Melonpan or melon bread is a sweet delicacy of Japan. It is also consumed in China and Taiwan. This bread recipe may be a bit different from the traditional Japanese version. Also known as melon bun, it resembles a melon fruit in appearance, hence the name. For those who crave for sweet goodies, there is no need to explain what melon bread or melon buns is to them. The extra soft bread dough is coated with a thin layer of crunchy cookie dough. You can make homemade melon pan (as it is also spelled) with simple baking tips. Here are some recipes to tell you how to make melon bread at home: Japanese Melon Bread Ingredients for Bread Dough

• 4½ cups flour
• ⅛ cup skimmed milk
• 4 tablespoons butter (melted)
• 2¾ tablespoons sugar
• 1¾ tablespoon yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Warm water

Ingredients for Cookie Dough

• 2⅓ cups cake flour
• ⅜ cup sugar
• 6⅓ tablespoons butter
• 1 egg
• ⅔ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions for Preparation In a large saucepan, combine the bread ingredients - flour, sugar, yeast, butter, skimmed milk and salt. Add warm water slowly, while kneading the dough, to make a consistently thick bread base. Allow it to rise for about an hour. Again, knead lightly and make small buns (about 50 g each piece) out of the dough. Give shape to the buns and leave it for another 40 minutes, or until they rise to double the original size. The next step is to make the cookie dough. In a saucepan, beat butter and sugar, until the mixture turns whitish in color. To this, stir in eggs and vanilla extract. Whisk again for proper mixing of the concoction. Sift the dry ingredients, flour and baking powder and add to the liquid mixture. Mix well to form a thick and smooth cookie dough. Divide the dough into equal portions, with respect to the number of bread pieces. Roll each of the dough portions into a circle. Wrap the bread dough with it and sprinkle caster sugar on top. Cut shallow lines in the cookie dough and bake at 330° F for 14 minutes. Cool down and serve. Melon Bread with Cantaloupe Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup rice flour
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups pureed cantaloupe
• ¼ cup mashed banana
• 1½ cups of sugar
• ½ cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1½ teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ cup canola oil
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions for Preparation In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, banana, applesauce, oil, ground ginger, vanilla and salt. Stir in cantaloupe puree and combine well the concoction. In another bowl, sift and add the dry ingredients - flour, rice flour, cinnamon, baking soda and baking powder. Fold this dry mixture into the egg concoction. Mix till you get a smooth dough and keep aside. Make cookie dough in the regular way and divide into pieces. Roll out each of the dough, about 10 cm diameter. From the bread dough, prepare buns (similar to size of pound cake) and place in the cookie dough. Collect the seams and cover the bread dough from all sides. Sprinkle granulated sugar on top of the buns and make shallow cuts using a bread scraper. Once you are ready with this, preheat oven to 325° F. Grease lightly and prepare two loaf pans. Place the melon bun coated with cookie dough into these pans and bake in the preheated oven for about 50 minutes. Allow pans to cool down and transfer melon bread onto a wire rack. Despite its name, this classic type of bread is prepared without melon, though sometimes bread makers prefer using melon puree in the recipe. Hence, to use or not to use melon puree is up to you. You can serve this extra sweet goody as party desserts or as snacks between meals.