FOOD / Baking (Vegan) in Japan!
Hi everyone! I'm in Tokyo!
It has been an interesting few weeks coming here and one thing that stood out to me was how different it is to bake in Japan compared to baking in Australia.
So, I thought I'd write about my own personal experiences and tips, as well as some handy Japanese vocabulary.
- Ovens
Most Japanese houses don't have an oven built in like they do in Australia. My partner did not have an oven in his house so we bought a convection oven. It's not a bad oven and it wasn't expensive. I haven't run into any problems with it, but it is small so we can only bake things in small batches.
You can buy a variety of different ovens at any home/tech store like BicCamera, and online. We got ours off Amazon after looking at the models in store.
Oven in Japanese is: オーブン (oobun)
Convection oven is: コンベンションオーブン (konbenshon oobun)
There are also toaster ovens which look similar to convection ovens but they clearly say オーブントースター (oobun toosutaa) or just トースター (toosutaa)
- Flour
In Australia, we generally have self-raising flour and plain flour that we use for baking.
In Japan, there is no self-raising flour, and the plain flour is classified as either 'weak flour' or 'strong flour' . There is also 'medium strength flour'. I was very confused by this, so I did some research.
- 'Weak flour' aka 薄力粉 (hakurikiko) is used for cakes, biscuits, and general use. It is softer than the other flours.
- 'Strong flour' aka 強力粉 (kyoryokuko) is good for bread.
- 'Medium strength flour' aka 中力粉 (chuurikiko) is for udon, pasta, takoyaki, etc.
If you're using a recipe that calls for self-raising flour, use 1 teaspoon of baking powder for every 1 cup of weak flour.
Baking powder is: ベーキングパウダー (beekingu paudaa), and usually comes in a small circular tin.
Some other important vocabulary you may need for flour-related products include:
- Bleached: 漂白 (hyohaku)
- Unbleached: 無漂白 (muhyouhaku)
- Wholewheat flour: 全粒粉 (zenryuufun)
- Sugar
Sugar is not difficult to find at all and most supermarkets will have at least white sugar and brown sugar.
White sugar, used for general cooking is: 上白糖 (johakuto)
Caster sugar is: グラニュー糖 (guranyuto)
(Dark) brown sugar is: 黒砂糖 (kurosato)
The baking aisle at the supermarket will usually have powdered sugar/icing sugar which is パウダーシュガー (paudaa shugaa) in Japanese.
* I should note that the sugar in Japan may NOT be vegan. This is because the sugar may be processed with bone char. You will only know if it's vegan or not if you contact the company. Using bone char is still a very common practice in Japan despite it being rather outdated in Australia.
You can read more about sugar here.
- Egg replacements
My usual go-to egg replacement in Australia was flaxseed meal but I found it a bit difficult to find in Japan at first. You cannot find it in normal supermarkets, however I did find flaxseed (not meal) at Cuoca in Kichijoji.
Flaxseed in Japanese is: 亜麻仁 (amani)
If you cannot find flaxseed, then you can try using corn starch and water as an egg replacement. Corn starch is very easy to find and it's called コーンスターチ (koon staachi) in Japanese. You can find it in almost any supermarket.
- Vegan butter/margarine
I'm sorry to say that it is very difficult to find vegan butter/margarine.
Most supermarkets don't stock vegan butter. Sometimes they will contain gelatin, sometimes dairy product.
I have only found one type of vegan margarine (soy margarine) at a specialty store called Natural House.
I found a big block of margarine which didn't contain dairy product or gelatin but it did state it contained emulsifier 乳化剤 (nyuukazai). The packaging never states whether it is animal derived or plant derived, so I'm unsure if it's actually vegan or not.
- Milk
Soy milk is very easy to find at most if not all supermarkets. But there are a few different types which may confuse people.
I will generally buy the 無調整豆乳 (mu choosei toonyuu) which is non-adjusted soy milk. It usually comes in a light brown carton.
Most supermarkets will also stock almond milk but it usually is a bit more expensive.
Almond milk is: アーモンドミルク (aamondo miruku)
Coconut milk ココナッツミルク (kokonattsu miruku) is also easy to find but it will usually come in a can and not a carton.
I recommend you bake with soy milk as it is the easiest (to find) and cheapest cow's milk alternative.
I am yet to find other plant-based milks but will keep you guys updated.
- Baking equipment
You can find a lot of baking equipment at any general homeware store, like Nitori, sometimes Muji, etc.
But I highly recommend Cuoca (mentioned before), as they have a large range of baking equipment, including cake pans in different sizes, bread tins, cupcake pans, etc. They also sell baking ingredients too.
Daiso also sells baking equipment from time to time. I bought a sifter and a spatula from there and they are fine. They also sell a lot of gift bags you can use for gifting your baked goods.
But obviously it is a dollar store, so I wouldn't rely on it for more important things.
As for my electric hand mixer, I bought it off Amazon.
Hand mixer in Japanese is: ハンドミキサー (hando mikusaa) and many different types will come up when yous search that.
- Misc.
For other essential baking ingredients like cocoa powder ココア (kokoa), vanilla essence バニラエッセンス (banira essensu), etc., you can find them in the baking section of most supermarkets. The size of the baking section will vary, but I found Kinokuniya supermarkets' generally have a rather large baking section, so if you can't find a certain ingredient in your local supermarket, try your nearest Kinokuniya.
Cuoca also stocks all the essential baking ingredients, as well as more 'rare' ones, so if there's one near you, I definitely recommend a visit!
For a whipped cream alternative, I know coconut cream/milk is a popular choice, however I actually found soy whipped cream at Don Quijote! I haven't tried it yet but I am excited to!
That's all for today's post.
I hope you found it helpful and happy baking!
It has been an interesting few weeks coming here and one thing that stood out to me was how different it is to bake in Japan compared to baking in Australia.
So, I thought I'd write about my own personal experiences and tips, as well as some handy Japanese vocabulary.
~~~
- Ovens
Most Japanese houses don't have an oven built in like they do in Australia. My partner did not have an oven in his house so we bought a convection oven. It's not a bad oven and it wasn't expensive. I haven't run into any problems with it, but it is small so we can only bake things in small batches.
You can buy a variety of different ovens at any home/tech store like BicCamera, and online. We got ours off Amazon after looking at the models in store.
Oven in Japanese is: オーブン (oobun)
Convection oven is: コンベンションオーブン (konbenshon oobun)
There are also toaster ovens which look similar to convection ovens but they clearly say オーブントースター (oobun toosutaa) or just トースター (toosutaa)
- Flour
In Australia, we generally have self-raising flour and plain flour that we use for baking.
In Japan, there is no self-raising flour, and the plain flour is classified as either 'weak flour' or 'strong flour' . There is also 'medium strength flour'. I was very confused by this, so I did some research.
- 'Weak flour' aka 薄力粉 (hakurikiko) is used for cakes, biscuits, and general use. It is softer than the other flours.
- 'Strong flour' aka 強力粉 (kyoryokuko) is good for bread.
- 'Medium strength flour' aka 中力粉 (chuurikiko) is for udon, pasta, takoyaki, etc.
If you're using a recipe that calls for self-raising flour, use 1 teaspoon of baking powder for every 1 cup of weak flour.
Baking powder is: ベーキングパウダー (beekingu paudaa), and usually comes in a small circular tin.
Some other important vocabulary you may need for flour-related products include:
- Bleached: 漂白 (hyohaku)
- Unbleached: 無漂白 (muhyouhaku)
- Wholewheat flour: 全粒粉 (zenryuufun)
- Sugar
Sugar is not difficult to find at all and most supermarkets will have at least white sugar and brown sugar.
White sugar, used for general cooking is: 上白糖 (johakuto)
Caster sugar is: グラニュー糖 (guranyuto)
(Dark) brown sugar is: 黒砂糖 (kurosato)
The baking aisle at the supermarket will usually have powdered sugar/icing sugar which is パウダーシュガー (paudaa shugaa) in Japanese.
* I should note that the sugar in Japan may NOT be vegan. This is because the sugar may be processed with bone char. You will only know if it's vegan or not if you contact the company. Using bone char is still a very common practice in Japan despite it being rather outdated in Australia.
You can read more about sugar here.
- Egg replacements
My usual go-to egg replacement in Australia was flaxseed meal but I found it a bit difficult to find in Japan at first. You cannot find it in normal supermarkets, however I did find flaxseed (not meal) at Cuoca in Kichijoji.
Flaxseed in Japanese is: 亜麻仁 (amani)
If you cannot find flaxseed, then you can try using corn starch and water as an egg replacement. Corn starch is very easy to find and it's called コーンスターチ (koon staachi) in Japanese. You can find it in almost any supermarket.
- Vegan butter/margarine
I'm sorry to say that it is very difficult to find vegan butter/margarine.
Most supermarkets don't stock vegan butter. Sometimes they will contain gelatin, sometimes dairy product.
I have only found one type of vegan margarine (soy margarine) at a specialty store called Natural House.
Soy milk: 豆乳 (tounyuu)
Margarine: マーガリン (maagarin)
- Milk
Soy milk is very easy to find at most if not all supermarkets. But there are a few different types which may confuse people.
I will generally buy the 無調整豆乳 (mu choosei toonyuu) which is non-adjusted soy milk. It usually comes in a light brown carton.
Most supermarkets will also stock almond milk but it usually is a bit more expensive.
Almond milk is: アーモンドミルク (aamondo miruku)
Coconut milk ココナッツミルク (kokonattsu miruku) is also easy to find but it will usually come in a can and not a carton.
I recommend you bake with soy milk as it is the easiest (to find) and cheapest cow's milk alternative.
I am yet to find other plant-based milks but will keep you guys updated.
- Baking equipment
You can find a lot of baking equipment at any general homeware store, like Nitori, sometimes Muji, etc.
But I highly recommend Cuoca (mentioned before), as they have a large range of baking equipment, including cake pans in different sizes, bread tins, cupcake pans, etc. They also sell baking ingredients too.
Daiso also sells baking equipment from time to time. I bought a sifter and a spatula from there and they are fine. They also sell a lot of gift bags you can use for gifting your baked goods.
But obviously it is a dollar store, so I wouldn't rely on it for more important things.
As for my electric hand mixer, I bought it off Amazon.
Hand mixer in Japanese is: ハンドミキサー (hando mikusaa) and many different types will come up when yous search that.
- Misc.
For other essential baking ingredients like cocoa powder ココア (kokoa), vanilla essence バニラエッセンス (banira essensu), etc., you can find them in the baking section of most supermarkets. The size of the baking section will vary, but I found Kinokuniya supermarkets' generally have a rather large baking section, so if you can't find a certain ingredient in your local supermarket, try your nearest Kinokuniya.
Cuoca also stocks all the essential baking ingredients, as well as more 'rare' ones, so if there's one near you, I definitely recommend a visit!
For a whipped cream alternative, I know coconut cream/milk is a popular choice, however I actually found soy whipped cream at Don Quijote! I haven't tried it yet but I am excited to!
~~~
That's all for today's post.
I hope you found it helpful and happy baking!
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