Tuesday 14 August 2007

Japanese Melon Pan

I was lucky enough to get hold of this book during our weekly visits to the library. I like to borrow all books related to bread making...even though I may not even try any of the recipes from the books I borrowed. However, this is one book that I will try not just one, but several recipes. Sometimes I do borrow books just to look at the illustrations and try to learn, or more exactly, 'copycat' the style, composition and angle of the beautiful shots :') Well, if you were as keen as me, you may have already clicked on the above link, and would have realised that I have did just that :)



These are Japanese Melon Pans or Melon Buns. Pans mean bread in Japanese. They are actually bread buns covered with a layer of pastry, or cookie-like dough. Each dough is left for second proofing after the pastry layer is wrapped around it. The inner bread dough will rise and cause the outer pastry layer to crack all over the surface. The name came about as the appearance of the cracked surface resembles a rock melon. In addition, for a basic or standard Japanese melon pan, melon extract is commonly used to add fragrance. Ever since I came across this recipe, Japanese melon pan has been on my to-do list, I even managed to get hold of the exact cookie cutter recently, and yet I didn't get to work on it still this morning.


I remembered the afternoon when we came home with this library book...everyone of us were busy with our own things...except my younger child. He must be quite bored to have actually browse through this baking book. He came to me with the book, showed me the page of the chocolate chips melon pans and told me specifically he would like to have one of those.


Since the recipe will yield a dozen buns, I decided that I would make a few with chocolate chips and the rest plain, just to keep my promise ;) Even though it was not a very easy task for me to make these buns, I enjoyed the entire process. I was glad that I made the bread dough by hand. It was a nice dough to work with....not so sticky and wet, and I was actually having fun kneading and banging the dough on the tabletop :)

The pastry dough was very soft, fortunately, after chilling them in the fridge for at least half-an-hour, it was more manageable to work with.


I used the small cookie cutters which I bought recently to stamp out various patterns on the pastry layer. This one is made with the bear-shape cutter.


I tried out different patterns just to see how each version will turn out. The one on the bottom left is a typical Japanese Melon Pan.


Finally, after much 'hard' work, the finished product. Even I tried turning the baking tray around a few times, the buns were not evenly browned, thanks to my not-so-reliable oven.


After wrapping the bread dough with the pastry layer, the buns were coated with a layer of caster sugar. The sugar appeared to be dissolved into the pastry while the buns were left for second proofing. I was surprised to see the sugar crystals on the surface after the buns were baked.


Hmmm, a broken heart! After comparing the various cutters used, I found out that the surface will not be nice if the cutter is too big...I think the smaller cutters will give better appearance.


There's no filling added to this standard melon pan. The buns tasted good to me. The bread layer was soft while the crispy pastry layer was not very oily, unlike those Hong Kong style bo lo buns or pineapple buns. Since I have not tried any Japanese melon pans before, I really wouldn't know how the taste should be. Anyway, I have already lined up a few other interesting melon pan variations which I'm gonna try, hopefully, very soon!


Japanese Melon Pan

Ingredients:
(makes about 12 buns)

Bread Dough:
300g bread flour
6g instant yeast
36g caster sugar
5g salt
6g skim milk powder (I used my boy's milk powder)
200g warm water (37~38 degC) (I didn't bother, just made sure water is not cold)
30g unsalted butter (bring to room temperature)

Pastry layer
80g unsalted butter (bring to room temperature)
90g caster sugar
80g egg, lightly beaten (oh, I hate weighing eggs!)
200g cake flour
2g baking powder
some melon extract (I leave this out as I don't have this)

some caster sugar for dusting/coating

How I made them:

  1. Sift bread flour, caster sugar, salt, milk powder into a mixing bowl. Add in instant yeast and mix the powdered mixture a little.
  2. Add in warm water. DO NOT add in all the water at one go, leave a little bit so as to adjust the texture of the dough.
  3. Mix the ingredients with hand and slowly form into a dough. Add the remaining water if it is too dry.
  4. Transfer dough to work surface. Knead until the dough longer sticks to the work surface. This should take about less than 5 mins.
  5. Flatten the dough and add in the butter. Continue to knead. Initially, the dough will be very oily, after a few kneads, the butter will be absorbed by the dough. Continue to knead until the dough no longer feel sticky to your hand and will not stick to the work surface. This should take about 15 to 20 mins.
  6. Place dough in a lightly greased (with butter) bowl, cover with cling wrap and let proof for about one hour, or until double in bulk.
  7. While the dough is proofing, prepare the pastry layer. With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until mixture turns pale.
  8. Add in a few drops of melon extract if desired.
  9. Add in lightly beaten eggs in 3 addition. Beat well after each addition.
  10. Sift over cake flour and baking powder. Mix with a spatula until flour mixture is fully incorporate. Divide into 12 portions, about 35~40g each. For the chocolate chips version, wrapped some chocolate chips into each pastry dough. Place in a tray and let the dough chill in the fridge for at least 30 mins.
  11. Punch out the gas in the bread dough and divide into 12 portion, about 45g each. Roll into rounds. Cover with a damp cloth or cling wrap and let the dough relax for 10mins.
  12. Remove chilled pastry dough from the fridge. Roll out each dough in between 2 layers of cling wraps (I used clear plastic bags). Roll the bread dough again into rounds again. Remove the top layer of the cling wrap and place the bread dough onto the pastry dough. With the bottom layer of the cling wrap still intact, wrap the pastry dough around the bread dough. Carefully remove the bottom layer of the cling wrap, at the same time, smoothing the edges of the pastry dough. NOTE: DO NOT cover the Entire bread dough with the pastry dough. Leave the bottom 2 ~ 3 cm uncovered. The dough needs the space to expand, otherwise the pastry dough will burst and the resulting appearance will not be very pleasing.
  13. Coat the exterior with caster sugar, stamp patterns on the surface with cookie cutters or decorate as desired. Leave doughs to proof for the second time for about 40 ~ 50mins.
  14. Bake in pre-heated oven at 170 deg C (I set mine as 180 deg C) for 10 ~ 12 mins. Note: mine took 20mins to brown!
Recipe source: 酥皮麵包大集合by 佐藤律子

108 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very swee leh!!! So worth it for the cutter! But this is definately not the same as the HK po lor pau!!!! This is way more yummier!

Anh said...

Oh, this is so well-sone batch of bread! Beautiful! :)

Anne said...

I've always liked asian buns, but it's so hard to find a book which is bilingual :(

This buns are lovely !
This will definitely go to my to-do-list :)

Sue Sue said...

Is this Por Lor Pau? The outer layer looks similar leh!
Must be very very yummy.

^cherie said...

Thank you so much for taking so much time out just to type of the 'translated' recipe. I for one, cannot read chinese but loveeee chinese bread making cookbooks. I truly appreciate your effort HHB :)

Btw, your buns (no pun intended :P)look so good to eat! Wish u're my neighbour..

Anonymous said...

Wow! Those buns are beautiful! I love how you creatively designed your own patterns on the buns! You have inspired me to try out this recipie! Also, Thanks so much for reposting up the green tea buns recipie. I really appreciate it!
Happy Baking!

Happy Homebaker said...

vb, these are definetly less buttery as compared to the HK ones. The crispy exterior goes very well with the plain bun inside. It goes very well with my morning cup of kopitiam kopi. but it was very tedious to get the whole thing done.

hi Anh, I was indeed very happy that the pastry layer came out so beautifully. Thanks to the author for the clear instructions in the her book!

Anne, do let me know if you come across any asian bread recipes that you are interested. I can translate it for you. I think I am getting quite good at translating recipes...but it's only from Chinese to English. I will have problem typing out in Chinese as my han yu pin yin sucks! luckily, I got a han yu pin yin "master" at home...ie my elder boy, he is my 'walking' dictonary, very convenient, haha!

Sue Sue, these Japanese melon pans are differnt in taste as compared to the Hong Kong Por Lor Pau. Although the appearance and the way they are made are almost the same. They are not as rich and buttery...the exterior is not as 酥 as those 'Char Siew Soh', these taste milder.

Happy Homebaker said...

Debbie, I didn't design my own patterns...I just followed the idea from the website and book! I'm not the creative sort of person. I use my left brain more ;P

hey ^cherie, I am looking for neighbours like you too, so that we can share our bakes =)

Small Small Baker said...

I also want to be your neighbour, then I will have freshly baked bread everyday :)

You are so lucky to get good books from the library. Sad to say, I often borrow books full of missing pages. :(

Happy Homebaker said...

hi lousy baker,
I sure want to be your neighbour to. We can do baking 'experiments' together in our kitchens. It will be very fun, right?!
I did come across many books with missing pages! and those were the pages/recipes that you want to try! The library has started a new system...for very new cookbooks, you can only borrow it from the counter, ie you can't use the automated machines. The counter staff actually browse thru the books for missing pages before recording them under your name/account in their system. Hence, if there are missing pages, at least they know who to trace to.
You can try the one at Bishan...it carries newer collections of both Chinese and English cook books.

Jenna said...

Uwah! Great job with those melon pans! I can see all the hard work you did through the pictures because they look amazing. And it sure does look like fun to make them!

Haha, I'm better off buying melon pans from the bakery because the recipe looks too difficult for me. XD

Anonymous said...

U are definately a very patient person. One look at the elaborate pans and scrolling down to the recipe instructions confirms my thoughts....I oreadi tired liao b4 doing anything!!!!!! U are good!

Anonymous said...

HHB, the buns look gorgeous and yummy! I think I have the same set of cutters as you, but mine are the small ones :p Haha you can make them football-shape, think they'll look cute!

I'm curious to know if you usually source for recipes online or from cookbooks?

Baking Fiend said...

wow... beautiful! One more item on my to-do list!

Anna said...

Ooh, I love Japanese food (and basically everything else about the country) so I'm so giving these a try while I'm still on holiday! How long did they take to do, about?

...Actually before I got distracted I did come over to ask if you mind me linking to you on my own (shiny new) food blog? I was just setting up and thought I'd better check it was okay ^__^

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Hazel, I got my set of cutters from daiso...they are considered small too...but I find the one with the heart shape is too big for these buns, the bear and the star are ok. I don't have specific preference when come to soucing for recipes. However, I do like those recipes published by Japanese authors...the recipes are not as rich and the portion is also not too big.

hi Ida, thanks! I'm sure you can do a better job than me :) Looking forward to see your posting on this!

Dear Indigo, thanks for linking me up! It's my pleasure!
It took me more than 3.5 hrs to complete...including the baking time. Slightly longer than the usual time I need to make bread...I spent a fair bit of time wrapping and shaping the buns.

Anonymous said...

Hi HHB :)

These look so pretty! Funnily enough, I found that same recipe as the one you have provided a link to last year or so, and really wanted to try making them (the fact that the Japanese have a pineapple bun-equivalent amused me, and I was hunting down pineapple bun recipes at the time - and still haven't found the perfect one btw) except the quantities called for threw me off (eg. 0.6g -> the smallest weight my kitchen scale can detect is 1g. The author must have used a lab scale!). So thanks so so much for posting this recipe, translating it and all. I can read chinese, but i'm not 100% proficient and am unfamiliar with chinese baking terminology, so i get a headache trying to read and understand them. I love Chinese sweet breads and stuff so I'm considering purchasing some over the net, but am not sure if this is such a good idea....

Do you use normal cookie cutters for these buns, or are there special ones? Since these patterns are created before the second proofing, would they become out of shape, or will the dough expand from the cut edges? Also, how thick should we make the pastry layer?

Thanks again! I'll try making these for tea on the weekend or something :)

Anonymous said...

Hi again!

I just thought of another Q:) Is the bread itself sweet (as sweet as normal chinese sweet bread?) or is it relatively plain? If it is the latter, would you recommend adding extra sugar (and if so, how much would be just enough :S) or would the sweetness of the topping (i'm guessing it's very sweet) provide enough sweetness to the whole bun?

Thanks :)

Cuisine Paradise said...

Hi... Oh Gosh! I can say these "pans" are absolutely gorgeous. Especially that 1 with the “bear” prints… it’s so cute. I believed all your kids sure love them..... You are great at bread making... :)

Happy Homebaker said...

hey Jo, me too, I was put off by the X.33g thingy...but I knew you could actually mulitple the ingredients by 3 times to get the full portion. My weighing scale can only read up to 10g!!! Believe it or not, everytime, I just 'eyeball' anything less than 10g, haha. But I do use the teaspoon to measure yeast, which is about 4g for a teaspoon.
You can refer to my posting "Just Having Some Fun" in July. I had posted a picture of the cutters there. The stamped pattern actually enlarged after second proofing...some parts may crack a little after the second proofing. and then when the buns are baked, some will crack further...like the one with the "broken heart".
I roll out the pastry dough until it can cover the entire top surface of the bread dough. Make sure you don't wrap the entire bread dough, if not the bread dough will burst thru the pastry dough I got one like that ;)
In terms of sweetness, I can't really comment. As different people have different taste. Do you like real sweet stuff? If yes, you will find the bread plain, but to me it is just nice. The pastry layer was also not very sweet, (may be I coated it with only a thin layer of caster sugar) to me it balanced well with the bread dough. I cannot take very sweet bakes...getting very old already! I won't recommend you to add in extra sugar in the bread dough recipe...from my understanding, the combination of ingredients in a bread recipe has to be very exact...if u want to increase sugar, your will have to increase the other ingredients proportionally. What you can do is to add fillings in the bread dough, like chocolate chips or nutella. I actually wanted to do just that, but found it too tedious and time consuming for my first attempt. Would you mind leave a comment with your email address? I will not publish your email address...just like to send some more info on this for you.

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Ellena, both my boys requested me to make them again after we finished up the buns...guess they must like them...not so much on the pattern though, they like the crispy pastry layer...and the two of them were fighting for the last remaining chocolate chip buns!

Anonymous said...

By the way HHB, do you literally punch out the gas after proofing? I read somewhere that some people just knead the dough over itself. Which is the better method?

Also, why is the chilled pastry dough rolled out between 2 layers of cling wrap? Seems like a very tedious method, and I'm quite clumsy hehe...

And lastly, can I omit the milk powder or replace with milk?

Thanks so much! When I first saw the recipe and how long it was I was @_@ but now a bit tempted to try!

Happy Homebaker said...

Dear Hazel, for this bread dough, yes, I literarlly give it a punch. Most western bread making books will use the punch method...while those cookbooks from Taiwan will say knead over. What I experienced was, if I just knead over the dough, somehow some gas still retains inside the dough...so, I'll have to pinch it to release the gas...if I am not careful, a large hole may appear (refer my Almost A Sqaure posting...there's an air pocket near the crust...for that dough, I followed the instructions...just knead over).
You need the cling wrap as the pastry dough is very very soft...and it will stick to your tabletop (I think) and you will have problem lifting it up from the tabletop...probably will break into pieces. I am not sure about replacing milk with the milk powder...what I can suggest is that you can use another similar sweet bun recipe that you are comfortable to work with. Just make sure each portion is about 40~50g, otherwise the pastry may not be enough to cover the dough. My instructions very long winded! If you refer to the one from the website, it's more concise. Just that for novice like me, I find it too simplified for me to understand the entire process. If you are really keen to try this, you may like to provide me your email address...I'll send you some other info on this.

Anonymous said...

Haha you're not long-winded, I think your long narratives are very useful especially for amateurs like me! I'm trying out your Milk Loaf recipe right now, it's proofing at the moment... but what happened was that when I took it out of the bread machine after kneading, it was soooo sticky and I had to add some flour to it. Hope it'll turn out well!

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Hazel, I just dropped u an email. Let me know if u didn't receive it.
I am waiting to hear good news from you regarding your milk loaf :)

Anonymous said...

your breads always look tasty! love the cookie stamp designs on the bread, very different :D
don't you love library? i go there at least once a week and it always has the latest books, too bad it doesn't have chinese baking books! :)

Small Small Baker said...

Oh really? You mean the new books are on the shelf but we have to borrow at the counter? Or have to specially reserve them and collect at the counter? I always borrow at the Jurong regional library. Bishan is too far away. :(

Happy Homebaker said...

Eliza, over at california, a few years back, I had the chance of going up a library truck that went around the neighbourhood area to make it easier for kids to borrow books. How nice!

lousy baker, no, I didn't reserve the book. What happened was, when I tried to borrow the book (taken from the shelf) at the machine, it prompted me that the book can only be borrowed from the counter staff.

Levine said...

Thanks for the recipe! I translated the recipe into Dutch and ofcourse I made them. They are delicious and turned out beautiful. You can find the recipe in Dutch here: http://uitdekeukenvanarden.blogspot.com/2007/08/japanese-melon-pan-zoete-broodjes-uit.html

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Arden, your melon pans look beautiful!

Anonymous said...

These melon pan look wonderful. I love the idea of using small cookie cutters to form shapes on the surface.

Anonymous said...

Hi, your bread looked beautiful and im drooling looking at it..i would like to make them..you mentioned punching out the gas from the dough..Do i need to use any equipment for this process? Can i use my hand to do it??
Hope to hear from your reply soon..

Thanx in adv.

Rgds
gossiping

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi gossiping, you just need to punch down the dough with your fist to release the air, no equipment needed :) Do read up on bread making if it is the first time you are attempting to make bread...I am not able to list down all the full details in my blog posting, but you can refer to this site (http://www.baking911.com/bread/101_intro.htm) for details on bread baking to get an idea. Hope this helps :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Happy Home Baking

I desparately want to find out whether anyone knows how to make this Milk Pan, from Provence, Holland Village. It's a Jap bakery. I can eat up to 3 per day. It's not sweet or heavy. It's just nice!

How to attach photos for you to see how yummy it looks? I am not good at this blog thingy...

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Anonymous, I am sorry I have not been to Provence, and have not tried their bread. I am sure the breads are very good :) have read reviews about it. You can't attach photos to the comments page. You can upload your photos to flickr and put a link here.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for responding to my msg.

How to upload my photos to flickr and put a link? He he he...I am very new to blog still...

Let me know if you tried the Milk Pan. : )

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi, you will have to sign up for a Flickr account at flickr.com. You can then upload your photos following the instructions from there. Hope this helps =)

Anonymous said...

Hi Happy Homebaker,

I tried your pan recipe. First try was pretty good. Only, I think next time I will make the pastry part first and let it cool in the fridge longer. I find that 30 minutes was too short and I guess since it was the first time I was working slower. As a result the pastry part got a little bit messy because it warmed up before I can finish stamping out the design.

Also, how did you get your bread part so puffy? I found that this time around it was puffy when it was still in the oven but it flatten out a bit when cooled.

I will try again because it tasted very good. Not too sweet.

Thanks.

Tom

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Tom, yes you can make the pastry first. You can also take out only one or two pastry dough at a time to work on it and leave the rest in the fridge. My bread didn't flatten out...it stayed round and puffy...and I don't know what happened to yours...but it could either due to the kneading or the oven temperature. Do make sure the bread dough is kneaded till it is smooth and elastic and no longer sticks to the work surface. Hope this helps :)

Oda said...

Hello, just found your blog on google, and I must say I LOVE IT!^_^Nice work! I'm really fond of baking bread, it's so much fun. Though I don't like the waiting(f.eg.: sometimes I have to wait about 12hrs with sour-dough bread, witch is really hardO_o)heehee:p I think you are a good person - keep up your good mood!~<3 I'm gonna check out this page some more^~^

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Little Child, thanks for visiting! I love making bread too, I certainly would love to try make sourdough breads one of these days :)

Anita said...

WONDERFUL!! my congrats from argentina!! i just loved the recipe! my brother found your blog and sended the link, and i just luv´d this bread!! i work in a bakery and right this afternoon the people form my little little town will be introduced to the MELON PAN!! 8the best thing of all, is that bread in spanis is Pan, just like japanese xD)

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Anita, I am so excited to hear that you have introduced this Pan to your town! I love making bread, I'll love to be able to work in a bakery!

Sayuki Ooshiro said...

OMG!!! I love melon pan!:) Thank you so much for allowing me to see all of these ingredients and i cannot believe how knowledgeable you are! JAPANESE FOOD ROCKS!

Sharmaine said...

Hello HHB, :)

I tried out this recipe and it was great!

When making the pan, the pastry 'melted' very fast, and it is winter here in Melbourne! I can just imagine how much harder it would have been in Sg! Making the bread part of it was quite troublesome because I had to leave the dough to proof in a slightly warm oven, since the temperature was too cold for dough to proof at all. :(

The result was very sastisfactory; though my Melon pan flatten out more, unlike how your awesome ones are still quite circular.

Thanks for sharing!

st said...

hey! is it possible to use the sweet bun recipe for the bread dough instead? thanks heaps!

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi ST, although I have not tried it, but I think there shouldnt be a problem using the sweet bun recipe instead.

Unknown said...

Cool, nice pics. I was looking for Pan recipes and will have to try this. I have a few cookbooks on Japanese foods, but most are sushi based. One talks about and shows Pan, but not a recipe; I cannot really call it a cookbook, it does more describing Japanese cooking than giving you many recipes to try. Still a good book from the clearance table.

Ratticon said...

Thank you for the excellent translation.
My fiancée is Japanese and I went to Japan to propose to her this year. While I was there, I got addicted to Melonpan! ^^
Last week I thought it would be nice make my own, and your website has the clearest English instructions on.
I baked my own 2 days ago and they turned out so nice - even though I baked them for a little bit too long. I'm going to try again today!
Thank you Happy Home Baker - You rock!

Free recipes said...

Wow. I love how everything is so detailed including the outlines of the bread and such. It looks like brain to me. haha

cuppycake said...

hi! you have a very nice blog. i love your recipes,one problem though, having a hard time measuring(esp the yeast,salt and eggs) since i dnt have a digital scale.it would be a great help if you have them also measured in tspns and cups,thanks!

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi cuppycake, I do not have a digital scale either, my small weighing scale can only read up to 10g. I am sorry I am not able to convert the measurements to cups as I prefer to weight the ingredients as it will be more accurate.

Anonymous said...

....well, seeing that I live in America, we use cups, tablespoons, etc. rather than grams so, could someone please possibly translate this recipe into cups? I found a converter but, it wasn't what I was looking for.
Thanks.

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Anonymous, I am not able to provide the ingredients in cups. Maybe you can refer to this online cooking conversion calculator:
http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/cooking-conversions/cooking-conversions-calculator.aspx
I hope it helps.

Anonymous said...

^^ i love molonpan!! :) urs look yummy!:)

zainuddin said...

thanks for share

Marcus said...

I really enjoy baking even though im only 19.When i found this page I had to try making this Bread and i thought it was suuuuuuper :D my whole family enjoyed it aswell, Cheers and big thanks.

Snugglor said...

I tried this recipe today and even though it took me a really long time, I'm so happy I did it because they're yummy! I never bake but I've wanted to make melonpan for a long time and your recipe was very easy to understand compared to other recipes online. Thank you very much! I put my pictures on my facebook and added a link to your page, so I hope my friends will try your recipe too.

I can't wait to try more of your recipes and different varieties of melonpan.

Thanks again!

Unknown said...

I need to make some Japanese food for my daughter's school Japanese Culture Day. I thought everyone will make sushi rolls so why I shouldn't try something different. I searched online and this Melon bread idea come to my head. I never baked bread before. I just tried your recipe and pastry dough part was very hard for me. My breads shape did not come out like yours. Pastry melted and it flattened after 5 minutes in an oven. All patterns gone and most bread pastry opened on top while baking. What did I do wrong? Thank you.

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Maitsetseg, it could be due to several factors...may be you have over creamed the butter and sugar mixture? or the butter was left to soften until it 'melted'...the butter and sugar mixture should be beaten until it becomes fluffy and turns pale...not greasy. or the pastry was not well chilled? or it could have started to melt away during the second proofing, was the room temperature too high during the second proofing?

ming-cheau said...

I've been looking for this recip for a while now. Yay!

Anonymous said...

After leaving these breads overnight, I discovered that the top layer became sticky :( Is there any way to prevent that?

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Anonymous, you can try store them in room temperature in an air tight container.

tabehodai said...

Happy New Year, HHB!

Thank you for such an inspiring post.

I'd like to try making melon pan with those cute cookie cutters too, so I went to Daiso to look for them. But I wasn't really sure what size and type of cookie cutters I should be looking for.

Would you please show a photo of/ describe the cookie cutters you had used? Also, how do I imprint them on the cookie dough such that the shapes remained deep after baking and not 'melt' away?

Thanks a lot!

Happy Homebaker said...

tabehodai, I am sorry I am not able to show you any photo of the cutters as all my baking tools are still sealed up in boxes due to my current home renovation. The cutters come in a set of 3 shapes (heart, bear and star). They are quite small, about 1 to 1.5cm. In order to get a deep imprint, first you need to make sure the cookie dough is well chilled before covering it over the dough. Try to make the imprint as deep as possible, but as the bread dough expand during the 2nd proof, it is inevitable that some imprints will not be as clear. Hope this helps.

tabehodai said...

Thank you, HHB, for the detailed reply.

I found the cookie cutters at Daiso!

Anonymous said...

THANK VERY MUCH for THIS RECEIPE, THE FIRST TIME I ATE it, THIS where in JAPAN;

- RuthDanielle said...

these are amazing! thankyou so much for the recipe!

Anonymous said...

i shud try for my bakery shop,can i replace the butter with margerine?butter is way to expensive for a mass production..tell me if u have other sweet bread recipes..thx man!

-luke-

Emily Pearson said...

This is so yummy, made it today.
It does take a while to make, but worth it I think.
Nice as a snack.
Couldn't get my hands on the melon extract, but I used vanilla, after I read up a few diffrent ways of making it. I don't bake oftern, and i found this easy to follow. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

I have made melonpan many times before, and I when I tried this recipe, I was very pleased with it. The bread itself was better than the other recipes I have encountered.

eileen said...

Hello, could I find out if it is ok to omit milk powder for the bread? I don't have any at home and it'll be quite a waste to go out to get some just for this! Also how well does the buns keep? Let's say I bake it the afternoon the day before, how will it taste the next day afternoon if I keep it in an airtight container overnight? Because i know that sometimes homemade bread cant be kept for too long. Thanks! :)

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi eileen, you can omit the milk powder. The bread should keep well for at least 2 days stored in air tight container. You can warm it up in the oven before serving. Happy baking :)

eileen said...

Thank you! I'll try it out soon! (:

Melly Octaviana said...

Hey.. Nice Melonpan you made,makes me want to try it.. :D juz wondering ,when will we put the chocolate chips.. it is after we wrap the pastry dough or before.. thanks

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Melly, it is done before wrapping, refer step 10, hope this helps.

emy said...

makanan yg lezat sekali, yummy.....

Bakingisfun said...

Hi, I was attracted by the beauty of melon pan and wanted to try it. It tasted awesome just on my first try and I was very much excited that it came out so well. Its a bit of effort but its worth making.

Check out this link:

http://www.bestsimple-recipes.com/2012/01/japanese-sweet-bread-melon-pan_30.html

The page have a very detailed recipe.

Monica said...

Thanks so much for posting this recipe! I managed to get hold of some melon essence from Japan and used a touch of Midori for fun. I can't wait to bake again. I posted my attempt here: http://gastromony.com/melon-buns-meron-pan/

Anonymous said...

I was just wondering if there was a way to simplify the ingredients list. I don't have a scale or anything like that, since I'm not like a hard-core baker, I was just wanting to make some melonpan for friends. Like how many cups or tbsp and whatnot. Arigato guzimas! :)

Breanna

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Breanna, I am afraid I am not able to provide the ingredient list in cups or tablespoons as it is best to follow the exact measurement for making bread dough, the dough will be either to sticky and wet or too dry if the ingredient amount is not right.

mangafan101 said...

what is the most important thing to know when making this recipe for the first time?
and also thank you for the recipe!

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi mangafan101, if u have been making bread then, the only thing to look out for is: 'do not cover the entire bread dough with the pastry dough. Leave the bottom 2 ~ 3 cm uncovered. The dough needs the space to expand, otherwise the pastry dough will burst and the resulting appearance will not be very pleasing.'
hope this help :)

Panda said...

Hi!
I made this recipe and it turned out perfect!! :)
Really worth the three hours of prep, making and baking :D
result picture here: http://chellesroom.blogspot.com/2012/06/melon-pan.html

and anyway, THANK YOU SO MUCH :)

XXXXX
Miki Chelle

Anonymous said...

these look GREAT !!! It's summer vacation and i'm going through my "baking-love list" and melon bread is on is on it :D
But is there anyway you can convert your gram measurements into tbs,cups,etc? thank you for the post ! :)

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi, I am not able to convert into cups due to the ingredient amount, eg it is kind of difficult (and not accurate) to convert 36g of caster sugar into cups or spoons. It is best to use as measuring scale especially for bread making.

Unknown said...

Nice pictures!!! And thank you very much for sharing this recipe!!!
I think I'm going to try making some of these melon pan traditional style for the elders (missionaries) at my church. XD I can't wait to try some real melon pans from japan in the near future. Hopefully I get the recipe right cause I'm a baker/cook and I seriously hate measuring things... I know thats weird but I'm used to just going by instinct and trail/error >.< hopefully they don't get sick!!! Not from your recipe but from my crazy "waste not, want not" attitude towards food. Thanks again!!! =^.^=

Unknown said...

Hi hi! ^^ May I know what camera are you using?? The pictures turned out so nicely!!! Absolutely mouthwatering!! ;D

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Phoebe, the pictures were taken with Canon Powershot G3, a very old point and shoot camera :)

Anonymous said...

Hi,
First time to your blog. Can I use a mixer to knead the dough? Thanks!

Weeleyphua

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Weeleyphua, you can use a mixer to knead the dough as long as your mixer can be used for kneading bread dough.

Anonymous said...

Made it from this recipe and they went very well! Thank you so much. :)

Unknown said...

Hey......... nice blog. Thanks for sharing Recipe of Japanese Melon Pan. japanese cook books

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this recipe! You have a very nice blog here. Looking forward to baking in the future :)

Paden Clayton said...

Both the pastry layer and the bread itself taste great, however when I made this there was much more dough than pastry so the pastry layer didn't wrap far enough around and slid off the bread as it rose. Other than that, it's a great recipe.

Anonymous said...

Uhhmm, hello Happy Home Baking :) I want to ask something about the labels on the ingredients like 300g, 2g, 80g, etc. Are we going to pour the whole 300g, 2g, 80g, etc. on the mixing bowl or any mixing appliances ? Sorry , I don't really know much about cooking but I'm interested since I like breads :) Thank you :))

Anonymous said...

I'd like to know how did you convert the grams? Is it to cups ? :) Sorry, i'm not that smart :3

Anonymous said...

Uhh, hi Happy Home Baking :) I really want to bake some Melonpan and I'm really looking forward to it and then I found this recipe :) You said that you didn't put melon extract right? I really wanted to try putting some melon extract but I don't know how many cups or teaspoon or tablespoon, or whatever. Can you help me with it ? I'm just new in baking :) Thank you very much!

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi, you can either use a stand mixer to knead the dough or knead the dough by hand as stated in the instructions in the recipe above.

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi, do use a weighing scale for this recipe as by converting to cups, the measurements may not be accurate and this will affect the outcome of the bread.

Happy Homebaker said...

As stated in the instructions, you can add a few drops of melon extract.

Janagi Jeeven said...

hi sister..its really turn out well (the taste part). But I guess I still need to work out on maintaining the shape during the second level proofing. Mine cracked alot and the pattern cannot be seen clearly. Do I need to press the cookie cutter till the bread level or must be on the surface only?

Happy Homebaker said...

I press the cutter on the cookie layer just before the bread dough. Hope yours will turn out well on your next attempt, happy baking!

resep makanan said...

thanks for recipe for japanese food,

Unknown said...

It's called 'Melon Pan' which translates to Melon Bread. It's Japanese..

hippytea said...

I have never had these before but fell in love with them during a web search and had to try making them. Really fun and very tasty. Mine took longer even than yours to cook, but never mind, they turned out lovely. I admit I didn't follow your bread recipe but used a favourite one for Hokkaido Milk Bread - it uses half the batch, so I can make a loaf of bread with the other half at the same time. These may become a regular feature in our house!

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi hippytea, thanks for sharing your baking experience :)
Great to hear that you had a fun time making these buns!

Unknown said...

Hi all...i hanna. I just bought my bread maker and really keen to used happy's bread recepi. Last week i tried using the bm with milk loaf recepi however the dough very sticky. Wish me luck caused i really hopes it will works today.
Thanks happy caused shared ur recepi..