Happy New Year!Okay, it's a bit late for that, but this was published a month ago in the ICIEA newsletter in Imabari...meant to post but been too busy!
I thought I would share part of a letter I sent to my friend Christian a week ago. Although it’s officially the year of the Tiger, for me it might also be the (unofficial) year of….sourdough bread! Christian and his partner Julie own and run Pantry Press, a small printing press in Toronto, Canada. They recently published their first book with author Erin Turcke, about sourdough bread. Paysan is a wonderful rustic bakery on Oshima.
Dear Christian:
The sourdough bread book looks great! Have you been taste testing the recipes? A month ago, I finally discovered, in the land of faux (alcohol added) $2 beer, and fluuuuuuffffy white bread, a true, honest to god rustic, sourdough baguette! And in the local SATY depato to boot! Yahoo! In all fairness, I have been able to get excellent bagels at a bakery called Fukusuke. Now if I could only get black turtle beans and lentils...
Last week my friend Chiomi brought me some rustic bread she said she got on Oshima Island, the third of the chain of islands running north to Honshu from Shikoku, with a big highway bridge system running through the middle of it. The Shimenami Kaido was supposed to bring tourists to all of these tiny sleepy, historic fishing villages but mostly the tourists are on their way to Hiroshima; one can cross the entire chain of islands (about 77 km) in an hour and a half or so on the highway. So the villages remain for the most part somewhat sleepy and tiny.
Anyway Chiomi brought me this bread (pumpkin buns, rustic, white, yes, sourdough bread, etc...yum!) from a bakery called Pay-san in a village called Yomiuri on Oshima Island. A couple from Kobe have been running Pay-san for the last five years or so. They are part of the growing ‘back to the country’ movement in Japan. 
She said one could order the bread on the internet, from a site called Rakuten, and I found it...they also have a web page. We went to visit them Sunday, though they’re only open to the public Thursdays and Saturdays...We came away with some more bread...Ah, back to the bakery, er, land! Here’s hoping they have a great year, and I get the chance to pick up some more great bread!
Paysan
Rakuten (Japanese).
Paysan at Rakuten (English)
Pantry Press
Thanks to Nagai-san for the tiger!
