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1
Whisk together the eggs, honey, and caster sugar in a bowl until the mixture is pale and the sugar is dissolved. Sift in the flour and baking soda, add the water, and stir to a smooth, homogeneous batter. Cover and rest at room temperature for 30 minutes, allowing the gluten to relax and the honey to distribute evenly through the batter. The rested batter should flow smoothly from a spoon with no lumps.
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2
Heat a flat griddle to 165 °C — even heat distribution is essential; a frying pan with hot spots is not a substitute. Lightly grease the surface. Pour the batter in rounds of approximately 8–9 cm diameter. This is where the dish lives or dies: the temperature must hold steady at 165 °C throughout cooking. Too hot and the discs darken past the honey-caramel gold that signals correct preparation; too cool and the colour and Maillard character do not develop. Cook until bubbles form and set across the surface, then flip and cook briefly until the underside is set. The finished disc is uniformly honey-caramel gold on its face, springy to a gentle press at the centre, and leaves no indentation.
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3
Transfer the cooked discs to a wire rack, face side up, in matched pairs of equal size and shape. Allow to cool completely. Mismatched discs are not acceptable in Japanese gift-food culture; discard or reserve any disc without a clear pair. The discs are ready when they are at room temperature and feel soft but set to the touch.
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4
Place one disc face side down. Spoon cold tsubu-an onto its flat inner surface, mounding it generously so that the anko extends to the edge of the disc — the filling-to-dough ratio is 1:1 by weight, approximately 50 g of tsubu-an per dorayaki. Press the paired disc over the filling, face side up, to complete the sandwich. The anko should reach the perimeter; a thin smear of filling is the signature of inferior preparation.