This is actually from an animated tv-series (largely aimed at children), and this clip came along as a bonus in the end of an episode.

The series is about a young baker that comes up with crazy ideas of baking bread. It's not very realistic, but also not totally off the target.

I would guess this instruction video is more for the young ones wanting to make their own bread, but aren't allowed, or does not know how the oven works. In Japan pretty much every household has a rice cooker, and its easy to use.

Oh, and if you want to know more, the series is called "Yakitate!! Japan" (Freshly Baked!! Ja-pan) ['Pan' meaning bread in japanese, so its a play with words].

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I'm about to move to a house that doesn't have a stove (just a hotplate), and since we have to furnish the whole thing from scratch, I'm going to wait a month or two to buy the stove. This looks like a fun little recipe to try out in the meantime! I wonder what no-knead bread would look like cooked in the rice cooker?

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While I cannot speak for Japan, it is rare to find actual ovens in China within homes. Toaster ovens are available, however from what I understand, they are not exactly mainstream either, due to cost/space issues.

The idea of using a rice cooker, which can be found in nearly every household, to make bread is definitely an interesting one and likely more probable for most individuals there, is creative and definitely an added bonus! I'm a firm believer in finding multiple functions for the tools you have... and try to do as little "specialized tool" purchasing as possible.

That being said, I do have a perfectly good oven in my apartment here in the U.S. to make bread with. ;)

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Like Harima said, the anime isn't much realistic. But all those breads showed are real or based on real version. The show had bakery consultant (Koichi Uchimura), and some breads are his creations.

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It sounds like you've judged a clip without understanding where it comes from....

1. The video clip originally aired in April of 2005, and Mark Bittman's article wasn't printed until November 2006. And while no-kneed breads existed before Bittman's article, in terms of popular knowledge...I'd say that it isn't a knock against the producers to not have known about no-kneed bread.

2. As others have pointed out...just because ovens are common in Western homes, it does not mean that they're common for Eastern ones. The method makes more sense for such homes.

3. Again as others have pointed out, this was targeted to kids as an easy way make bread. And perhaps using a rice cooker would be both familiar and safer than dealing with an oven?

In the end, one person's "insanity" is often just another person's practical reality and vice versa. Chalk it up to cultural difference.

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I saw this video a year or two ago and decided to try the recipe out myself. I translated the recipe and measurements and the bread came out pretty decent. It really wasn't any more work than baking bread in the oven... you mix the dough, kneed it, and let it rise in the rice cooker, punch it down once or twice, and all that's extra is to flip it once during the cooking time.

The only problem with this recipe is that it doesn't work that well with the american style rice cookers that just have the one button operation. These are based on a temperature sensitive shut off switch. So, after you bake the first side and flip the bread, the rice cooker doesn't want to stay on for the entire time because it's too hot and thinks the cooking cycle is done. I'd imagine the fancier asian rice cookers with timers and various functions work a bit better.

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This recipe is very reminscent of German "Fitness Bread"

(Bean and three-grain loaf at under 8 cents a pound)
The prices quoted are from 1996

by Kurt Saxon

Here's a staple food which I concocted which anyone can make
and would be a guarantee against hunger. It is a combination of
one fourth each of ground pinto beans, corn, wheat and rye.

(Grind and mix one pound of each). A Corona grain mill, $50., will
last a lifetime and be your best self-sufficiency tool now and in
the event of a collapse.

At your local seed and feed store you should be able to buy
untreated wheat and rye for $4.25 for 50 lb. each. Fifty lb. of whole
corn is only $3.00. Prices may vary where you are but not much. My
wife bought 20 lb. of pinto beans at Wal-Mart for $5.00 or 25 cents
a lb. Our health food store sells 25 lb. for $15.00 or 60 cents a
pound. Since the health food store is always higher five lb. bags at
your grocer's should be around 35 cents a pound.

When you consider that the three pounds of grain costs around 21
cents and 35 cents for beans, you pay about 62 cents for four pounds
of meal. At 10 ounces per three pound loaf you get at least six three
pound loaves or 18 pounds which amounts to about four cents a
pound. Add the cost of electricity and the seasonings, this food would
still cost under 8 cents a pound.

Say you ate about a pound and a half of this food each day. You would
get all the protein and carbohydrates for energy, plus vitamins and
minerals your body needs. You could live on it but you can eat it along
with whatever other food you have. It is tasty, filling and nutritious.

Bean And Three-Grain Loaf

5½ cups water
2 cups (10 oz) meal
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. poultry seasoning
2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. black pepper
3 tsp. onion powder

(Or use whatever flavoring you like)

This is best cooked in a one-gallon crock pot, which you should have, as
it's the cheapest on energy, costs less than $25.00 at Wal-Mart and lasts
forever.

First, grind one pound each of beans, corn, wheat and rye. For fineness,
screen after each grinding to save grinding the fine over and over. Build a
simple wood frame, a foot square by six inches deep. Glue or staple a piece
of window screen, bought at any hardware store.

As you grind each pound you'll be left with maybe 15% husks which just won't
grind and will stay in the sieve. The corn husks you discard as they have no
value. But the husks of the beans, wheat and rye are good cooked in soups.
The other husks, taken in liquid by the heaping teaspoonful, will act as a better
laxative than any you can buy. On the other hand, the cooked meal, itself, is
excellent roughage, and will clean out your intestinal tract of all the bad
bacteria and disease-causing matter and you'll feel better and never get colon
cancer. It's a real health food.

Mix the meal and measure out two cups and mix in the seasonings. Put 5½ cups
of hot water in the crock pot and dribble in the meal, stirring with a fork, as the
meal has a tendency to lump.

Cook for two hours, stirring every half hour with a fork, especially at the bottom.
When done, remove the crock pot and wrap a towel around it so you don't burn
yourself. Pour the contents into a greased bread baking pan. (Mine is 5½ inches
wide by 9½ inches long by 2½ inches deep on the inside). This recipe makes a
three-pound loaf.

Put a piece of plastic wrap over the top of the pan of hot meal or an unpleasant
crust will form. Put the pan in a cool place overnight. By the next morning it will
have become firm. Slide a knife around the ends and sides and turn the loaf out
on a platter or such and cover it with plastic wrap. The process of preparing this
food doesn't take more than five minutes. To use it, peel back the wrap and cut it
into quarter-inch slices and fry it on both sides in a hot skillet. Serve with bacon
and eggs or whatever you wish for any meal. You'll never go hungry and will save
a lot of money on food.

http://red-icculus.com

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I CAN speak for Japan, and the situation is similar as to the one in China. The only true ovens are commercial. There are small coil heated countertop models available for as much or more than a good full size oven in the US.

The third and most common option is a bulb powered toaster oven. I like to call them giant easy bake ovens. They don't excel at anything, and they are bad at many things. I've managed to make various cookies and lasagna in mine, but it takes a watchful eye to make sure things don't burn.

Rice cookers are in every home, some have multiple. Many of the high end rice cookers have settings for thing like vegetable steaming and even bread. Sadly, I only own a cheap analog one, so my options are limited to on and off. I could still make bread in it, but I'd rather get some from the specialty bakers that I frequent ^_^

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When I lived in Japan (1998-1999) I didn't have an oven in my apartment, and I didn't know anyone else who had one. In fact, one of the westerners in our province *built* an outdoor oven, and we all flocked to his place to have actual homemade pizza. I only "baked" once while I was there -- I made something very similar to the microwave-cake-in-a-mug that I've seen recently here on slashfood, but it was a premix product in a paper cup sold at the grocery store.

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I actually learned a lot of the few cooking skills I have in Korea. All of them are stovetop because ovens, as many others have said, are rare in that part of Asia. Most apartments just aren't wired for them.

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Ha, just yesterday I was talking to my friend in China who is totally out of her head excited to have been sent her childhood EasyBake oven. She says that since ovens are very rare in China, even in the large cities which are becoming very "westernized" she's been wanting some warm chocolate chip cookies, and is waiting for her employer to get her a toaster oven, also very hard to get a hold of there.

We have to remember that not every place on the globe eats diets based on wheat and corn like we do here. A loaf of bread is as rare to some people as, oh hell, I am resistant to post an example of any specific food here on a foodie blog, so y'all just pick some rare foreign delicacy and insert it....*HERE!* to complete my simile ;)

Meanwhile, I'm going to point out the rice cooker recipe to my friend, who may be very excited to see it.

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