Japanese Melonpan (Poolish & Tangzhong)

Today, we're making the Japanese Melonpan with poolish and tangzhong. In the video, we delve into the science of using a sweet dough with 16% sugar and more fat for the bread, and we're topping it with 2 variants of cookie dough, original and matcha. What we get are stunning Melonpan buns that are every bit as good as they look. We're also briefly going into the mysterious origins of these breads, as well as some more regional variants. Watch the video for more!
#melonpan #sweetbread #bread #tangzhong #yudane #poolish
Ingredients Weight (g) %
Total Flour 250.0 100.0%
Hydration 178.7 71.5%
Tangzhong
Bread Flour 50.0 20.0%
Hot Water 85.0 34.0%
Poolish
Bread Flour 50.0 20.0%
Water 50.0 20.0%
Instant Yeast 0.6 0.2% (1/8 tsp)
Final Dough
Bread Flour 150.0 60.0%
Sugar 40.0 16.0%
Milk 45.0 18.0%
Butter 25.0 10.0%
Salt 4.0 1.6%
Instant Yeast 0.6 0.2% (1/8 tsp)
Total Fat 22.1 8.8%
Milk Water Replacement 25.2%
Total Dough about 500 g
Divide by 6 around 83.5 g
Cookie
All Purpose Flour 160 g
Unsalted Butter 60 g
Icing Sugar 60 g
Whole Egg 50 g
Matcha 3 g
Lemon Zest to taste
Lemon Juice (1 tsp) 5 g
Granulated Sugar to taste
Chapters
0:00 Intro
0:37 History
3:22 Tangzhong/Yudane
4:31 Poolish
5:26 Final Dough
8:09 Ingredient Science Talk
13:20 Cookie Dough
18:13 Pre-Shaping
21:38 Shaping
25:38 Proofing
26:08 Baking

[@NovitaListyani]

Errata: the poolish is made of 50 g of bread flour, 50 g of water and 1/8 tsp of instant yeast. The video incorrectly stated 100 g of water and 100 g of bread flour.

[@erolbeller5]

I am one of your fans, because of your explanation. Only recipes are nothing, you are giving technical detail and consequences, Thanks a lot.

[@julieblair7472]

The way the cookie topping crackled on the matcha ones really look like actual musk melons!!

[@NovitaListyani]

Indeed :)

[@mrprutten]

Hi Seraphine. These remind me of the Concha pan dulce pastries from Mexico. I'm sure that they are a bit different in execution though. I love how diverse your recipes are. I really learn a lot and, as well, it always so nice to see you. You are lovely.

[@NovitaListyani]

Yes, indeed they look quite similar, we actually mentioned it in the video. Thank you for your comment.

[@mrprutten]

Yeah, sorry about that. I was at work and didn't have the time to watch the whole thing, before I commented. I jumped ahead a little. ❤

[@iluminameluna]

I was telling my son that exact thing as I watched this video last night. His father's side is Mexican and he's explored the cooking & baking of Mexico. This is so cool!

[@ghlscitel6714]

Congratulations. Looks very well.

[@khodayehrangekaman315]

You are absolutely amazing 🥀 🫒 Thank you ❤ for sharing your amazing & lovely knowledge 👌🙏

[@danadizon5311]

Grear video! Will definitely add to my list. Idk if youll ever read this, but can you please make a video about no knead bread and what your thoughts on it? is kneading really a must? Theres a few YT channels that uses the no knead technique like Mugkling, Kkuume, and Chain Baker and they make visually appealing and tasty breads.

[@NovitaListyani]

About 3 years ago we made many videos using no knead method with fluid yeast water, you may want to check them out. Here is one for example: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oIO4pKaAd8pnjs0

[@danadizon5311]

@@NovitaListyani thank you!

[@melissaxiong9967]

The melon bread is wonderful on the first day but the crust gets sticky overnight even though I let the melon bread cool completely. Is there a way to fix that? Thanks for the recipe, it's still the best tasting melon bread recipe I've tried.

[@konin9071]

The ingredients list in the description calls for 50g of flour and water for the poolish but the video says 100g. which one is correct?

[@NovitaListyani]

Thank you for pointing it out! It should be 50g water, 50 g of flour, and 1/8 tsp of instant yeast, as in the ingredient list.

[@wok1978]

is it bad to use milk for poolish and tangzhong instead of water, to enrich the dough more?

[@NovitaListyani]

We sometimes use milk with Tangzhong, very rarely with poolish. It should be fine, though, as long as they are not exposed to high temperatures for a prolonged period of time.

[@tsutsumiles4099]

What is Milk Water Replacement (25.2%) for? Thanks in advance.

[@NovitaListyani]

The amount of water replaced by milk

[@rinaps3884]

Hi, can we give more milk, if the dough still a little dry? Thanks

[@NovitaListyani]

The hydration of this dough is very high, 71.5%, you don't need to add more milk. The dough, at 7:20, appears to be dry but upon further mixing, it becomes sticky wet.

[@ladywhobakes]

may I know why you dont use eggs?

[@NovitaListyani]

There are many benefits of eggs on dough and bread, but for melonpan, eggs are not essential. Melonpan has a cookie dough on top that contributes to its final appearance, so, the browning effect of eggs on the bread crust is irrelevant. We also don't need the extra strength of the dough by the addition of eggs, again, the cookie dough can provide a shell for the rising dough to attach to. As for fat, flavor and aroma, eggs also do not contribute much when compared to the butter in the dough and the cookie dough.

[@ladywhobakes]

thank you for answering. I hope oneday you can also get into more details about freezing bread dough, the best way to do it, the best ingridients to go with. Because I love your bread recipes but struggling to get up early lol I hope it’s not too much to ask.

[@NovitaListyani]

Most breads can be stored in the freezer for days, if not weeks, and then we can bake them back to considerable freshness whenever we want to eat them. Bread retrogrades at room temperature and this retrogradation that causes staling accelerates in the fridge at around 4-5°C, but practically stops at 0°C. Having said that, there are indeed quite a lot of papers on freezing dough, we may make a video on it someday.