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Japanese Honeydew Bread

Course Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine Japanese
Keyword bread
Total Time 2 hours 45 minutes
Servings 8
Author Christine Ma

Ingredients

Honeydew syrup

  • 2 cups ripe honeydew chunks (320 grams)
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar (50 grams)

Dough

  • 1 teaspoon active dry yeast (4 grams)
  • 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
  • ½ cup warm milk, between 100-110 degrees F (125 ml)
  • 1 ¾ cups bread flour (260 grams)
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (25 grams)
  • 2 tablespoons butter, softened at room temperature (28 grams)
  • 1 large egg

Honeydew custard

  • 1 ½ cups honeydew juice (about 2 ¼ cups, 360 grams, honeydew chunks)
  • 4 large eggs
  • ½ cup granulated sugar (100 grams)
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch (18 grams)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¼ cup honeydew syrup (80 grams)

Bread topping

  • 5 tablespoons softened butter (70 grams)
  • ⅓ cup granulated sugar (67 grams)
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 tablespoons honeydew syrup (40 grams)
  • 1 ½ cups cake flour (180 grams)
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 drop green food coloring, optional

Instructions

  • Make honeydew syrup. Puree 2 cups honeydew until smooth. Combine with sugar and bring to a boil over medium heat in a medium saucepot. Continue to cook until liquid is reduced by half, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and cool completely.
  • Prepare dough. Combine active dry yeast with 1 teaspoon sugar and warm milk. Let sit for 10 minutes or until yeast has been activated and mixture is foamy. Mix together yeast mixture with bread flour, salt, sugar, softened butter, and egg until dough comes together. Knead dough for 7-8 minutes or until smooth. Transfer dough to a clean bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm area for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
  • Meanwhile, make honeydew custard. Puree about 2 ¼ cups honeydew to make 1 ½ cups honeydew juice. Whisk together juice with eggs, sugar, cornstarch, vanilla, and ¼ cup honeydew syrup. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat in a medium saucepot, whisking continuously. Continue to simmer until thickened, about 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer to a clean bowl. Place plastic wrap directly on top of the custard and let cool completely.
  • Punch down dough and divide it into 8 even pieces. Shape each piece into a round ball and roll it out into a 6-inch circle. Fill the center of the dough with 3-4 tablespoons honeydew custard (add more custard if you can!) and gather up the edges to seal in the custard. Place seam side down on a lined baking sheet and continue with remaining dough. Loosely wrap the honeydew bread and let rise in a warm area for 1 hour.
  • Meanwhile, make bread topping. Cream together softened butter with sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add egg and beat until combined. Add 2 tablespoons honeydew syrup, cake flour, baking powder, and green food coloring if using. Mix well until food coloring is well distributed. Shape dough into a log and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or until firm.
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  • Remove bread topping from fridge and slice into 8 pieces. Flatten each piece until it's big enough to cover top of the bread. Lay bread topping on top of rolls and score the top, making a crisscross pattern. Bake honeydew bread for 10-12 minutes or until the bottoms of the bread are browned. Let cool completely. Serve.

Notes

You can make the honeydew syrup up to 3 days in advance and the honeydew custard up to 1 day in advance.