The Japanese-Inspired Dish That Takes Its Cue From American Pizza

Head to a Japanese kissaten — a cafe that serves tea and coffee alongside comfort food — and you might encounter some dishes like spaghetti and sandwiches that could almost be American, if not for a few twists added by Japanese culinary culture. One such item is pizza toast: A thick piece of white bread, slathered with tomato sauce or ketchup, processed cheese, and miscellaneous other toppings, then baked or broiled until the cheese browns. It's supremely comforting, although as the white bread would suggest, not exactly pizza. Pizza toast falls under the category of "yoshoku," Western dishes reworked with Japanese ingredients; other examples include ketchup-sauced "Napolitan" spaghetti and the bunless hamburger called hambagu.

Kissaten appeared after World War II, when the presence of American troops led to Western-style cafes popping up around the country. Pizza toast likely sprang out of this trend, although its exact history is unclear. (It's worth noting that wheat flooded into postwar Japan, leading to the popularization of a more Americanized white bread, on which pizza toast is served.) One of the most common theories credits a Tokyo cafe called Cafe Benisica, whose owner claimed to SoraNews24 that his mother devised the dish around 1964. Pizza was a postwar novelty at the time and could only be found in specialty restaurants, so this bread-based version was a budget workaround.

As you've likely realized, pizza toast isn't difficult to replicate at home. Arguably the trickiest ingredient to get your hands on Stateside will be the bread. Pizza toast typically uses shokupan, a fluffy, thick-sliced Japanese milk bread with a hint of sweetness. It's not so common in American supermarkets, but Asian grocery stores may carry it, and it has been spotted at Whole Foods. Brioche or challah are decent substitutes, as they're rich, fluffy, and often with that same touch of sugar. Otherwise, you could try the thickest standard white sandwich bread you can find.

Next, the sauce: Ketchup is the go-to in Japan over a more Italian-style tomato sauce (you'll also see this in the use of ketchup in the aforementioned Napolitan spaghetti). Toppings are next, and this is seriously flexible. Some go-to options are ham, bacon, or salami for meat, and onion, peppers, mushrooms, olives, and corn (a particularly Japanese pizza topping) for veggies.

Lastly, there's the cheese. Japan has its own particular variety of processed cheese that's engineered to melt nicely, called torokeru. You could check for it in Asian grocery stores, but it's arguably less necessary than the shokupan, as mozzarella melts very well and is used in Japan, too. Fire up your toaster oven (kissaten tend to use this over a full-size oven) and cook it until the cheese melts and browns a bit, and you've got an easy, comforting Japanese-American snack.