"Crispy and Moist, Captivated by the Savory Taste" Korea-Japan Trend... The Origin Story of Salt Bread [Nichiyobi Nichi Culture]

A Bread Born from Worries Over Summer Sales
Created with Sweaty Summers in Mind
Started at a Local Bakery
Now a Huge Trend in Korea and Japan

Not long ago, I watched a YouTube video of someone enjoying salt bread so deliciously that I found myself replaying it over and over as if spellbound. I lost count of how many times I nodded along to the sharp analysis, like how freshly baked salt bread makes a 'crunch' sound when pressed on the outside. The crust is crispy, and inside it’s moist with butter?salt bread that I don’t think anyone could dislike.

Salt bread originated from Japan’s "Shiopan." It’s literally a word combining salt and bread in Japanese. Nowadays, it has even become a kind of re-exported product that Japanese tourists come to Korea to eat. Did you know that salt bread in Japan was originally a product aimed at summer? Today, I’ll share the story of Japan’s seasonal summer food, salt bread.

Salt bread sold at 'Pang Maison' in Ehime Prefecture, Japan. Pang Maison Instagram.

Salt bread is a hard butter roll sprinkled with coarse salt and baked. The birthplace of Japanese salt bread is a local bakery called "Pan Maison" in Yawatahama City, Ehime Prefecture. Summers in Japan are swelteringly hot, and because of this, fewer people bought bread during the summer, causing sales to drop every year. The bakery owner was constantly thinking about how to attract customers during the summer. Then, his son, who had gone elsewhere to learn baking and pastry making, told his father, "I heard that baguettes sprinkled with salt are trending these days." This gave him a hint.

Since people sweat a lot in summer, they need to replenish salt, and because the heat often reduces appetite, he thought that a strongly flavored food would be easier for consumers to choose. So, he started targeting salt bread as a summer product and began planning it.

Originally, this bakery was a place visited by local people of all ages, from children to the elderly. So, rather than making a hard bread like a baguette, they thought it would be better to make salt bread with a soft dough that anyone could easily eat. After many trials and errors, they devised a baking method where butter is wrapped inside the dough. This is why the inside of the salt bread is moist with butter. Usually, hard roll breads use about 10% butter relative to the dough weight, but this bakery’s salt bread uses about 20%. Reporters were surprised to see the large amount of butter wrapped in the dough. While baking, the butter melts, creating a suitable space inside, resulting in a crispy crust and moist interior texture.

Breads sold at 'Pang Maison' in Ehime Prefecture. Pang Maison Instagram.

Although they finally succeeded in launching the product, it didn’t achieve explosive sales from the start. At first, it was unknown and didn’t sell well. But then, people working at the nearby fish market started eating this bread, and salt bread began to gain fame. Because they sweat a lot in summer, these workers started buying bread with salt on the outside while working. Believe it or not, even now, you can see people holding salt bread in one hand while working at the market during summer. Unlike other breads that make you thirsty and require coffee or juice to go with them, salt bread doesn’t, and it’s loved for its salt replenishment benefits.

This reputation spread to a nearby high school. Among students who bought it on their way back from club activities, word of mouth saying "salt bread is delicious" spread, and students who couldn’t buy it during the day started asking their parents to buy it for them. Then, word of mouth spread among mothers as well. When something becomes popular among mothers, it’s basically game over. Fans quickly increased, and it became a popular product selling 6,000 pieces a day. This was the result of the local people’s evaluation.

Now, it has become a famous product of Ehime Prefecture, attracting visitors from outside on weekends. Since then, other bakeries have also started releasing salt bread, with various variations under names like salt butter roll.

It seems like a lot of stories are contained in just one salt bread. Perhaps it’s because the backstory includes a small consideration to make it enjoyable for all ages. Writing this makes me want to have a cup of coffee with salt bread. Have a relaxing Sunday.