I call this a less greasy version of Hong Kong Style Bor Lor Buns 菠蘿包. Some with chocolate chips too! My kids gave them one thumb up when they had them for breakfast the next day.
Finally made bread at home for the first time. I have always hesitated to make bread myself because I think it's too difficult and takes too long. Then I found this recipe for Japanese Melon Pan. http://happyhomebaking.blogspot.com/2007/08/japanese-melon-pan.html Both Ho and I love bread from J-Town. I decided to give it a try.
Since I still think that bread making is a long process, I measured everything last night. Pastry ingredients on one side of the counter, and bread dough on the other side. Tonight when I put the flour in with the yeast, I added the sugar for the pastry by mistake. I also forgot the recipe suggested to leave some of the water behind to adjust the moisture level. So I ended up throwing out the whole thing. Back to step one - measuring everything again. Other than this, the process seems to go smoothly but slowly as expected. Why can't I bake as fast as Jennifer?
So, while the dough is proofing, I made the crust. It's very sticky. This picture was taken after I put them in the fridge for 20 mins.
Then I roll them out one by one, and covered each dough with a piece of pastry crust.
See the ones I had marked with initials of each member in the family?
This is the proper look of melon pan. I think it looks like a grenade now. :-)
The recipe said oven time was 12 mins at 170C (338 F). 10 mins passed, they still looked very pale. I wonder if I should have brushed them with egg wash even though the recipe said only use sugar.
After adjusting the temperature to 350F and left the bread in the oven for 30 mins, I start to worry that the bread will be too dry. So I took them out.
Surprisingly, the inside was not dry. My husband said it tasted more like a cake. Of course! His first bite was mostly the crust. When I gave him more of the bread part, he said it did have the bread texture. However, I actually find it too moist. Maybe I should have left them in the oven longer? Yet bottom of the bread already started to harden... Or maybe I didn't put enough yeast? Or the proofing time was not enough. They didn't rise to twice the size. The crust is good though.
Well, they taste good now. Next time! Next time they'll be better.
They look very cute! And I like the ones with initials too.
ReplyDeleteI also found that whenever recipes call for 170 C, the results were never right. I have decided to turn the oven to 350F instead of 338F. Maybe they have smaller ovens?
Any leftover for Saturday breakfast?
of course i can bring it on saturday for your breakfast. Just focus on the crust. :-) bread part... room for improvement...
ReplyDeleteOh the famous melonpan! I've never had one, but the pictures I've seen are all really pale in colour... maybe they're not supposed to brown as opposed to the HK style ones that have so much egg and butter in the crust?
ReplyDeleteThe ones I saw at bakeries were not very yellow either. I think what went wrong the most was proofing time. Since I can only start baking after the kids have gone to bed (after I return from work, I had to pick them up from grannies, finish dinner, give them shower, supervise them when they do homework, tuck them in for bed, etc), I was too rushed to put them in the oven. I'll try making bread on weekends or start earlier when the kids have less homework. Hope you'll see my post of well risen bread soon!
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