to use that recipe for rice cooker パン soon. I think I've got some curry recipes I need to try out also, from that other cooking manga.

I remember I tried that rice cooker bread a long time ago. It was... uh, interesting. I guess it's more of a novelty than something you actually wanna do.

What's this curry recipe you speak of?
I've always wanted to make curry from scratch instead of using the roux...

kainzero Wrote:

nest0r Wrote:

kainzero Wrote:Will this be the ジャパン that we were all searching for?

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/142150...ZZZZZZ.jpg

That's what I thought when I first saw it, too. That reminds me that I need to use that recipe for rice cooker パン soon. I think I've got some curry recipes I need to try out also, from that other cooking manga.

I remember I tried that rice cooker bread a long time ago. It was... uh, interesting. I guess it's more of a novelty than something you actually wanna do.

What's this curry recipe you speak of?
I've always wanted to make curry from scratch instead of using the roux...

I was referring to the recipes in Addicted to Curry: http://www.anime-source.com/banzai/modul...alpages=11

Jamie Oliver has at least one good curry recipe but I can't find it. Maki from Just Hungry has a Japanese curry recipe (my favourite is Japanese curry but it's not really curry ;p), but usually I just use cubes or for Indian style curry, I'm lazy and use sauce in packages/bottles. ;p

Sorry, I still can't get excited about it. It reminds me of those recipes that say to use applesauce instead of sugar, or carob instead of chocolate. I'd rather just eat something else than some food that's trying to be something it's not well-suited to be.

I've had to go on special diets for various reasons I don't feel like going into, and I found it was just easier to not eat the "forbidden foods" than to eat something disappointingly not even close to the target food.

Carob doesn't taste like chocolate, and most recipes that use applesauce instead of sugar are so badly out-of-whack that you wind up with inflicting culinary nightmares on yourself, or worse, on other people. (I still have nightmares about this one cookie... so bad... so very, very bad... the only way I think I could get the taste out of my mouth would probably be with lye. )

I'd rather just eat the applesauce than try to make it into some sort of inedible cake, and I'd rather just have a bowl of rice than try to make it into bread. (A *small* bowl of rice a day is actually pretty good for keeping your gut well-hydrated.)

Oh, and I know about the wheat production thing, and the whole "we have to be a self-sufficient country" stuff going on over there. Whatever makes them happy. As long as they don't try to serve it to me.

I don't know, I don't think 'wheat' or whatnot is as key to 'bread' as 'cacao' is to 'chocolate'.

This reminds me of how I don't care whether HFCS is from corn/is synthetic, I just go by 'feel'. I wonder if it really is tied to the 'free' fructose/skewed fructose/gluctose ratio, and if so, if they address it in their manufacturing process, whether that will 'fix' it (for me).

Here's some rice bread reviews.

http://turning-iwatean.blogspot.com/2009...bread.html

I had a Lawson roll cake made from rice flour a few months ago and it was delicious. I don't know if it actually improved the flavor, but it sure didn't detract from it.
I'm a bit dubious of a home rice bread maker, especially one made by Sanyo, but I don't think rice bread deserves all the negativity it's getting in this thread.

JimmySeal Wrote:I had a Lawson roll cake made from rice flour a few months ago and it was delicious. I don't know if it actually improved the flavor, but it sure didn't detract from it.
I'm a bit dubious of a home rice bread maker, especially one made by Sanyo, but I don't think rice bread deserves all the negativity it's getting in this thread.

Doesn't change the fact that Sanyo made it, but apparently they're being absorbed by Panasonic?

Edit: They're 'terminating' the brand name next year or the year after or something.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/business/T101024001893.htm

Personally, I'll just wait till Zojirushi makes one.