On October 8, Sanyo Electric will release the GOPAN, the world's first bread maker that can make bread from regular grains of rice.
Unlike previous products, which required the use of rice flour to make bread, this cooker uses grains of rice as the main ingredient. This minimizes the cost of materials, and makes it easy to bake rice bread at home.
"We wondered if it was possible to make bread from rice grain in the home. So we spent about four years on a process of trial and error. What we finally came up with was the "rice paste method". In this new method, the rice is soaked in water, and then cut with a rotary blade to form a very fine paste. In this way, we've developed a product that effectively makes bread from grains of rice."
The GOPAN is basically used in the same way as regular bread making machines. First of all, 220g of washed rice, with water, salt, sugar, and shortening, is placed in the bread case. Next, gluten and dry yeast are placed in the automatic dispenser on top. Then, all you need to do is press the start button. A loaf of "rice bread" is ready in about four hours.
"We'd like to encourage people to consume more rice, which is the staple diet in Japan, by enabling rice to be eaten as bread. The Government is also working to improve Japan's food self-sufficiency. Because it's now possible to provide both tasty rice and tasty bread, we'd like people to eat lots of rice bread, which can also be used as a side dish."
The GOPAN can make not only rice bread, but also wheat bread, dough, and bread with natural yeast. In addition, it can make bread from unpolished rice, which is full of nutrients, and wholegrain bread. In total, the GOPAN can make 22 kinds of bread and dough.
The GOPAN is expected to retail at 50,000 yen, and Sanyo plans to sell 10,000 units a month. In 2011, the GOPAN is also scheduled for release in China and other parts of Asia.
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