Ingredients
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Bread Dough
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220g Strong White Bread Flour
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20g Brown Sugar
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3g Salt1/2 tsp
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3g Dried Active Yeast1 tsp
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30g Buttersoftened
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140ml Milkwarmed
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1/2tsp Vanilla Extract
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70g Chocolate Chips
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Cookie Dough
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60g Buttersoftened
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60g Icing Sugar
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Pinch Salt
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30ml Milk2tbsp room temperature
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140g Plain Flour
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1/2tsp Vanilla Extract
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2 tbsp Granulated Sugarfor rolling
Directions
What to make for an early morning Japanese race? We have lots of recipes but not a breakfast one. I am pleased we have found the answer – Melon Pan.
These are a sweet bread style bun with chocolate chips inside, covered in a cookie dough of your choice and, of course, shaped and styled into a character. Traditional Melon Pan is a simple dome with a criss cross pattern cut into the cookie dough on the top which is said to resemble melon skin. However being Japan, these simple buns are often taken to the next level. Whilst searching for recipes I discovered a turtle version, multicoloured versions, Yoda and the iconic Miffy melon pan. You can also enjoy them with confectioners cream or ice cream inside!
We decided to give the Miffy melon pan a go, and we are very pleased with the result, although we have some tips below for getting a better finish next time.
Thank you to Suncore Foods for the recipe which I adapted from their Vegan recipe.
A few tips for next time we make them:
- We didn’t get the granulated sugar to stick as well as it should have done, next time I would roll the ball and ears separately in the sugar before assembling them.
- Don’t score the surface too much if you need to decorate the top – they do crack quite a lot making it hard to add the eyes and mouths.
- I can’t believe I am saying this but I would reduce the amount of chocolate in the recipe, we ended up using about half the amount.
Steps
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1
Done
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Make the bread doughPlace the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a bowl. Add the warmed milk, softened butter and the vanilla extract and knead until soft and elastic. This took around 15-20 minutes. Shape into a ball and place in a lightly greased bowl. Cover the bowl and leave to rise for 1 - 1.5 hours. |
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2
Done
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Make the cookie doughWhisk the softened butter until it is smooth, then add the icing sugar. Whisk it slowly to start with until it has combined and then increase the speed and whisk until it is fluffy. Add the plain flour and salt, again whisk slowly until it is combined, then increase the speed and whisk until it forms a dough. Whisk in the vanilla essence, then form a log with the dough, wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge whilst the bread dough rises (minimum 30 minutes) |
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3
Done
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Assembling the Melon PanDeflate the bread dough and divide into 8 equal parts. Roll 6 into balls and divide the remaining 2 into twelve smaller balls (the ears). The large balls should weigh about 50g and the ears about 8g. Add the chocolate chips to the larger balls. You can either roll them into the balls so that they are evenly spread or flatten the balls and place the chocolate in the centre, bring up the sides and create the ball - we chose the later. Roll the twelve smaller balls into logs to create the ears. You can assemble the Miffy shapes now or once the bread dough is covered with the cookie dough. Cover the bread dough whilst you create the cookie dough shapes. Divide the cookie dough into 8 equal parts. Roll 6 into balls and flatten them. Cover the larger bread dough balls with the discs, add the ears to the heads. Divide the remaining 2 balls into twelve and flatten the pieces and shape to cover the ears. Wrap the cookie dough over the ears and make any final adjustments to the Miffy head shapes. Once you are happy with Miffy heads, cover with the granulated sugar, then gently score the top with the signature criss cross pattern. Place on a baking sheet and cover for 40 minutes. Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 15-20 minutes. |
