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Cereals and bread from Japan

Sakamanjū (sake-starter steamed bun)酒饅頭

Cooked rice, rice koji and water ferment into a liquid starter called sakadane (sake moto). The starter liquid is kneaded into wheat flour with sugar, the dough rises, and it is wrapped around sweet azuki paste and steamed into soft buns.

Fully documentedCereals and bread2.2 days – 6.2 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe MAFF household recipe from Sagamihara, which makes 40 buns. The Ōgaki shop described in the Gifu reports keeps its starter going by adding part of yesterday's starter to fresh glutinous rice, koji and water.
Cooked white rice, for the sakadane2–3 bowls[maff-sakamanju]
Water, for the sakadane600 ml[maff-sakamanju]
Rice koji, for the sakadane25 g[maff-sakamanju]
Wheat flour1 kg[maff-sakamanju]
Sakadane liquid2.5 cups (500 ml)[maff-sakamanju]
Sugar, for the dough4 tbsp[maff-sakamanju]
Sweet azuki bean paste2 cups (400 ml) azuki beans, 350 g sugar, 1 tsp salt[maff-sakamanju]
Starterbackslop (the Ōgaki shop's starter is refreshed daily); the MAFF household recipe makes the starter from cooked rice, koji and water

Total time across the recorded steps: 2.2 days – 6.2 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countYeastsLactic acid bacteria25 °CStarchSugarAlcoholCO₂

What changes: Yeasts ferment the rice and koji mash until the grains float

Step 1 of 6
Ferment cooked rice, koji and water into sakadane
Time
2–6 days
Reported
Temperature
25 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Yeasts
Lactic acid bacteria
Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The Ōgaki shop keeps one starter going for years by mixing part of the old starter into fresh rice, koji and water each evening and leaving it overnight. Output: fermented sakadane; ready when the rice floats to the surface.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

yeasts carried over from the previous day's starter make alcohol and gas, and lactic acid bacteria add lactic acid

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Cooked rice, rice koji and water ferment into a liquid starter called sakadane (sake moto). The starter liquid is kneaded into wheat flour with sugar, the dough rises, and it is wrapped around sweet azuki paste and steamed into soft buns. Made in 6 steps over 2.2 days – 6.2 days. The longest step, ferment cooked rice, koji and water into sakadane, takes 2–6 days (Ministry of Agriculture) and runs at 25 °C (Kondo S 2023). Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Lactic acid bacteria do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step2–6 daysReported[maff-sakamanju]Ferment cooked rice, koji and water into sakadane
Temperature25 °CReported[gifu2023]Ferment cooked rice, koji and water into sakadane

What makes this one different

The dough rises on a sake-style starter of rice and koji, not on baker's yeast or a flour sourdough. The Gifu report says the starter is thought to affect the bun's aroma, taste, rise and texture.

Related ferments

Safety

The buns are steamed through, for 20 minutes in the MAFF recipe, before they are eaten.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Sagamihara grew wheat and barley because volcanic ash made rice farming hard, and sakamanjū became a festival food there. Summer is the best season to ferment the dough, so it was a ritual food for July and August festivals. An old Ōgaki confectioner keeps its starter going by daily refreshment, with a method built on more than a hundred years of practice.

  1. [maff-sakamanju] Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), Our Regional Cuisines, Saka Manju (Kanagawa)gov
  2. [gifu2023] Kondo S., Sawai Y., Yoshimura A., Hisamatsu K., Miyashita M., Hidaka K., Shibayama K., Kitano H. 2023, Utilization of microorganisms isolated from sake manju moto (1st report), Gifu Prefectural Research Institute for Food Sciences reportgov
  3. [gifu2024] Yoshimura A., Sawai Y., Mizutani E., Hisamatsu K., Kitano H. 2024, Utilization of microorganisms isolated from sake manju moto (II), Gifu Prefectural Research Institute for Food Sciences report No. 6gov