Monday, March 14, 2011

Black Bread! Muahaha!

Until recently, the sight of charred bread made me feel a little naughty on the inside. Yes, sadly, I have always been one of those people that secretly crush on the taste of burnt bread but don't actually indulge in it publicly for fear of being ridiculed by ridiculous friends. Analyzing it, you might say that I was drawn to how black the bread gets, you could say I liked that chalky charcoaly flavor, or you could just assume I'm insane and stop analyzing it. As I grew older, I stopped intentionally scorching my bread to hell and thought I was over that urge to scrape at the burnt corners and achieve that ever appealing look of black flecks all over my teeth. So what happens when the Bread Torturer finds a loaf of black bread at the bakery? She turns into Mr. Burns tenting his fingers and whispers, "Excellent." 
But lo and behold, it isn't charred, it isn't dry and it isn't food coloring. It's really cool though. See? 
At various bakeries around the city, it's labeled "Charcoal Bread". I remember slightly gritting my teeth before trying it for the first time. I didn't know what to expect and I was a little worried. Because you can't find it in many places worldwide, I thought it would have a different texture to it, let alone flavor. Turns out: nope! Not by much. I've tried a few variations and although some versions are a little sweeter, I found that most of them taste like store-bought packaged pre-sliced white bread. So basically, if you know how to make basic white bread, all you'd need to do is add a little bamboo charcoal powder to it, which is supposedly tasteless, and you've got... charcoal bread! I found a Japanese video with English subtitles though. The dude says the charcoal sticks to the impurities in your stomach and flushes them out. So yesterday, we bought a load and today, hooray for grilled cheese sandwiches in charcoal bread! The end. 

5 comments:

  1. Never seen anything like this before..

    Don't know what to say. I guess my mind's conditioned to see bread in all colors but black

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  2. Hey! I hadn't seen it before moving to Asia actually. It tastes the same as plain white bread. Maybe a tiny bit chewy. I liked the not so sweet versions better. :)

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  3. Hi LOVE LOVE LOVE this idea...hope you don't mind I've put a link on my blog, I've used your picture too {if you want me to remove it just let me know} great blog - although not so good for my waistline ;)
    Rach
    x
    {post link http://su.pr/1X5rhf}

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  4. Hey Rachael! Thank you so much for adding the link and crediting me. Very cool of you. Thanks for dropping by. :)

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  5. Huh, what an idea. I have never seen anything like it!

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