1. Starter
2. Rising after one
night
3. Fully risen
dough.
Take a bite
into our fragrant, deep-fried donut filled with red bean paste
and enjoy the aroma of the amazingly soft and light pastry
together with the delicate sweetness of the creamy smooth bean
paste that spreads across your palate. We think even those, who
may not like deep-fried foods or red bean paste, will like
these. How can these donuts have such a light fragrance?
First, the batter of the donut—we use a
natural yeast made from fruits to make our dough rise. Depending
on the season, yeast can be made from various fruits such as
grapes, tangerines, or strawberries. We do not have just one
type of natural yeast. Yeast with different fragrances, at
times, lactic bacteria and other cultures work together. The
yeasts made from pure, chemical and fertilizer-free Shumei
Natural Agriculture fruits cooperate with each other to make the
dough rise.
Our bakers are also something else. They
secretly used commercial yeast to make bread as a test. We could
tell right away that the bread smelled like those found in most
stores and that the difference was created by the yeast. In
comparison, our natural yeast has a complex, pure fragrance.
The natural leavening agent is
delicious, however, it lacks the rising strength of regular
yeast. According to our bakers, “natural yeast is like a
multi-ethnic country, which is sometimes difficult to bring
together.” So they start preparing the culture two days ahead of
time. They make the liquid yeast with hot water and fruits then
add a little flour to create the starter. The next day, milk and
flour are added as refreshment to help the dough to rise. The
day after that, the bakers add eggs, butter, flour, and sugar to
the fully risen dough and begin to knead it as the fragrance of
the dough fills the air. In order to create the suitable
condition for the yeast, great care much be given to
temperature. It should not be too hot or too cold. The
temperature of the container, utensils, and flour must also be
taken into consideration in order to successfully make the yeast
grow.
After kneading the dough, it is laid
to rest for two hours. Then the yeast expands limitlessly.
The dough is divided, wrapped in a gluten membrane, and put
aside to rest. The bakers continue to work so that the
fragrant air created by the yeast culture cannot escape. Now
comes the time to add the red bean paste and again increase
the yeast. Depending on the season, the temperature is
adjusted for the yeast.
The red bean paste filling is made
of special, extra large, shiny, sweet adzuki beans called
“Dainagon” that are cooked until they are tender, then
filtered through a sieve. Without softening it too much, the
paste is quickly finished, and though it is exposed to the
dough and frying oil, it still melts in your mouth and
tastes refreshingly light.
All the ingredients are Shumei
Natural Agriculture products—the milk and butter are
naturally pastured; the eggs come from chickens raised on
naturally farmed vegetables and rice bran; the wheat, sugar,
and adzuki beans were all made without agriculture chemicals
and fertilizers. The ingredients have the gentle flavor that
their producers wholeheartedly cultivated.
Finally, the time to deep fry the
fully risen dough has come. The donuts lightly float up to
the surface of the oil as if they are about to fly off.
After the front and back are fried, a white ring forms in
the middle. Try them while they are still hot!
|
 4. Filling the
pastry with red bean paste
 5. White rings
form
|
