Japanese pastries and baked goods

French pastries have made a name for itself as the best and most delectable treats found anywhere in the world. The Japanese has taken on this tradition of French pastries by combining Japanese ingenuity and pastry making with French styles to create an amazing blend of pastries that have changed and redefined the pastry world. In the below examination we will look at how Japanese pastries are made and how they employ traditional Japanese pastry techniques with French pastries and how these combinations have created the new flavors of Tokyo.

An easy introduction into the world of Japanese pastries starts with the revolution that is occurring in Tokyo. Just as the Japanese perfected the making of cheap and reliable automobiles, they have adapted their ingenuity to the pastry industry as well. They have created delicacies of French origin but at prices that one cannot find on the streets of Paris. Traditional Japanese pastries are significantly different from their western counterparts. The Japanese prefer baking products that are generally light in taste and flavor, rather than the dense and heavier dough used within western cooking. They also use much less buttery substances and low on sweeteners as well. In greater part, these types of pastries are much more palatable to Japanese tastes precisely because they are a lighter and less flavorful than French pastries. Flour is the main difference when one attributes the conditional differences between French and Japanese pastries. Traditional Japanese pastries are made with flour that is primarily light grains produced native to Japan and other parts of Asia. Whereas French pastries use rough grain grounded flour and tend to be much coarser and thus "heavier" than the Japanese counterpart. The butter used within both formulas are also very different in that traditional Japanese pastries use butter produced from cows that graze on nutrient rich fields within Japan, while French butter is produced from cows with a very different diet. The Japanese also use pastries that are often made with yeast that is produced through heavy sake-brewing rather than traditional yeast, and this also produces a significantly different flavor.

Despite this traditional difference, Japan has become notorious for its "fusion" pastries that blend Japanese pastry ingredients with French techniques. The French style of pastries that are famous employ complicated techniques such as the current trend of "jewelry" pastry made famous by Pierre Herme. The baking technique is to ensure that the heavier flour has an accurate and balanced saturation of sugar, cream and animal gelatin. The result is that the pastry achieves a blended taste and is very balanced in texture. Thus French pastries are known to be delectable because they provide a far more coalesced texture. Japanese pastries that use the "fusion" of Japanese ingredients and French technique tend to achieve this balanced texture, while still maintaining the purity of the ingredients. The final product is a flavorful blending that is both rich and pure, which provides the pastries with a concentrated taste. This fusion technique is unique in that it employs a variety of different techniques that skew towards under sweetened pastries to bring out the most flavors from its natural ingredients. Overall the "fusion" technique has been popular precisely because its product is not overly sweetened but at the same time has the same rich texture and creamy taste as French pastries. The Japanese have learned how to combine the best of both worlds.

Decorum is another important aspect of pastry making. The aesthetics of French pastries sometimes is more important than the actual taste. Japanese pastry chefs have come to understand this and have produced some modern marvels and master pastry chefs. Chief among them is Sadaharu Aoki who is well-known in both Japan and France. His pastries tend to be much sweeter than traditional Japanese pastries, but it is mainly his artistic flavor in creating beautiful looking pastry that has won him so much acclaim within the pastry world. The key to "fusion" pastry is that they are economical. French pastries made by famous pastry chefs are aesthetically pleasing but are not only expensive, but often glazed to provide shape and texture that makes it extremely hard to eat. Japanese pastries made with the French techniques are much more economical in that they are produced cheaply (less than a cup of coffee) and made into efficient shapes that are more conducive to eating than culinary displays. This is a reflection of the Japanese twist of efficiency upon French pastries.

In so far as the specific uses of ingredients and sauces within Japanese "fusion" pastries the difference is not so much with sauces as with the blending of the ingredients. Since Japanese pastry chefs tend to prefer lighter and crisp textures, they use sauces that bring out the natural flavor of the material rather than cloud it with sugary substances or butter. As a result, the natural flavor of fruits is very much evident within Japanese pastries because they stand out with its distinct taste from traditional French pastry. In contrast, French pastries have significantly more additives and the ratio of natural ingredients to cream, sugar and butter are much different, the resultant mixture is more complex in taste and provides a smoother but less concentrated taste from the sauces. So the materials that are central is based on technique, the Japanese prefer to elevate natural flavors and uses the texture of the pastry to heighten the existing natural flavors. Whereas the French prefer to use added substances to intermingle the ingredients into the core texture of the ultimate product, the end result is that such products have less volume but much more substance than Japanese pastries. It is very much a contrast in style rather than substantive difference in ingredients.