I tried my hands on Melonpan yesterday night so my kids can have freshly baked Melonpan for breakfast before I fetch them out for tuition this morning. Melonpan is a type sweet bun from Japan. The top part of the bun is covered with a thin layer of cookie dough. Once you have a bite of it, it is soft bun on the inside with a crispy bite on the outside.

Melonpan also resembles the famous Hong Kong Por Lor Pau ( Pineapple Bun ). Both are almost similar to me. When I searched thru wikipedia, the different is:

“By comparison the Japanese style is lighter in weight and taste, slightly dryer and has a firmer outer layer (including top cookie crust) which resists flaking unlike its Hong Kong counterpart, which should be treated with care as the top cookie crust tends to flake easily. The Hong Kong version is also more moist and is generally soft on the outside and inside and has a stronger butter flavour.”

I came across this Japanese lady in you tube video by the name “Cooking with a dog”. I discovered she posted lots of easy to cook Japanese recipes in you tube video. Though the recipe portion is quite little, but it is just nice for a small family of 2 adults & 2 kids like me.

Back to the melonpan I did, I followed her recipe but me being the one try to act smart, I missed out one step during the process of proofing. As you can see from my melonpan, the cookie dough is like spreading too much and it crumbles after I bake it. Reason???? I still couldn’t find a reason why mine turned out to be like this. The only think I can think off, I leave it too long to proof!.

After watching the video again, only I discovered the mistake I’ve done. Stupid me, wanted to take the short cut way. What I’ve done is after dividing the bread dough  into 6 portions, … immediately I covered the top part with the cookie dough and let if proof for an hour. That is why after an hour of proofing, the cookie dough already spread too much. Nothing can be done, so I just pop it into the oven and bake it!

Anyway, the melonpan still tasted good except for the ugly top. Kids having it with butter, while me and hub had it sandwiched with a slice of left over SPAM luncheon meat.  Oishiii…

Ingredients for Bread Dough :
140gm bread flour,sieved
25gm sugar
1/3 tsp salt
5gm non fat milk powder
3gm instant yeast
1 tbsp beaten egg
70ml warm water
15gm butter
Some bread flour for dusting

Method :
1. Mix bread flour, sugar, salt, milk powder and instant yeast in a mixing bowl. Mixed well.
2. Add in beaten eggs and the warm water little by little into the mixing bowl.
3. Mix all ingredients slowly with hand and then knead into a dough.
4. Then flatten the bread dough and add in butter. Continue to knead in the butter into the dough and knead till the dough doesn’t stick to your hand.
5. Place the dough into a deep dish bowl and cover it with a cloth towel. Let if proof for an hour or until it double up in bulk.
6. Then take the dough out and give it a punch on the dough to remove the air inside the dough.
5. Divide the dough into 6 portions and leave the dough on a greased baking tray and let it rest in room temperature for about 20 – 30 minutes. Cover the dough with a cloth towel.

Ingredients for Cookie Dough :
25gm unsalted butter
35gm sugar
25gm beaten eggs
80gm cake flour, sieved
1/4 tsp baking powder, sieved
Some bread flour for dusting

Method:
1. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.
2. Add in beaten eggs and continue to whisk till well mixed.
3. Add in the cake flour and baking powder. Mix it with spatula until the cookie dough is fully in corporate.
4. Divide the cookie dough into 6 portions. Let it chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
5. After chilled for 30 minutes, flatten each portion of cookie dough into a round shape.
6. Place the cookie dough on top of the bread dough that rested for 20 -30 minutes. Cover the cookie dough over the bread dough.
7. Dip the cookie dough with some castor sugar. ( I omitted out)
8. Cut the top cookie dough with a diagonal lines that looks like a pineapple. Leave the melon pan for a second proof for about 30 – 40 minutes again. Becareful not to over rise the dough.
9. Bake the melon pan for about 20 minutes at 170 DC.