●Extra article: What is the absolute flour in a Japanese kitchen?A list of flour sold in Japanese supermarkets.

Since Japan now has a stay home, more people are cooking at home. Supermarkets and drug stores are open, so you can go shopping anytime.
However, as more people cook at home, more food is consumed. Until now, there were many food items on the shelves, but there are also shelves with no food.

Recently, some things have run out of stock.
That is [flour].
More people are cooking with flour at home.
The first sold out powder is the pancake mix powder that makes pancakes.

There is also Okonomiyaki powder, which is also a classic Japanese dish in the Kansai area of Japan. Then read the list of powders sold at supermarkets.

List of flour sold in Japanese supermarkets．

Cake Flour

This flour is common throughout the world. It is an essential flour for making cakes and other sweets.In Japan, [flour] is the mainstream of [cake flour], and cake flour is used for menu that use flour.

Bread Flour

A flour used to make dough for bread, pizza and gyouza.There are no supermarkets selling All-Purpose Flour in Japan. However, they are sold at department stores such as Tokyo and Osaka.

Soba flour

Soba powder used in Soba in Japan. In Japan's supermarkets, dry noodles and boiled Soba are sold rather than Soba flour.Caution! !! Soba is made with Soba flour, but cheap Soba comes with cake flour instead of Soba flour. If you think you have eaten Soba, you may have eaten cake flour. be careful.

Okonomiyaki flour

Okonomiyaki is Osaka!Okonomiyaki flour is always sold at the flour counters in Japanese supermarkets. The main ingredient is cake flour. The bonito extract and yam flour are contained in okonomiyaki flour. Even if you don't mix okonomiyaki flour yourself, add water, eggs and ingredients to this okonomiyaki flour and mix. Then, just baking it will complete the delicious okonomiyaki. This is a convenient flour that makes it easy to make okonomiyaki at home.

Takoyaki flour

Takoyaki flour is the same as Okonomiyaki. It is a flour that makes it easy to make takoyaki at home. It's smoother and has more water than Okonomiyaki. Unlike okonomiyaki, okonomiyaki mixes the ingredients before baking, while takoyaki puts the ingredients into the takoyaki machine one by one. The fun thing to make is Takoyaki. Kids can cook while having fun. Besides octopus, you can make cheese and tomato sauce for pizza, or put the pancake mix in a takoyaki machine. It can be a small pancake.

Fried chicken flour

Garlic, ginger, soy sauce. Busy every day, we want easy and delicious meals. Therefore, this fried chicken flour contains the ingredients necessary for fried chicken, so you can immediately make fried chicken. Just melt in water and fry. Several kinds of fried chicken are sold in the supermarket's flour corner, so let's buy it in the mood!

Bread flour

Bread crumbs are used to make fries. There are many types of bread crumbs. They use raw bread crumbs or dry bread. The bread crumbs used differ depending on the food to make, but raw bread crumbs have a high oil absorption rate. If you want to eat fried food healthy, you should use dry bread. In addition, several kinds of bread crumbs are sold at supermarkets, so let's take a closer look at the ingredients. We also sell bread crumbs made from organic ingredients. In addition to fried food, bread crumbs are sometimes used in milk as a hamburger binder. Each bag sells for $ 1 to $ 2.

rice flour

Rice flour is made by crushing rice into fine powder. Rice flour has various characteristics. First, it has a chewy texture. In addition, it is a healthy food that has a low oil absorption rate. The absorption rate of oil is lower than that of cake flour, and for example, when frying tempura with rice flour, the crunchiness lasts longer. Another major feature is that people with allergies can also eat with peace of mind. Wheat is high in gluten.Although there are few celiac diseases in Japan, the number of people with wheat allergy is increasing. Rice flour doesn‘t contain gluten.

Potato Starch

The potato starch is starch . Potato flour is made from potatoes. There is almost no difference in appearance from cornstarch, and it is used to thicken either side.

Although very similar to cornstarch and potato starch, the two differ greatly in flavor and thickening properties. Cornstarch is corn and potato starch is potato, so the flavors are different. However, if you use a small amount, it seems that you will not fail even if you substitute it.

Moreover, since the viscosity of potato starch decreases as the temperature decreases, it is suitable for dishes to be eaten while still warm, such as ankake and kitakita soup. On the other hand, cornstarch has a lower viscosity than potato starch but has a lower temperature and continues to thicken. Therefore, it is often used for confectionery such as custard cream that makes you cool when you eat it.

There is also a difference in the color of the thickening. The starch starch is colorless, but the cornstarch is opaque. If you use cornstarch instead of potato starch, be careful of the difference in finish.

Dango flour

Although the flour used for dango varies depending on the type, one of the materials suitable for making dango is "dango flour". Dango flour is firm and suitable for making dumplings that is easy to mold. It's easy to make by adding water and rolling it up. The ingredients for dango flour are Uruchi rice and Mochi rice. Two rices are pearled, soaked in water, then ground and dried. The ratio of Uruchi rice and Mochi rice varies depending on the manufacturer.

Tempura flour

Tempura flour is a cake flour that has been adjusted so that anyone can easily make delicious tempura using only "water and tempura flour".

The tempura flour is designed so that anyone can easily fried crispy tempura by blending wheat flour with potato starch or baking powder.

So you can easily make a batter by dissolving it in water, no need to worry about how to mix it, and no need to prepare cold water!

But don't you think that tempura flour can only be used for tempura? In fact, tempura flour can be used as a material for sweets and okonomiyaki.

Cornstarch

Corn starch is a starch made from corn. It is white and odorless and is used in a dry powder form. It's a fine powder, and when you touch it, you'll feel like you're clinging to your fingers.
It is used when making fried clothes and baked goods. Unlike cake flour, cornstarch doesn’t form gluten when mixed with water, so if you replace part of the flour with cornstarch, you can get a crispy, light texture.

Also, by using cornstarch, it has the effect of thickening. For example, it is used to thicken custard cream. Corn starch is made from only starch, so you get a smooth cream.

Pan cake mix

Japanese pancake mix is also called hot cake mix. Since the taste is sweet, it is often eaten as a snack rather than a meal. And in the world, we eat maple syrup, honey and butter on pancakes. It's delicious, so the kids eat it as snacks. One bag (200g x 4 bags) sells for $ 2 to $ 4.

There are many delicious meal flours in Japan.

You can easily buy a lot of cooking flour in the Japanese supermarket. Many tourists buy souvenirs because they can cook delicious meals regardless of which flour they buy. For example, fried chicken flour weighs 100 grams, so it is light to carry and doesn‘t feel heavy. They sell it on Amazon, so cook with your favorite flour.