Bolo Bao vs. Conchas vs. Melonpan

When I was 13, my family and I moved from Toronto to Hong Kong. When we landed in the sticky heat of July, I remember thinking I shrank into one of those glassed-in tropical frog habitats you find at the aquarium.

Being half Cantonese and visiting Hong Kong once every couple of years when I was younger, I was well-versed in the everso popular bolo bao (or pineapple bun).

They were my go-to picks at Cantonese bakeries. I usually enjoyed them best as a cheeky breakfast.

Fast track 10 years later and I find myself back in Toronto again. This time — in a fairly new relationship with a half-Mexican guy.

One of our favourite pastimes was sharing different aspects of our culture — typically food. From my side, I showed him oxtail stew, doubles, and dimsum. On his side, he showed me pozole, chilaquiles, y Pulparindos.

On a random workday, he texted that he had a surprise from me. We worked a couple of blocks away from each other, so it was always fun to meet each other in The Path for a midday rendezvous.

This day, he greeted me with a kiss on the cheek and a mini plastic bag filled with what looked like a bread roll inside.

“Thanks!” I replied. I could tell by the plastic bag that it would be good. You only find these mini plastic bags at legit bakeries. I eagerly peered into the bag.

“It’s called a ‘concha’. My mom brought it back from Mexico City yesterday.”

I whipped out my phone to investigate. “This looks kind of like a pineapple bun. What is this top part made of — do you know?” I interrogated him while already tapping away on the screen.

Bolo Bao (菠蘿包): Pineapple-Shaped Sweet Bread

Pineapple Buns (Photo by Henry & Co. on Unsplash)

Bolo Bao Ingredients

For the bread dough:

• 2/3 cup — heavy cream at room temperature
• 1 cup + 1 tbsp. — milk at room temperature
• 1 large egg at room temperature
• 1/3 cup — sugar
• 1/2 cup — cake flour

For the topping:

• 1/4 cup — nonfat dry milk powder
• 1 1/4 cup — all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. — baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. — baking powder
• 2/3 cup — superfine sugar
• 1/4 cup — vegetable shortening
• 2 tbsp. — milk
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/8 tsp. — vanilla extract

Conchas: Shell-Shaped Sweet Bread

Mexican Conchas (Photo by Johnny Miller on New York Times)

Conchas Ingredients

For the bread dough:

• 2 & 1/4 tsp. — active dry yeast (1 package)
• 1/2 cup or 120 mL — warm water
• 1/2 cup or 120 mL — warm milk
• 1 tsp. + 1/2 cup or 100g — granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup or 110g — unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 tsp. — kosher salt
• 2 eggs at room temperature
• 4 cups of 500g — all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. — vegetable oil

For the topping:

• 1/3 cup or 40g — confectioners’ sugar
• 1/4 cup or 30g — all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup or 30g — almond flour
• 1/4 cup or 55g — cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
• 1/2 tsp. — ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. — vanilla extract
• 1 pinch — kosher salt

Melonpan (メロンパン): Melon-Shaped Sweet Bread

Melonpan (Photo by Ellie on EllieLikesCooking)

Melonpan Ingredients

For the bread dough:

• 1 3/4 cup or 225g — bread flour
• 1/4 cup or 25g — cake flour
• 1 tsp or 3g — kosher or sea salt
• 3 tbsp or 40g — sugar
• 1 1/4 tsp or 4g— instant dry yeast
• 1 large egg
• 3 1/2 tbsp. or 50mL — whole milk
• 3 1/2 tbsp. or 35g — water
• 2 1/2 tbsp. or 35g — unsalted butter

For the topping:

• 4 tbsp. or 60g — unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup or 100g — sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 cup and 2 tbsp. or 200g — cake flour
• 1/2 tsp. or 2g — baking powder

Differences

Bread Dough Preparation

• Bolo Bao: Cake flour — heavy cream — milk — egg — sugar
• Melonpan: Cake flour — bread flour — whole milk — instant dry yeast — unsalted butter — egg — sugar
• Conchas: All-purpose flour — milk — instant dry yeast — vegetable oil — unsalted butter — egg — sugar

Topping Preparation

• Bolo Bao: Dry milk powder — baking soda — baking powder — egg yolk — milk — vegetable shortening — sugar — vanilla
• Melonpan: Cake flour — baking powder — sugar — egg — unsalted butter
• Conchas: All-purpose flour — almond flour — sugar — unsalted butter — vanilla — cinnamon — salt

Where Did It Originate?

So did this sweet-topped bread come from Mexico or Asia? Although nobody knows for sure, the answer may actually lie in the Iberian peninsula diaspora during the early 1500s when the Spanish sailed west to invade the Americas and the Portuguese sailed east to invade Japan. The sweet bread may have been used to convince their respective colonies to embrace wheat bread, where there was a preference for rice (Japan) and corn (Mexico).

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