How can I make Panko?

[kugelthekid]

What would be the best bread to make panko with?

[chameleonz]

Real panko is made by a special process using a centrifuge.
You can approximate it by getting good quality whole loaf white bread,trim off the crust,slicing it and let it sit uncovered for about an hour and use the shredding disc on the cuisinart.Then spread it out on a baking sheet and put it in the oven with the heat OFF to dry it out.
Works pretty good

[jackie57]

if you do that, you are just making bread crumbs. i stumbled by accident (long story) on the closest thing i have found to real panko- believe it or not, just crunch up some corn chex (i put mine in a bag and smashed them with my hand. a rolling pin or side of a jar would work too) and use those. can't speak for fried 'cause i have not tried it, but when baked as a topping, they come out a lot like panko.

[Kojima]

But panko is bread crumbs (in Japanese, panko means bread powder).

[hotoynoodle]

right, and panko simply cannot be made at home.

[pudytat]

What are you smoking? Panko started out being made at home by Japanese wives to use for cooking. I make it at my house and it is better than the bought panko. I even use the cheapo bread from Wal-mart.

Just LIGHTLY toast it, let it dry out in the oven without heat for an hour. Crumble it up and put it in a blender and spread on a cookie sheet to dried out more in the oven.

[FoodFuser]

Those sound like good crumbs
but they also sound quite different than hefty hunked panko.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/3640...

[pudytat]

Actually, original panko was bigger flakes than what comes in boxes today. When I make mine, it is much bigger than what you buy in the stores. When you make it, you can make it the size you like the best. The blender does not make it into a powder like you might think.

Also, I forgot to say that you are suppose to remove the crust from the bread, but I leave mine on when I make it.

[FoodFuser]

If your home method is repeatable, as are the industrial processes,
we'd love to some good links to a few good web references.

[pudytat]

I have been doing it for years. One loaf of bread lasts for months in the pantry in a zip-lock bag.

Here are a couple of links that are very similar to how I make it:
http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_7594178_make-homemade-panko-crumbs.html

http://www.reddit.com/r/Cooking/comments/es5hn/anybody_make_homemade_panko_bread_crumbs_before

and a video of how it is made from start to finish in Japan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY6nEK...
They do not use any electricity or microwaves on the bread, just an oven and a grater. The scale is large, but it is for mass production.

[hotoynoodle]

those are just bread crumbs, no different than what an italian or french home-cook (or i) might make, but better because they are fresher than whatever crap you may buy at wal-mart. however, commercial panko is made with the batter stretched over a mesh basket and shot through with electrodes. it makes a much flakier product than anything you can achieve at home.

no need to be rude.

[pudytat]

No, that is just one of the ways it is made. There are dozens of ways to make a product, but the end result is what everyone is looking for. Panko is nothing but bread crumbs. If you saw how doughnuts are made in a factory, you would think it is impossible to make them at home without all that machinery. Or cheese, or beer, or noodles.

No, panko has been made and will continue to be made at home by little old Japanese moms and grand-moms for a long time to come.

[C. Hamster]

No, sorry, you have made WalMart bread crumbs. Serviceable and possibly even good.

But not panko.

[pudytat]

Do you even know what Panko is?
Kimi wa Nihongin desuka?
あなたは日本のですか?
Panko MEANS "Bream Crumbs" in Japanese.
Panko is nothing BUT bread in real Japanese panko, nothing else.
PANKO IS BREAD CRUMBS!

If I go to the store and buy a frozen apple pie. Then I buy all the SAME ingredients and make one at home. I will have TWO apple pies. Not 1 apple pie and 1 object that looks, tastes, smells and feels like a pie but isn't.

If you ask any Japanese that cooks, the stuff you buy in the box (or bag) is not the real panko, the homemade stuff is. They will tell you that the store bought stuff is made to taste (actually homemade panko taste much better), feel, look and act like the homemade panko.

[coll]

I thought Panko was made with a certain type of bread, mainly found in Japan and not worldwide? And that the factory made Panko is raw dough shredded in a special centrifuge and baked later, in a way that cannot be duplicated at home? So I've been told.

[pudytat]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY6nEK...
This is a video of a Japanese company making panko. The only difference in the bread is that they use more salt in the dough to help it resist absorbing oil. I do not know if it is true or not though. I know when I use homemade panko, my tonkatsu breading soaks up the juices from the pork (or chicken) and not the oil it is frying in. It tastes more like part of the food as a whole and not just a covering to the food.

[coll]

I always wondering exactly how they make it, based on what I've been told (by a Panko manufacturer of course). Thanks for the link.

This wasn't the manufacturer that gave me the spiel, but similar story
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCNU9T...
Apparently the bread is cooked using electric current rather than heat, so no crust develops.

[FoodFuser]

I was only the messenger when two years ago I answered this.
Read the darned link and incorporate the think
twixt the difference of breadcumbs and panko.

Heavily salted, to serve as an electrolyte,
then, in addition to induction
it is zapped in industrial microwaves;

Yep, them heavyweight loaves have heavyweight stoves
then blended to yield the strong crumb of the panko.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/3640...

[pudytat]

LOL, "crumb of the panko" That is like saying "Juice of the apple juice"

As stated many times now There are MANY ways to make Japanese bread crumbs (Panko) and if you read the site's link, they state "Our PANKO are produced by a process of..." I know of at least 4 different commercial ways to produce it and only two use induction cooking with salted dough.

[FoodFuser]

I absolve you to go with your do of the dough
and the breadth of dried bread that you want to call Panko.

Carpe Crumbum.

[hotoynoodle]

a closer analogy would be, i think, the difference between commecially-made and home-made. yes, kinda the same thing, but not. why do you insist it's the exact same thing, when clearly it isn't? no, not potatoes and parakeets as far as differences, but still not an identical product.

[pudytat]

I think that everyone is missing the point. If you were Japanese, you wouldn't even be arguing about this. Every Japanese knows that the store bought stuff is the one that is NOT the real panko. Like how you can buy frozen pancakes and microwave them and call them pancakes, but they are not really the real thing when you put them beside homemade pancakes.

We even have panko making devices over here that you use sliced bread with:
http://www.auctiva.com/hostedimages/s...

What I am trying to tell everyone is that the store bought stuff is the imitation panko made to MIMIC real panko.

[scubadoo97]

I have not lived or visited Japan but I have no argument with your position pudytat. I can only assume there was panko before the industrialization of Japan. The problem is most of us here in the US have only used the commercial panko so have no frame of reference to other panko products. Thanks for trying to bring to light the fact that like most things commercially made there are homemade counter parts that in most cases are actually better. For the record, I can't make biscuits like the ones Pillsbury makes in the rolls.

[hotoynoodle]

grrrr... too late for an edit. this post was supposed to read "home-made and commercially-made pasta".

[RocketScientist]

I hate to say this, but you are probably the next to be "voted off" the Isle Of Panko.

[magnoliasouth]

Coming in late to the game here, but Chex is a really BAD idea. Sorry, but there it is. Chex will quickly become soggy when used in cooking. It'll probably work well as a topping, but a topping only.

Besides, panko is actually cheaper at Walmart than Chex anyway. Just pointing that out.

[HaagenDazs]

You'll likely buy the bread to try and make the panko, why not just buy the panko?

[merrymary]

So, where do you buy Panko? That's my biggest question. I live near Lakeland, Florida, and would love to know where to go buy it! I have a salmon recipe waiting for me to try, usingl Panko and Wasabi Peas. I have the Peas, I need the Panko! Tell me where!

[Lil_Devilboi]

I Just Need To Know How To Make Homemade Panko So I Can Try Making Menchi Katsu ^_^

[swf36d]

I have now seen Panko in just about every grocery store these days, and I live in a small town in PA. It is right with the bread crumbs.

[scubadoo97]

If you live near Lakeland then you have to have a Publix near by. They are based in Lakeland. Panko and washbi peas have gone mainstream and are usually found in most basic supermarkets.

[teric762]

Since your post was about 8 months ago, I assume you have found Panko or given up, but I thought I'd reply anyway - I don't find Panko with the regular breadcrumbs at my grocery store, but with the asian foods. Good luck! (or, I hope it was good! LOL)

[Cynsa]

I've used the Pepperidge Farm White Bread for panko; just tear it in pieces and whirl it in your blender. It's easy.

[KTinNYC]

You've made breadcrumbs but not panko. As chameleonz points out, panko is made by a special process that can't be replicated at home.

[Cynsa]

in a pinch, this works as a substitute for a flaked crumb like Panko - it works better in the blender than in the food processor - and in small batches with a light touch.- it's not at all like a ground bread meal...and it works for tonkatsu.

[Cynsa]

if I may correct myself...this method does work better in a food processor, instead of the blender. sorry for the confusion.
- try small batches of torn bread (even Wonder bread will work)

[coconutz]

I call that 'breadcrumbs'. That's my usual method for making breadcrumbs to be used fresh or toasted.

[cinnamon girl]

That's my method for bread crumbs too. It's not panko. With panko (made with huge heated drums) my understanding is that each crumb is kind of "exploded" . . . the heat from the drum makes the outside of each crumb very crispy and jagged . . . the hollowness gives it that extra snap. The suggestion of crunching up a breakfast cereal would give you a closer result IMO.

[pudytat]

Wrong.... I guess my grand mother in Japan has a special process machine hidden in her kitchen somewhere and does not show it when she makes panko at home????

[cdaddy]

Panko, while in Japanese does mean essentially bread crumbs, Panko refers to the process the Japanese came up with to make the extremely crispy and light crumbs. And as I think I saw someone say, yes, it is an electric induction process. Heck pudytat, look at your own video you posted. Don't the dough pans as well as the cooking process and cooked product appear a little strange? Ya, that's because the cooking is done with electricity. Not simply heat. I bet if you could read the subtitles in that video it just might say as much. So yes, you are making bread crumbs. I'm sure they are good. But Panko refers to the process of using electricity to cook the dough which gives it it's flakiness. As for grandma, perhaps the term Panko got lost in translation.

[FoodFuser]

Imbedded this thread
are answered the questions
of production of crumbs
revered as the Panko.

[FoodFuser]

Panko is made by electrical induction rather than by radiant/convective oven technique. Picture a dough, heavily salted to increase current conduction, with electrodes, electrocuted and microwaved at the same time..

http://sumimoto-vn.com/breadcrums.htm

This is not to say that we can't get good substitutable stiff crumbs with a biscotti technique from home bread, but panko is panko.

[shanagain]

Or... give Rice Crispies a quick whirl in your food processor.

Seriously, try it.

[merrymary]

I've been using ground Rice Krispies to coat my baked chicken breasts for years. It makes them Juicy, not dry. I coat them with a mayo/mustard coating, then roll them in the RK crumbs. They are great. Is this what Panko could be? That's what I'm looking for. I can't find it!

[LoN]

In Lakeland - Publix does carry them where they have breadcrumbs....I would definitely ask the grocer.....otherwise there is also a gourmet food and wine store called Watts for Dinner and he has them.....let me know if you need the addresses etc.

[hotoynoodle]

rice krispies and wonder bread are no substitute for panko. it provides a light crispy crunch like nothing else.

if you have no asian grocers or whole foods nearby, try:

asianfoodgrocer.com

or

kingarthurflour.com

you can buy ANYTHING on the web, and usually get it in 48 hours or less.

[digkv]

Good ol' Trader Joe's has them, if there is one near your house. They've gotten pretty common and I've seen them in just my regular local Albertsons.

[coll]

I always thought Panko was made with a special Japanese bread that is unlike any American bread.

[MakingSense]

Not necessarily Japanese bread. There's a US patent # 4423078 for the production of the same type of bread. The bread is simply stretched while it's being baked to elongate the pores so the crumbs are uniformly splinter-shaped, rather than irregular like other breads. Some think that this makes for crispier fried foods. Full description:
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4423078.html
They're still breadcrumbs, although at least one manufacturer claims falsely that most American-style bread crumbs are actually crackercrumbs.
Here's a video of how the bread is made, converted and shipped by a large company that packages panko under its own brand name as well as producing to specification for the food service industry. http://www.uppercrustent.com/default....

[teric762]

I went to the uppercrustent.com website, and fell in love. I have always wanted to branch out into Japanese/Chinese cuisine, and this website has what looks to be some very good recipes using their products. They also explained Panko crumbs in detail, and while one could probably use something homemade as a substitute, it wouldn't be the same as the genuine article. Thanks, MakingSense!

[The Old Gal]

Read your freepatent link and it seems that panko are not "bread crumbs" but, instead, they are little, stretched, pieces of dough that have been baked to a point short of brown, therefore not very brittle.
I suppose if you hired a large number of elves you could duplicate that process. With out the elves I don't think I would want to try it.

[Orchid64]

Sorry, but this isn't true. There's no such thing as "Japanese bread". The Japanese call bread "pan" because they got it from Portugal. All Japanese bread is some variation on bread in Europe.

[cheesemonger]

Another good panko substitue is saltines whizzed in the processor.

[sarah j]

I may be wrong but nothing I've found is as good as panko. I live in a fairly - um, blue collar town of only 4,000 people and we have it in our very small asian foods section - so there's hope for you! :)

[shanagain]

Things have changed a bit since this was posted two years ago. ;)

[FoodFuser]

Consider the plight of a singular shrimp
that's been dipped in the batter
but not yet been breaded.

I would rather have "ko" that is come from the "pan"
of crumbled and tumbled from industrial
electrolytic sources

But again there is always the backup
of things would be ;label breadcrumbs,

[lilgi]

I'll take mine with electrical currents too!

[FoodFuser]

I really do try to keep things pretty simple
though I enjoy the high heat of a broil
and also the heaat of steak blasted from rare.

The angular crustiness with whtch they becrust us
are parts of the piece of the of the puzzle of panko.

[RocketScientist]

The perfect panko crumbs?

In order to attempt to duplicate those expensive panko crumbs, I tasted them right out of the box. My first impression was saltine crackers. I tasted them again and came to the conclusion that the flavor resembles "water crackers." I did not taste salt nor baking soda nor baking powder in the panko.

I would suppose either buying water crackers and proceeding to grind them in a food processor until they get to a consistency of the commercially made panko crumbs or a website I found to make water crackers yourself at:

http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/...

If you find a better recipe, terrific! But beware of the recipes that add spices and tell you to cook to a golden color. Panko is pure white, so bake them at a low heat for a longer period of time; perhaps 200 degrees F.

I have not tried this as of date, but I plan to very soon. If someone else tries this, please let me know if it works out. Thanks.

And to the poster that is smoking something that inhibits curiosity, ingenuity and the strive to invent, remember... when there is a will, there is a way. : )