Japanese Melon Pan and Curry Pan: Enriched Bread Traditions — Cook

Ingredients

For the enriched bread base (both buns)
300 g strong white bread flour
40 g caster sugar
5 g fine salt
6 g instant dried yeast
2 eggs, beaten
120 ml whole milk, warm
40 g unsalted butter, softened
For the melon pan cookie crust
100 g plain flour
60 g caster sugar
50 g unsalted butter, softened
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
For the melon pan cookie crust (optional)
5–8 g matcha powder, per 100 g flour, for matcha variation
For the curry pan filling
300 g Japanese curry, cooked dry — drier than table curry, fully chilled before use
For the curry pan coating
80 g plain flour, for dusting
2 eggs, beaten, for egg wash
150 g panko breadcrumbs, not standard breadcrumbs
For frying (curry pan)
1 litre neutral frying oil, such as sunflower or rice bran

Method

1
Combine the flour, sugar, salt and yeast for the enriched bread base in a large bowl. Add the beaten eggs and warm milk and bring together into a shaggy dough. Knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth — approximately 8–10 minutes by hand — then incorporate the softened butter in stages, kneading until fully absorbed. The dough is ready when it is smooth, elastic and pulls cleanly from the surface without tearing.
2
Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave to prove at room temperature until doubled in volume. Divide into twelve equal portions — six for melon pan, six for curry pan. Shape the melon pan portions into smooth rounds; shape the curry pan portions into rough rounds and set aside, covered.
3
Prepare the cookie crust. Cream the softened butter and caster sugar until pale. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Fold in the flour (and matcha, if using) until a soft, cohesive dough forms. Divide into six equal portions and press each between two sheets of parchment into a disc large enough to drape over a bread round. The dough should be pliable and not sticky to the touch.
4
This is where the melon pan lives or dies. Working quickly, drape each cookie disc over a shaped bread round and smooth it to cover the upper surface and sides, leaving the base uncovered. Immediately score the cookie surface in a diamond crosshatch pattern with a sharp knife or pastry cutter — before any proofing expands the dough. The score must be made at this stage; if the bread has already risen, the crust will crack unevenly and fail to expand with the loaf.
5
Place the coated melon pan rounds on a lined baking tray. Leave to prove until the buns are visibly puffed and the cookie crust shows the beginning of surface doming — the crosshatch lines will have opened slightly. Bake in an oven preheated to 180 °C until the cookie crust is set and faintly golden and the underside of each bun sounds hollow when tapped.
6
For the curry pan: flatten each of the six bread rounds into a disc. Place a portion of the fully chilled, dry curry filling at the centre of each disc. The filling must be cold — hot filling introduces steam that collapses the dough structure during proofing. Gather the dough edges up and over the filling, pinching firmly to a complete seal. No gap or thin spot is permissible. Turn sealed-side down. Leave to double-proof until visibly puffed.
7
Dust each sealed bun in flour, dip in beaten egg, then coat thoroughly in panko breadcrumbs, pressing gently so the crumbs adhere on all surfaces. Heat the neutral oil to 170–180 °C. Fry the buns in batches — do not crowd — until the panko is a deep even gold and the shell is crisp. For a more even result, a brief first fry may be used to set the crust before resting and returning to the oil for final colour. The buns are done when the crust is uniformly amber and sounds hollow and dry when tapped.
8
Drain the curry pan on a wire rack, not paper, so the base crust retains its crispness. Allow to rest for three minutes before serving — the interior filling will be very hot. The finished bun should yield a distinct crunch through the panko shell before giving way to the soft bread and warm curry interior.