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Smiling raisins. Do you see it, too?
One particular difference I've noticed between Taiwan and the United States is the implication of the word "bread." In the United States, when I hear the word "bread," I picture loaves of unsweetened, sandwich-style breads that can vary from 9 grain to whole grain to soft white wheat to sprouted seeds. In Taiwan, however, the term for "bread" means something a little different.
If you walk into a breakfast cafe in Taiwan (or visit one of the many variations of a 7-Eleven) and ask for bread, you'll most likely be directed to a case full of individually packaged pastries. These pastries are similar to croissants and are usually sweet. The sweetness comes either from the cookie-like crunchy topping on the bread, or from the thin custard filling.
I recently obtained an incredible bread machine (Zojirushi BBCCX2 Home Bakery) and after a few unsuccessful moments of attempting to convince myself that "patience would make me a stronger person," I tore into the box and began reading the attached recipe book. After skimming through the plethora of recipes, I settled on one for raisin bread, as I felt that would perfectly combine both the Western and Eastern ideas of sandwich bread and sweet bread.
After pouring in all of the ingredients and watching the bread machine start to work its magic, I soon realized just why the Zojirushi received such positive reviews. For example, when I used my previous bread maker, dough would cling to the sides of the bread pan and stay that way, unless I interferred with a spatula. The Zojirushi has two rotating dough paddles, so it evenly distributes the dough ball around in the pan, thus saving me from having to check its progres every few minutes.
The finished bread is much more evenly browned, too, and the cup of raisins that I added were equally distributed throughout the loaf. My brother, who is one of the toughest critics I know and responds to everything he eats as, "It's fine," actually declared the bread "It's good!"
Although I know that a true bread-baker would never resort to using such appliances, I can't help but do so. To simply measure, pour in the ingredients and wake up to freshly-baked, warm bread is just too tempting of an idea to pass up.
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