MELONPAN - JAPANESE BISCUIT BUNS

You know it’s time to make Melonpan when your Japan guidebook has been collecting dust on a shelf for almost a year, but still you can’t wait to print out yours and your daddy’s tickets to Morocco this week. And never mind the nosebleeds, David Wilson falls from the sky to improve your life like jam on toast.

Don’t ever tell him I said that.

And when Alex and Lauren and I sit on the steps on our lunch break with tired and crumpled faces like a punk version of the three musketeers. Or when your new mission in life becomes giving Cake Wednesday a Chinese twist.

But also when you think your heart is going to burst from sorrow and guilt (although someone’s there with you this time), and when you just don’t know whether you’ll be flying half a world away in a couple of months.

Because it turns out that sometimes (but only sometimes) change isn’t so terrifying, and it’s nice to sit in your (not for long) flat munching vegan sweet buns with a biscuity crust until you finally allow the seasons to turn.

MELONPAN

Adapted from The Joy of Vegan Baking

½ teaspoon sugar

60ml (1/4 cup) lukewarm water

8g (2 ¼ teaspoons) active yeast

220g (1 ¾ cup) plain flour

½ teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons margarine, melted

Biscuit crust:

3 tablespoons chickpea brine

155g (1 ¼ cups) plain flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

150g (2/3 cup) margarine, melted

150g (2/3 cup) sugar

Mix sugar, lukewarm water and yeast together in a bowl and let sit for 10 minutes or until it bubbles up. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt and melted margarine. Add the yeast mixture and mix until well combined and you have a smooth dough, then knead for 10 minutes, adding more water if the dough is too dry or flour if it’s too sticky. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for two hours and a half or until doubled in size.

In the meantime prepare the biscuit topping. In a bowl mix together flour, baking powder, melted margarine and sugar. In a separate bowl, whisk the chickpea brine until light and frothy, then add to the mixture and mix until well combined. Wrap the biscuit dough in parchment paper or cling film and place in the fridge to firm up.

When the dough has doubled in size, knead for 5-10 more minutes. Divide it into equal pieces of about 40g each, then shape into balls. Place them onto the baking tray and let rise again for 15 minutes.

In the meantime preheat the oven to 175 °C (350 °F) and lightly grease a baking tray. Take the biscuit dough out of the fridge, roll it out thin and cut it out into even circles, big enough to cover the dough balls all around. Wrap each dough ball in each circle of biscuit dough, then cut a net pattern on the top of each of them for the melon look :D. Bake for 12 minutes or until the edges turn golden.