How to eat pineapple buns on the immigration ship

Chapter 277 The Successful Round Bread
The day after the first episode of "A Bite of China" aired, in the courtyard of the Kagawa Mansion.

The gluttons of Class 8, Grade 11 acted even faster than Kagawa had imagined, arriving at his door the very next morning.

The ostensible purpose was to exchange viewing experiences of the documentary livestream with members of the "A Bite of China" club, but the real purpose, as those in the know understand, was simply to ask Kagawa when they could be among the first to taste the delicacies featured in "A Bite of China."

"We can eat it when castrated pigs are mass-produced. Even our Third Fleet can't get any, so don't expect to buy it anywhere else." Kagawa said, grabbing the squad leader, Lu Daiqing, by the neck and dragging him into the courtyard. "Since you're here, why don't you lend a hand? I see you're all so free that you come to me begging for food, which means you have time to help me organize some data."

Without saying a word, she handed all the documents she had prepared overnight about various bamboo shoots, freshwater fish farmed in inland lakes, and various edible fungi (including those that can be eaten after cooking) to the students of Class 8, Grade 11.

"Hurry up and get it done. Steward Yaxim and the others are waiting for it. If we finish it sooner, we might be able to eat the things you saw on 'A Bite of China' sooner."

That last sentence instantly silenced the gluttons in Class 8 of Grade 1, who were about to start complaining.

The group exchanged a helpless glance: Oh well, since we're already here, let's just consider it an early contribution to our own fleet.

So, as soon as summer vacation began, Class 8 of Grade 1 at the Agricultural University Affiliated High School started a familiar, assembly-line style of written assignments that seemed to be repeated throughout the school.

Kagawa: Those who are capable should do more. Keep it up, young man.
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Kagawa and the others were naturally not idle either.

The production and logistics efficiency of the future world has always been astonishing, so when the students from Class 8 of Grade 1 came over for breakfast, the new fuel that Aino had ordered yesterday was also delivered.

After Aino changed the fuel, Kagawa was also eager to start preparing for today's test bread baking.

Just in case, Kagawa prepared ingredients for two types of bread.

As an experiment to try baking, she prioritized the simpler round bread.

After the four pre-fermented dough balls are simply folded and rolled into rounds, they are placed on a baking tray with the seam side down for the final proofing.

Since the air conditioner was on in the yard, the fermentation was carried out in a small fermentation box that could be specially temperature-controlled. After all, the room temperature, which felt only 24 or 25 degrees Celsius, was enough to make the yeast take a nap.

Half an hour later, the fermented dough had expanded to one and a half times its original size. Following the recipe, Kagawa sprinkled dry flour on the surface of the dough, made a simple cross, and then sent it into the converter.

"Two hundred and thirty degrees Celsius, for half an hour."

Following Kagawa's instructions, Ainuo skillfully operated the temperature control panel of the brick kiln.

But he didn't stop talking:
"If this still doesn't work, then we really need to consider changing our research topic. I thought that ham from last night was pretty good, so how about..."

"I've already said, how can you make ham in less than a year and a half? Summer vacation is only two months, what can you cure? Salted pork?" Kagawa couldn't help but roll her eyes at him. "And if all else fails, we can try steaming bread, although it doesn't really look much different from cake..."

"Isn't steamed bread just steamed buns?"

Ouyang Yating muttered to herself.

"...At least people in ancient times called that steamed bread."

Kagawa scratched her head. Although she had dabbled in baking in her previous life, she had only made some classic beginner-level breads and cakes. Steaming bread was truly a blind spot in her knowledge.
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Kagawa was bored waiting here, but the three members of the Tongue Club and the students of Class 8, Grade 11 had plenty to talk about.

They received all sorts of written materials, which included a simple list of classic dishes, making them incredibly hungry.

"This stir-fried bamboo shoots with pork looks really good. Is it made with pork or beef? I really want to try it."

Qingke swallowed hard.

"Why are these mushrooms so hard to cook and even poisonous? Were people in ancient times really that short of food? They don't seem like it... So how delicious must they be?"

Fu Chengkai and Long Xiaoxian stared at the bright green mushrooms in the picture, using their limited imaginations to guess what these poisonous mushrooms would taste like. "This fish belly...? This fish meat...? I don't remember the fish we caught in the nature reserve being this...fat? What would it taste like?"

Mandy stared wide-eyed at the braised fish with fried tofu on the screen.

……

Just then, the distinctive aroma of baking bread wafted from the brick oven.

Even though everyone had smelled the aroma many times when they watched Kagawa's failed attempts at school, seeing the delicious food they couldn't eat and smelling the bread aroma they had never tasted before was enough to completely whet their appetites.

Before long, the courtyard was filled with the rumbling of stomachs.

Even Kagawa, who had been staring at the brick kiln, couldn't help but turn around to see what was going on.

These people just had a free breakfast at her house, enough for two people each, right? How come they're hungry already?

Ouyang Yating and her two classmates, who were standing behind their classmates looking at the pictures and text, also quietly touched their stomachs.

I must say, with the right color and aroma, it looks quite tempting...

The three of them even started to think: if their president still couldn't bake bread this time, then as members of the Taste of China club, they should try their best to use a brick oven to bake a meal of meat, and let everyone taste the flavor of baked bread slices!
This spirit of sharing is quite touching, it's a pity they didn't have that opportunity this time.

Half an hour later, Liang Gong nervously took out the baking tray.

The four members of the Tongue Tips Club, standing in front of the brick oven, couldn't help but hold their breath as they looked at the steaming baking pan.
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After the heat dissipated, the four round loaves of bread on the baking tray were officially presented to Kagawa and the others.

Originally snow-white, their exteriors have turned golden brown after baking, with a texture similar to caramel. Kagawa put on oven mitts and picked one up.

The freshly baked round bread has a thin and crispy crust, and the cross-shaped cuts on the surface have a stone-like beauty after baking.

Great, it looks fine on the outside, but what about inside?

Kagawa swallowed hard and then used both hands to gently break the bread apart.

Round bread and baguettes are made in similar ways, which means that both will become very hard if they cool down, but you don't have to worry about this when they are freshly baked.

At this moment, the round bread has a magical texture of being crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. When it is broken open, the snow-white interior is revealed. The hot air from the oven, along with the rich aroma of wheat, rushes directly to Kagawa's face, making her take a big, deep breath of the bread's fragrance.

For a moment, she even had the illusion that she could smell milk, even though there wasn't a single drop of milk in the ingredients for this round bread.

With such delicious food in front of you, how can you not try it?

Without hesitation, Kagawa used her ruthless iron mouth to bite into the half of the bread in her right hand.

"...How did it go? Did it work?"

The three members watched her nervously.

"...It would be nice if there was jam or chocolate sauce."

After finishing half a loaf of bread, Kagawa said this.

It means: It's done.