A loaf of soft bread baked around a tube of chikuwa fish cake stuffed with tuna-mayo salad and topped with more mayo. The Sapporo bakery icon, invented 1983 at Donguri.

Chikuwa pan was invented in 1983 by the founders of Donguri bakery on Odori, looking for a way to use chikuwa (a Japanese fish cake tube) in a bakery context. The bread became the city's signature bakery item within a decade; Donguri now sells around 2,300 a day across its nine Sapporo branches. The pan is also a souvenir export to Tokyo and Osaka through department-store food halls, although Sapporo's version stays the canonical bake.

Where to eat Chikuwa Pan (Fish-Cake Bread) in Sapporo

2 editor picks for Chikuwa Pan (Fish-Cake Bread) in Sapporo, ranked by editorial score. All Sapporo signature dishes · Chikuwa Pan (Fish-Cake Bread) across every city.

Book food experiences in Sapporo

See all 687 food experiences in Sapporo

Make it at home

Serves 63 hrIntermediate

Ingredients

  • 300g bread flour
  • 30g sugar
  • 5g salt
  • 5g instant yeast
  • 200ml whole milk, warm
  • 30g unsalted butter
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 6 chikuwa tubes (Japanese fish cake)
  • 1 small tin tuna in oil, drained
  • 4 tbsp mayonnaise
  • 2 tbsp finely chopped onion
  • Black pepper
  • More mayonnaise for topping
  • Sesame seeds

Method

  1. Mix flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a stand mixer with the dough hook.
  2. Add warm milk and butter; knead 8 minutes until smooth.
  3. Cover and prove 60 minutes in a warm place; the dough should double.
  4. Mix tuna, mayonnaise and onion with black pepper; stuff each chikuwa tube tightly.
  5. Divide dough into 6 portions. Flatten each into an oval; lay a stuffed chikuwa across the centre.
  6. Wrap dough up over the chikuwa, sealing the seam underneath. Place on a baking tray.
  7. Brush with beaten egg, top with extra mayonnaise zig-zags and sesame seeds.
  8. Prove 30 minutes more; meanwhile heat oven to 190C. Bake 18-20 minutes until golden brown.
  9. Eat warm.

Editor tip. Slightly underfill the chikuwa with tuna mayo; the salt expands as it bakes.

Common allergens: Gluten, Egg, Fish, Soy.