You know it’s time to makeMelonpan 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 givingCake 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 onlysometimes) 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 fromThe 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.
