Sugar-Fried School-Lunch Bread (揚げパン, Age-pan)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Tempura nabe or a deep heavy pot
• •Frying thermometer
• •Saibashi (long cooking chopsticks), or tongs
• •Abura-kiri batto (oil-draining tray), or a wire rack set over a sheet pan
• •Shallow tray for coating

Instructions

1. 1

   Mix the coating

   Choose one coating before the oil is hot. For kinako sugar, stir the sugar, kinako, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a shallow tray. For cocoa sugar, stir the sugar, cocoa, and a small pinch of salt, sifting the cocoa if it is lumpy. The tray must be ready first because warm fried bread waits for no one, a dramatic temperament for such a plain fellow.

   Salt is not there to make the coating salty. It wakes up the roasted soybean flavor in kinako and keeps cocoa sugar from tasting flat.
2. 2

   Ready the bread

   Use whole, unsplit koppepan. Brush off loose crumbs and leave very fresh rolls uncovered for 20 to 30 minutes if they feel damp on the surface. A slightly dry roll fries cleaner because the crust sets quickly; a wet, soft roll drinks oil and turns heavy.

3. 3

   Heat the oil

   Pour the oil into a deep heavy pot and heat it to 170°C, about 340°F. If you do not have a thermometer, drop in a tiny crumb of bread; it should sink for a moment, rise with small lively bubbles, and color slowly. Oil that is too cool soaks into the bread, while oil that is too hot darkens the crust before the inside warms.

4. 4

   Fry briefly

   Lower in one or two rolls with saibashi, long cooking chopsticks, or tongs. Fry 25 to 35 seconds on the first side, turn, and fry another 20 to 30 seconds, just until the crust is evenly golden and slightly crisp. This is already baked bread, so the aim is not cooking the center. You are giving the outside enough oil and heat to catch the sugar.

5. 5

   Drain and coat

   Lift the bread to a rack and let it drain for 10 to 15 seconds, only long enough for the surface oil to stop dripping. Roll it in the coating while it is still warm. Too soon, and the sugar clumps in oil; too late, and the coating falls away. The right moment is brief and perfectly ordinary.

6. 6

   Serve simply

   Let the coated rolls rest for 3 to 5 minutes before eating so the surface settles and the crumb softens again. Serve warm or at room temperature the same day. Age-pan should be faintly oily, soft in the middle, crisp at the edge, and dusty enough to leave sugar on your fingers.

Chef Tips

• •Buy or bake plain koppepan, unfilled and unsliced, with a thin crust and soft white crumb. If all you can find is an unsplit hot dog roll, choose the least sweet one. It is a sensible stand-in, not the same bread.
• •Do not use brioche. Too much butter and egg make the roll rich before it reaches the oil, and age-pan should taste like school bread made cheerful, not pastry trying on a uniform.
• •Keep the oil between 165°C and 175°C. A thermometer saves guessing, but the real sign is the surface: small quick bubbles, steady color, no aggressive browning.
• •Kinako is roasted soybean flour, so say it plainly if you're cooking for someone who avoids soy. Cocoa sugar is the easier substitute at the table, and it still belongs to the school-lunch tradition.

Advance Preparation

• •The coating can be mixed up to one week ahead and kept airtight. Stir it again before using because kinako and cocoa settle differently from sugar.
• •Koppepan is best for this when it is one day old. If baking your own, bake the rolls the day before, cool completely, and store loosely covered at room temperature.
• •Fry age-pan close to serving when you can. If you must make it ahead, keep it uncovered at room temperature for up to 4 hours; refrigeration toughens the crumb and makes the sugar damp.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 85g)