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Slow bread, made with intention
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2026-10-05 · Seasonal offers

Baking with chestnut flour in autumn: what to expect

Chestnut flour has been used in bread and pasta in parts of Europe for centuries, but it is less common in Japanese baking. It has no gluten of its own, which means it must be blended with wheat flour to produce a dough that holds together. The ratio of chestnut to wheat determines not just the flavour but the entire handling character of the dough, and getting it wrong produces a loaf that is either too dense or too fragile to score. Read more →

2026-09-08

Why cold fermentation makes better sourdough bread

Most home bakers in Japan who try sourdough for the first time are surprised by how long the process takes. A same-day loaf is possible, but it rarely has the depth of flavour that makes sourdough worth the effort. The cold fermentation step, where shaped dough rests in the refrigerator for one to three nights, is the part of the process that changes everything.

2026-08-09

Keeping a sourdough starter alive in a Japanese home

A sourdough starter is a living culture, and living things respond to their environment. In Japan, where kitchen temperatures can swing from 10°C in winter to 32°C in summer, a feeding schedule that works in March will not work in August. This is one of the first things Noriko Miyazaki covers in the Pixel Crown workshop, because it is the thing that causes the most home-baker frustration.

2026-07-20

How to score sourdough bread and why it matters

The score on a sourdough loaf is the last thing you do before the dough goes into the oven, and it has a direct effect on how the loaf opens, how the crust forms, and whether the crumb structure you built during fermentation survives the heat. It is also the step that most home bakers rush, usually because the dough is cold from the refrigerator and they are nervous about losing the shape.

2026-06-23

What makes Hokkaido heritage wheat different for bread baking

Japan imports a large proportion of its bread wheat, mostly from North America and Australia. But Hokkaido has been growing its own wheat varieties for over a century, and in the last decade a small number of farmers and millers have been reviving older varieties that were largely abandoned when industrial baking demanded uniformity. For sourdough baking, these heritage varieties offer something that imported flour often does not: a flavour that is worth tasting on its own.

2026-05-02

Baking sourdough in a Dutch oven at home in Japan

Professional bakeries use deck ovens with steam injection to create the humid environment that sourdough needs in the first phase of baking. Home ovens in Japan, whether gas or electric, cannot replicate this directly. A cast-iron Dutch oven is the most reliable workaround, and it is the method used at Pixel Crown for every loaf.

2026-04-06

How to store sourdough bread in a Japanese home

Japan's climate is not kind to bread. High humidity in summer accelerates mould, and the dry heat of winter air conditioning dries a loaf out within a day. Sourdough, because it contains no preservatives and has a more open crumb than commercial bread, is particularly sensitive to storage conditions. Getting this right means the difference between a loaf that is still good on day three and one that is stale or mouldy by the next morning.

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