Join Epicurious for a behind-the-scenes look at a 160-year-old rice cracker factory in Japan, where one of the country’s most popular traditional snacks, senbei, is still made by hand using time-honored techniques. Senbei are sweet, crispy rice crackers often enjoyed with green tea and have been a staple of Japanese cuisine and culture for over a thousand years. Discover the process behind crafting these ancient snacks and how this historic factory has preserved its artisanal methods across generations.
00:00How does this non-glutinous rice stash noodle?
00:30Turn into this crunchy snack, which happens to be the most popular snack in Japan.
00:40These crackers, called senbei, were introduced to Japan over a thousand years ago, and they are typically served with green tea.
00:49And this factory, called Ikedaya, has been making senbei in a traditional style outside of Tokyo for over 160 years.
01:00Inside the factory, the Akira Ikeda runs. We can see the entire senbei process from start to finish.
01:07The process starts with a 100% non-glutinous short-grained rice, which is milked into a fine paste.
01:14About 90% of the factory's production is done based on orders from clients.
01:21So, the amount of flour milled varies from day to day.
01:28The factory's biggest clients are the famous sumo stadiums across Japan, who order an exceptionally dense rice cracker with an intense snack.
01:35The rice is ground into flour with a metal blade, which is sharpened once every two years.
01:42The rice is ground into flour with a metal blade, which is sharpened once every two years.
01:48On a normal day, the factory mills one ton of rice into flour.
01:55The flour needs to be exceptionally fine in order to make a consistent and uniform cracker.
02:00The factory mills one ton of rice into flour.
02:03One person is in charge of milling process from beginning to end.
02:10This takes about three hours starting at 6 a.m.
02:15After being grown, the factory mills one ton of rice into flour.
02:18The factory mills one ton of rice into flour.
02:21One person is in charge of milling process from beginning to end.
02:26This takes about three hours starting at 6 a.m.
02:32After being grounded and shifted in manageable batches,
02:36the flour is stored in paper bags with the aid of a bamboo basket and a wooden hole.
02:51Every 15 minutes throughout the milling process,
03:12freshly milled rice flour is moved to aluminum measuring containers
03:16and then poured into a machine called a jourenki.
03:22The flour is then steamed in a process similar to cooking rice in a rice cooker.
03:28The dough that results from this stage of processing can be hard or soft,
03:34depending on the amount of water added,
03:37which is changed to make different types of senbei.
03:46For this recipe, he is using six buckets of rice and three buckets of water.
04:15The precise amount of water is calibrated depending on the humidity in air.
04:20In order to achieve the perfect consistency of dough inside a machine,
04:27the dough is kneaded and then clamped shut.
04:38Pressure builds and the dough is steam cooked for 10 minutes.
04:43After 10 minutes, the dough is extruded into warm water.
04:46After 10 minutes, the dough is extruded into warm water.
04:48that's kept at 40 degrees Celsius.
04:53so that the thick rice noodle of dough, called shinko,
04:58is able to cool slowly.
05:00After 10 minutes, the dough is extruded into warm water.
05:02After 10 minutes, the dough is extruded into warm water.
05:04After 10 minutes, the dough is extruded into warm water.
05:08that's kept at 40 degrees Celsius.
05:10After 10 minutes, the dough is extruded into warm water.
05:12After 10 minutes, the dough is extruded into warm water.
05:13That's kept at 40 degrees Celsius.
05:15So that the thick rice noodle of dough, called shinko, is able to cool slowly.
05:21This step removes bitterness and makes sure a hard skin doesn't form.
05:28A new factory worker monitors the temperature of the dough, which takes about 1 hour to cool.
05:47He is also monitoring the hardness and softness of the shinko throughout this stage.
06:02so that the اللozy-όl would then give the dough for it.
06:04When the dough comes back to the dough, the dough is good.
06:08the dough is full.
06:09It's made a whole piece of dough, the dough is full.
06:14It's made a whole piece of dough that works.
06:21It's very clean.
06:23The dough is ready for the dough.
06:28Let's go.
06:58When the worker deems it's ready,
07:01the dough is removed from the cooling bath.
07:24Then he loads the dough into a kneading
07:27and extruding machine,
07:29referred to as a neri-kiri.
07:32It's a bit of a mess.
07:35It's the most,
07:36if it's an innocent person,
07:38we can use the earnestness of the dough.
07:40The next step is to build the dough.
07:42It's hard to make it all.
07:44It's hard to make it all.
07:46It's hard to make it all.
07:48If you look at the dough,
07:50it's hard to make it all.
07:52At this stage, the extruded dough is smoother and more refined than it was when it was extruded into the warm water bath.
08:13Each step of the process is crucial for developing the dough's properties with a desired viscosity and consistency.
08:28A smoother dough will lead to the ideal texture and expand the characteristics in a final product.
08:43This elastic blood may look like soft serve, but it actually has a consistency of silly putty.
09:04Next, the dough is pounded in a millstone in a process called doughtsuki.
09:13The dough is constantly moved to the center of the stone for consistent and uniform agitation.
09:22Through this process, air is knocked out of the dough and starch is extracted from the cell of the rice,
09:32forming into a polysaccharide or long chains of glucose molecules linked together.
09:39This creates a strong elastic and chewy dough.
09:43Throughout this stage, the factory worker has a bucket of water on hand to make sure the dough doesn't dry out too much during doughtsuki.
09:53Though this specific batch of senbei has no other flavors, the senbei crackers comes in a variety of flavors, including shrimp, sesame seeds, and mustard.
10:06When making flavored senbei, these other ingredients will be added to the dough.
10:13The now firm dough is formed and folded into a ball and cut into two portions, which will each be used to make one batch of the senbei crackers.
10:29In this cross section, you can see how uniform the dough is.
10:34Sticky, smooth, and paste-like without any visible grains.
10:41This machine is a stamped press.
10:44At this stage, dough is loaded into the back of the machine and then pressed into long sheets.
10:53The pressed dough is stamped on a metal screen in a wooden frame.
10:58Inside a machine, a cylindrical die, perforated metal plates that roll over the dough to cut and shape it into consistent circular discs.
11:11The screens with six rows of circular discs are inspected for any imperfections or misshaped dough.
11:19Any that don't miss the craftspeople standards are thrown back to be re-cut by the die.
11:46Excess dough scraps are reused from each sheet, so no dough is wasted.
12:03Here you can see the loading end of the machine before a new sheet is rolled out and cut by the die.
12:22The cut discs are dried in a floor-to-ceiling dehydrator.
12:25The cut discs are dried in a floor-to-ceiling dehydrator.
12:27Small and thin senbei dry for three hours, while thicker rounds of dough destined for harder-baked senbei dry for four and a half hours.
12:40In the winter, these thicker rounds take up to five hours to dry.
12:55While the senbei doughs we have seen thus far are all-round discs, there are a number of shapes that the factory can create using differently shaped dyes.
13:14From small circles to flowers, praying hands, fish, and small faces.
13:29Here you can see the die being changed out for differently shaped senbei.
13:37These are shaped as open palm prayer hands, decorative fans, and little faces.
13:51According to the rules of Soka City, only expert artisan craftspeople called shokunin can work in traditional industries.
14:01It usually takes more than ten years of training and apprenticeship to acquire technical mastery and pass a test to become a shokunin.
14:11Being a shokunin signifies more than just being a skilled craftsman or artisan, it encompasses a deep philosophical approach to work and life.
14:41The metal screens that hold the senbei allow for air circulation and even drying.
14:49Historically, this step used to involve sun drying for several days.
14:56After being cut and dehydrated, the senbei are stored for ten days in wooden boxes.
15:04The resulting discs are dehydrated, dense, and very hard like a rice puck.
15:11Next, the senbei are conditioned in a machine called a kaiten borero for two hours during which they are warmed and tumbled to give them a polish.
15:22Then the senbei move through an oshiakiki, a pressed baking machine, in a process that takes a total of three minutes.
15:31Nothing.
15:32I usually do not smoke opening in a war rusted.
15:34I will be able to mention it on the frontier of a Japanese.
15:35This is a simple link in a spread out of a whipped cream.
15:37This is a massive spread of a shock.
15:38I also recommend that the senbei was cl Responsive.
15:40The senbei was clueled to the skin while feeding on the ice.
15:41It has aPrince.
15:42It was also called an apple to the super effect of a stone.
15:43It has a stronghold of a man
15:44I use a large amount of water, too.
15:46The two sides were clover of a man in a store.
15:47This is a little bit like a dish.
15:48.
16:18Here we can see the craft person in charge of this area, loading the machine.
16:33The pucks are stacked and then suctioned up with pneumatic tubes and moved to a conveyor
16:40towel.
16:52The sendeya then flipped across a heating element that posts them for about 5 seconds
17:18per side at a time.
17:21The sendeya then in place is a full set of
17:50Halfway through the baking process, air bubbles start to form on thicker senbei, so these baking
18:05crackers are pressed to maintain shape and texture.
18:11If this didn't happen, the final crackers might fall apart and will have large bubbles
18:17with a shutter when bitten into it.
18:47After baking, the senbei travel down a chute and up a ramp.
19:06Then the senbei roll, standing up on their edge through a soy sauce trough.
19:13The soy sauce is pumped up from the reservoir up to the trough.
19:21As they roll, the soy sauce is being applied to the crackers perimeter.
19:28Then brushes apply more soy sauce to both faces of each cracker.
19:43The soy sauce is pumped up from the reservoir up to the trough.
19:47As they roll, the soy sauce is being applied to the crackers perimeter.
19:53Now, as you can see, the senbei had their classic golden brown color.
20:16And once these have cooled, they're ready to be packaged and sold.
20:31And that is how senbei is made.
20:35Senbei is more simple than you think.
20:40It's not used to use米 and醤油.
20:42There are many ways that do not interfere with a lot of commercial products.
20:47You can use米 and blend in a little bit.
20:50Like, if you have a senbei, you can add water.
20:53If you add a little bit of water, you can add a little bit of water.
20:56Or you can add a little bit of water.
20:59Or you can add a little bit of water.
21:01It's just about the simple art of the rice.
21:05But it's very easy to make a little bit of water.
