All About Japan

Make Castella, Melon Pan & Anpan at Home!

Video Bread

Castella cakes, melon pan and anpan are three of the oldest baked goods in Japan! They're still big hits with kids and adults alike. So wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to make them at home? Below, Just One Cookbook's Namiko Chen shows us how!

3. Castella

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2vaM_aRHv4

Castella cakes, or kasutera (カステラ), are a kind of honey spongecake introduced to Nagasaki by Portuguese traders in the 16th century. The name is thought to derive from the Portuguese Pão de Castela, meaning “bread from Castile.” You just need four ingredients to make castella: bread flour, eggs, sugar and honey. However, there are a few tricks to making sure they come out nice and fluffy! Watch the video above, then check out the details below!

2. Melon Pan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFUWTH-CXk8

Melon pan (melon bread) is sweet bread covered in a thin layer of crisp cookie crust, with a grid-line pattern on top. It doesn't actually have any melon flavor: the name either comes from the pattern, which looks like cantaloupe skin, or is a devolution of the name meringue pan—but nobody's sure which! Namiko actually offers two versions of this classic recipe: the hand-kneaded version above, and another version using a stand mixer, which you can find below.

1. Anpan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ofob7LKg19k

Anpan (あんパン), or sweet red bean bun, is one of the easiest kinds of Japanese bread to make at home. Consisting of read bean paste, or anko, wrapped in a soft bun, it was the first bread-based product to gain popularity in Japan. To make it for yourself, check out the video above, and read the details below!