The red bean-filled adzuki bun, otherwise known as anpan or anbun is a staple of Japanese bakeries, invented almost 150 years ago by a former samurai, Yasubei Kimura.
He opened one of Japan's first bakeries, Buneidou, in 1869, which later changed its name to Kimuraya, now in its seventh generation.
As yeast was yet to enter the country, hops was used in baking, resulting in dense, hard bread, unlike the soft fluffy varieties of Japanese bread we have today.
Yasubei Kimura and the shop sign of Kimuraya (destroyed in the Great Kanto Earthquake) Source: Kimuraya-sohonten
With the hopes of popularising bread in Japan, Yasube experimented with the art of breadmaking, creating Japan's first "soft" bread in 1874, using sakedane - a natural leavening agent made of rice, water and koji.
Sweet bean paste was then wrapped with the new dough, and topped with salted cherry blossom petals – what we know as anpan.
To incorporate traditional Japanese essence into Western cooking was ground-breaking at the time, such that the invention was presented to the Meiji Emperor, spreading the newly adopted food from the West to the rest of Japan.
Kimuraya at the newly built brick town at Ginza-4 chome. Here the azuki bun was born. Source: Kimuraya-sohonten
In the Japanese history books, anpan is considered to be one of the “seven tools for the opening of civilization”, alongside newspapers, postal service and gas lamps.
Freshly made anpan became readily available in Australia in 1982, when the country's first Japanese bakery, Kobe Bakery, opened in Sydney's Northshore. Japanese baker Yutaka Miyamoto who was behind the opening, says the Japanese expats living in Sydney longed for Japanese bread, particularly an adzuki bun and adzuki doughnuts.
His adzuki goods were something that reminded them of their homes and familiarity. "Hundreds sold on the weekends. People came from everywhere", Miyamoto tells SBS Food.
While most may think of adzuki bun as simply red bean filling, Miyamoto explains this is untrue. "Ours are made of sweet potatoes, with a dash of adzuki beans and essence."
While these adzuki fillings were readily available pre-made in Japan, everything had to be made from scratch in Australia, explains Miyamoto.
Azuki bun (left) and curry bun (right) are the staple of Fuji Bakery Source: Yusuke Oba
Despite the time and effort that goes into a single adzuki bun, Miyamoto has continued to bake these daily, and they have become the bakery's staple and a source of comfort for the Japanese community.
His Fuji Bakery store will celebrate its 40th anniversary next year, but Miyamoto's anpan is the same as it was four decades ago.
In Melbourne's Brioche by Phillip, lined up along croissants, danishes and brioches, are anpan. While it may seem odd to see Japan's staple in a modern French bakery, there is a good reason.
Phillip Chiang was a head baker at Melbourne's Paul Bocuse within the Japanese department store, Daimaru, in the 90s.
When Daimaru closed its doors in 2002, Chiang wanted to carry over some of the product range to his own, including anpan. For Chiang, who is originally from Taiwan but trained in Japan, anpan had a special place in his heart.
"Not only is it my favourite, but for many from Asia, it is a familiar taste that reminds them of their home"
"While it may not be called anpan and the ingredients may not all be the same, these red bean-filled breads are found all over Asia."
Unlike most of Japan's anpan, which does not contain fat, Chiang's anpan contains butter, an idea passed down from his baker father in Taiwan, to enhance the flavour. And he says there is a royal anpan-fan visiting the store regularly.
While Chiang doesn't often bake at the store recently, he still enjoys baking anpan at his home, experimenting and playing with the recipe.
"I like putting condensed milk in the recipe. You can reduce the sugar content and still make it rich."
