I always wanted to prepare these sweet Japanese buns called melon pan (メ ロ ン パ ン meronpan) and when I finally when I found a recipe made by a blogger (Nami), who’s blog is all about Japanese cuisine, I knew I absolutely need to make them. I must admit they are delicious. The inside of the melon pan is not too soft and has a delicate milky flavor. The outer part is the gem that makes this bread a special treat. It is a shortcrust, traditionally not dyed, sweet at the right point and crispy. There are many variations of melon pan that use for example food dye, chocolate chips or various types of cream for the filling.
Keyword homemade, soft buns, sweet bread, sweet buns, traditional recipe
Prep Time 1 hourhour
Cook Time 15 minutesminutes
Total Time 1 hourhour15 minutesminutes
Servings 10buns (about)
Calories 101kcal
Ingredients
Buns
225gbread flour
25gcake flour
pinchof salt
40gsugar
1tspactive dry yeast
60mlwarm milk
60mlwater
1room temperature egg
40gsoft butterI used butter made by Lurpak
1tspvanilla extractoptional
Cookie crust
60gsoft butterI used butter made by Lurpak
100gsugar
1egg
200gcake flour
1/2tspbaking powder
food dyeoptional
Instructions
Instructions melon pan
Mix warm milk with sugar and active dry yeast in a cup or a bowl. Let rest for 5 minutes until it becomes foamy.
In another bowl or stand mixer place two types of flour and salt. Add water at room temperature, egg and start mixing. Then add yeast with the milk and knead for about 5 minutes.
At this point add soft butter and knead for about 10 minutes until the dough becomes smooth and very elastic. Create a ball, place in a container, cover with a towel and let it grow in a warm place until it doubles in size about 1 – 2 hours.
The rising times are approximate, it can take more or less time depending on the temperature of the environment, the freshness of the yeast, the strength of the flour and other factors not related to the recipe.
Instructions for cookie crust
Beat butter with sugar until it becomes light anf frothy for a couple of minutes. Add egg and whisk until incorporated.
Add sifted flour and baking powder and work briefly to incorporate. Divide the dough and add a drop of food dye into each piece. This step is optional but adds a bit of fun. Work briefly and place in the refrigerator for at least half an hour before using them.
How to assemble melon pan
Deflate the dough and divide it into 10 pieces. Briefly work each ball to create a round bun. Cover and place in a warm place for 15 minutes.
Divide the cookie dough into 10 parts. Roll out each part in a circle and place the leavened dough ball on it. Remember that the bottom of the ball must match the bottom of the pastry.
Wrap the cookie crust around the bun, close it and remove the excess dough. Place your buns on a baking sheet covered with baking paper with the part of the closure facing down. Carve each ball with a knife creating a net and place in a warm place, covering with a cotton cloth, for about 1 hour.
Bake in preheated oven at 180 ° C for 13 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let them cool completely before serving.
Note from the author of this recipe
I just want to tell you that I really appreciate that you have decided to prepare my recipe. If you like it, I would be very happy and it could be a huge help for me if you follow me on my official social channel such as instagram where I publish every time a new recipe comes out. To become my follower just search for foodohfood in your instagram or click on this link: https://www.instagram.com/foodohfood/ and press Follow. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Barbara. ^_^
Notes
3 hours waiting time.The nutritional values are generated automatically for indicative purposes only and are therefore not completely accurate.
Hi! in the ingredients you say 1/2 baking powder, is it possible to have the quantity in grams? Thank you!
Sure, it is 2 gramms of baking powder. I forgot to add tsp in the ingredients, sorry. I will correct that.
Please fix the typo in the ingredients list. You need 225 grams of cake flour and you only listed 25 and I wasted my time making this recipe hoping the dough would improve. It never did so I threw it out thinking it was a horrible recipe. Only after did I realize it was a typo. I'm sure this recipe is great and I will try it again when I get all the ingredients again but please fix to avoid other people having the same problem.
Actually the recipe says 225 bread flour + 25 g cake flour so 250 in total. The mix of two flours gives this buns their texture. I used original Japanese recipe from the blog mentioned in the intro and they also use this kind of mix so it is not a typo. This dough needs it time to rise so have a little patience. Hope you will try it again ;)
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Hi! in the ingredients you say 1/2 baking powder, is it possible to have the quantity in grams? Thank you!
Sure, it is 2 gramms of baking powder. I forgot to add tsp in the ingredients, sorry. I will correct that.
Please fix the typo in the ingredients list. You need 225 grams of cake flour and you only listed 25 and I wasted my time making this recipe hoping the dough would improve. It never did so I threw it out thinking it was a horrible recipe. Only after did I realize it was a typo. I'm sure this recipe is great and I will try it again when I get all the ingredients again but please fix to avoid other people having the same problem.
Actually the recipe says 225 bread flour + 25 g cake flour so 250 in total. The mix of two flours gives this buns their texture. I used original Japanese recipe from the blog mentioned in the intro and they also use this kind of mix so it is not a typo. This dough needs it time to rise so have a little patience. Hope you will try it again ;)