Melonpan — soft buns under a crisp cookie crust

i. Origin & history

Melonpan belongs to the family of Japanese kashi pan — sweet breads — that grew up after anpan showed in the 1870s that Western-style bread could be adapted to Japanese tastes. Its exact origin is unknown, and several theories circulate. The most widely cited links it to an Armenian baker said to have worked at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo in the Taishō era (1912–1926), who made a bread with a crisp, sugary crust. Others point to bakeries in Kobe or Hiroshima, or to the influence of similar Western and Latin American breads.

Its name is also debated. The usual explanation is the look of the scored top, like the netted rind of a muskmelon — a prized and expensive fruit in Japan, which gave the bun a luxurious association. Another theory holds that the name derives from the meringue used on early versions ('meringue pan' becoming 'melon pan'). Whatever the origin, the cross-hatched round is now the standard.

Regional naming adds to the confusion. In parts of the Kansai region and around Hiroshima, a round bun with a cookie crust scored in radiating lines, like a rising sun, is called sunrise, and in some places that name is used for what Tokyo calls melonpan. In Hiroshima, 'melonpan' can refer to an oval bun filled with white bean paste or custard. Many people only discover the difference when they move cities.

Similar breads exist around the world: the Mexican concha, with its shell-patterned sugar topping; the Hong Kong bolo bao or 'pineapple bun', named for its crackled top; and the Taiwanese version of the same. Whether these share a common ancestor or arrived at the idea independently is not clear.

ii. How the cookie crust stays crisp

Melonpan is two doughs baked together. The bread dough is an enriched dough with milk, egg, sugar and butter, which gives a soft, fluffy, slightly sweet crumb. The cookie dough is closer to a shortbread or sugar-cookie dough: butter, sugar, egg and soft flour, with a little baking powder, rolled thin and laid over the bread dough before the final rise.

The cookie dough must be cold and firm when it is shaped. Butter-rich dough softens quickly in the hand; warm cookie dough smears, sticks and tears. Chilling it and rolling it between sheets of cling film or baking paper makes a thin, even disc that can be draped over the bread dough and pressed lightly so it adheres. It should cover the top and sides but not the base, leaving the bread room to rise.

The crackled pattern comes from the rise. During the final proof and in the oven, the bread dough expands, stretching the cookie layer, which cracks along the scored lines and between them. Rolling the cookie surface in granulated sugar before scoring gives the classic sparkling, crunchy top. The scoring should be firm enough to mark the cookie but not cut into the bread.

Baking at a moderate temperature keeps the crust pale golden. A darker bake turns the cookie hard and bitter. The crust is soft straight out of the oven and crisps as the bun cools.

iii. Ingredients

Makes 8 servings · scroll the side panel to adjust

• 250 g bread flour
• 30 g caster sugar, for the bread
• 4 g salt
• 5 g instant yeast
• 1 large egg, beaten and divided: 25 g for the bread, 35 g for the cookie
• 140 ml lukewarm milk
• 25 g unsalted butter, softened, for the bread
• 60 g unsalted butter, softened, for the cookie
• 70 g caster sugar, for the cookie
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 150 g plain flour or cake flour
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• 40 g granulated sugar, for coating

Bread flour gives a soft but well-risen bun; plain or cake flour in the cookie dough keeps it tender and crisp rather than tough. Beat the eggs together and weigh them out: about 25 g goes into the bread and 35 g into the cookie. Use unsalted butter at soft room temperature for the cookie dough, so that it creams easily, but chill the finished dough. Granulated sugar, not caster, gives the crunchy, sparkling top. Some modern bakeries add a little melon flavouring or green colouring to the cookie, but the classic is plain vanilla.

iv. Method

1. For the cookie dough, cream the 60 g butter and 70 g sugar until pale. Beat in the 35 g egg and vanilla, then fold in the flour and baking powder to a soft dough. Divide into 8, roll into balls and chill for at least 1 hour.
2. For the bread, mix the bread flour, sugar, salt and yeast. Add the 25 g egg and the milk and mix to a soft dough. Knead for 5 minutes, add the butter and knead for 8–10 minutes more, until smooth and elastic.
3. Cover and leave to rise in a warm place for 60–75 minutes, until doubled.
4. Knock back and divide into 8 pieces of about 55 g. Shape each into a tight, smooth ball and rest under a cloth for 10 minutes.
5. Roll each cookie ball between sheets of cling film into a 10–11 cm disc. Peel off the top sheet, set a bread ball upside down on the disc, and use the bottom sheet to press the cookie up around the top and sides, leaving the base uncovered.
6. Holding the bun by its base, dip the cookie side in the granulated sugar. Score a criss-cross pattern into the cookie with a bench scraper or the back of a knife, without cutting into the bread. Set on a lined tray.
7. Prove at warm room temperature for 40–50 minutes, until the buns have grown by half and the cookie has started to crack. Heat the oven to 180 °C (350 °F), or 160 °C fan.
8. Bake for 13–15 minutes, until the cookie is pale golden and the bases are lightly browned. Cool on a rack; the crust crisps as it cools.

v. Tips & common mistakes

• Keep the cookie dough cold. Warm dough smears and tears; roll it straight from the fridge between sheets of film.
• Leave the base uncovered. If the cookie wraps the whole ball, the bread cannot rise properly and bursts through the side.
• Score lightly. Cut only through the cookie layer; cutting into the bread makes the bun split open.
• Prove somewhere not too warm. Above about 30 °C the butter in the cookie melts and slides off the bun.
• Keep the bake pale. A golden, not brown, cookie stays crisp and tender.
• Cool before storing. Sealing warm melonpan traps steam and softens the crust.

vi. Variations

Matcha melonpan adds 1 tbsp matcha to the cookie dough; chocolate melonpan adds cocoa to the cookie and chocolate chips to the bread. Melonpan with whipped cream or ice-cream melonpan — a warm bun split and filled with soft-serve — are popular in tourist areas such as Asakusa in Tokyo. Some bakeries fill melonpan with custard or red-bean paste, and a few add real melon flavour. The Kansai sunrise has a radiating pattern.

Related breads include the Hong Kong pineapple bun, the Mexican concha and, among other Japanese sweet breads, anpan. For other crisp-and-soft combinations, see the croffle and the Korean bungeoppang.

vii. Serving & storage

Melonpan is eaten as a snack or for breakfast, plain and at room temperature, with coffee, tea or milk. It is at its best within a few hours of baking, when the crust is at its crispest.

Keep it in an airtight container or bag at room temperature for up to 2 days; the crust softens gradually. Refresh it in a 170 °C (340 °F) oven for 3–4 minutes. It freezes well for up to a month, wrapped individually; reheat from frozen in a low oven to restore the crisp top. Avoid the fridge, which stales the bread.

ix. More from Japanese

• Anpan — red-bean filled buns
• Matcha Roll Cake — green tea sponge roll
• Daifuku — mochi with bean paste
• Bungeoppang — Korean fish-shaped pastry
• Croffle — croissant waffle
• Cardamom Bun — Scandinavian sweet bun