Eggless Melon Pan / Eggless Japanese Melon Pan

Melon Pan is a bread that has no Melon and No pan either!!! It is a double layer bread with bread layer topped with a cookie layer.. Pan is the Japanese word for Bread which is borrowed from Portuguese and there are quite a range of Pans in Japan. This bread is the choice by Aparna for this month’s We Knead to Bake and the recipe is adapted from here and have made few changes. You can take a look at this video which has an excellent tutorial on the Melon Pan. The bread layer in this pan is very soft and is quite addictive and it is covered with a layer of crunchy cookie layer. The Melon added to the pan to give the name Melon pan could be from the crosshatch design on the bread.  This recipe will give 8 - 10 burger sized melon pans... Melon Pans are best enjoyed on the day it is made.

Ingredients

For the Bread

All Purpose Flour - 1 3/4 cup
Milk Powder - 2 table spoons
Salt - 1/2 tea spoon
Warm Water - 1/3 cup
Instant Yeast - 1 tea spoon
Warm Milk - 1 - 2 table spoons
Butter - 25 grams (at room temperature) - 1/8 cup
Chocolate Chips - 1/3 cup

For the Cookie

All Purpose Flour - 1 1/3 cups
Baking Powder - 3/4 tea spoon
Salt - A big Pinch
Butter - 60 grams (at room temperature) - 1/4 cup
Castor Sugar - 1/4 cup
Milk - 1/4 cup
Vanilla - 1/2 tea spoon

For Dusting

Warm Milk
Castor Sugar

Method

Cookie Dough

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
Now add the vanilla and add 2 table spoons of milk
Sieve together flour, salt and baking powder well
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in 3 batches
Beat together until combined. Add 2 more table spoons of milk if required
Place the dough in a cling film and shape it into a cylinder
Wrap it in cling film. Refrigerate the dough for one hour.

Bread Dough

Mix warm water and sugar. Add yeast and allow it to be foamy
Mix together flour, milk powder and salt
Knead together the dry ingredients to the yeast solution
Make it to a dough
Now add the butter and knead again until the dough is smooth and shiny
Grease a bowl and place the dough inside and keep it covered
Allow it to rise until double.

Making the melon pan

Weigh the entire bread dough and cookie dough separately.
Divide them by weight into equal proportions.
Cover the remaining when working with one to avoid it getting dried out
Take one portion of the cookie dough, place it in between 2 parchment sheets and press it with a heavy plate to make a disc
Place the discs in a parchment covered baking tray and cover it with plastic wrap and keep it in the fridge
Take one portion of the bread dough and make a small disc and place a few chocolate chips inside and seal the edges
Now smooth it and make it into a round dough and place it covered
Do the same with all the bread dough
Remove the cookie dough from the fridge
Place one bread dough in the center and cover the bread dough with the cookie such that the top is covered completely, but the bottom is still open
With a wrong side of a knife or with a dough scraper, make 3 lines and then 3 diagonal lines to make the melon design
Give it a brush with the milk and dip it in the sugar to get the entire top covered with sugar
Place these melon pan on a parchment lined baking tray
Allow it to rise for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C
Place the melon pans to bake for 25 minutes or until the top is golden
Remove from the oven and allow it to cool on a cooling rack
Enjoy!!!

Linking this to Yeastspotting