The Japanese melon pan, or melon bread, is a sweet bread that is baked with a layer of slightly crispy cookie dough at the top. It is baked in a similar way as the coffee bun (Rotiboys) and Hong Kong polo bun, where the layer on top that is baked with the bun is the key to making the buns tasty and flavourful.
The original flavour of the bun is not melon, it’s only the appearance that gives it its name. Nowadays, we can find melon pans in many different flavours though – orange, lemon, and even melon. I think melon pans can look a lot better if I have tried to score the lines more neatly.
Ingredients (bread dough):
- Bread flour: 225g, sifted
- Cake flour: 25g, sifted
- Salt: 1/2 tsp (5g)
- Caster sugar: 40g
- Instant dry yeast: 1 1/4 tsp (4g)
- Egg: 1, beaten
- Whole milk: 50ml
- Water: 50ml
- Unsalted butter: 35g
Method (bread dough):
- Combine bread flour, cake flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a mixing bowl. Stir to combine.
- Add egg, milk & water. Using a dough hook, combine on slow speed till sides of bowl are clean.
- Add butter and continue to whisk till no streaks remain and dough is smooth, silky and elastic (use a windowpane test).
- Cling wrap and leave to proof in 38 degrees Celsius oven for 1-2hr till doubled in size.
Ingredients (biscuit dough):
- Unsalted butter: 60g
- Caster sugar: 100g + extra for coating later
- Egg: 1, beaten
- Cake flour: 200g, sifted
- Baking powder: 1/2 tsp (2g)
Method (biscuit dough):
- Whisk together butter and sugar using a paddle attachment.
- Add in egg in small amounts at a time. Whisk till well incorporated.
- Sift in cake flour & baking powder. Whisk till just incorporated. Remove from bowl and shape into a ball with your hands.
- Weigh out equal portions of dough and roll into 10 balls (about 41g each). Cling wrap and leave in fridge.
Method (Putting everything together):
- Remove dough from oven. Press down flat to release gas from inside. Roll into a ball.
- Divide dough into 10 portions (about 46g each).
- Roll each ball of biscuit dough into a flat circle. Rest for 15min.
- Place one bread dough in the middle of a flat biscuit dough. Wrap around the bread dough but do not cover the base of the dough.
- Dip top of dough into a bowl of caster sugar to coat. Using a scraper, score the top into a criss-cross pattern. Repeat for the rest of the dough.
- Place dough on baking sheet. Cover in cling wrap and leave to proof in oven at 38 degrees Celsius for 50min.
- Preheat oven at 180 degrees Celsius. Bake 15min till set.
Disclaimers:
- This recipe was kindly adapted from Just One Cookbook’s Melon Pan.
- You can either add in a tsp of essence (orange, lemon, melon etc) or some matcha / cocoa powder to knead into the biscuit dough to enhance the flavours of the bread further.
Serving:
10 buns
