Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 284 Egg Yolk Shortbread and Toast Bread

Master Li said, "The egg whites are the same, just beat them with half the sugar. You can use a little less cream of tartar, it's okay if you forget to add it, you don't need to make it too fluffy." Guan He still added a little cream of tartar, mixed it with the sugar, put it into the egg whites, and turned on the machine.

Chef Li said, "Add the remaining sugar to the egg yolks, without oil or milk, just mix well and then add flour. Do you have custard powder? If so, add a little bit."

Guan He put the sugar into the egg yolks, added a little custard powder, and then whisked it with a whisk. After mixing well, she weighed out the flour and sifted it into the egg yolks using a small sieve.

Mix the batter like you would for chiffon cake, then pour it into a large piping bag. I made a bit too much batter; it filled six bags.

Master Li picked up one and said, "Come on, everyone, let's all try. Just pipe it directly onto the baking tray like this. Make sure the sizes are about the same, and pipe a little more batter than usual, otherwise it will be too big after baking and won't look good." He quickly piped two rows on the baking tray that had been brushed with oil, saying, "Just like this size, and keep the spacing the same, so it looks neat and tidy." He handed the piping bag in his hand to Xiao Wei.

There were many baking trays, and Xiaowei, Guanhe, and Shangjie, who had finished theirs, squeezed them together. It was quite fun.

After squeezing out half a plate of piping bag, Xiaowei handed the bag to the workers on the side, letting them try it too.

They quickly piped the filling, then placed the baking tray in the oven at 180°C (top heat) and 170°C (bottom heat). This is fast, only ten minutes. With two ovens, it was done in twenty minutes. Chef Li said, "If you have dried fruit, like raisins, you can add a little bit, just press it on top. It's delicious."

Soon, a sweet, milky aroma wafted from the oven.

Master Li found a larger basin, washed and dried it, and put it on the oven, saying, "Won't it dry faster if I put it here?" Everyone laughed, because a good oven is very well sealed and won't let the temperature transfer through; there's no temperature outside.

Chef Li then went to check on the chiffon cakes, opened the oven door, flipped the baking tray over, and closed the oven, saying, "This oven is slightly uneven in temperature. Be careful next time. Turning it like this will make the cakes bake more evenly." He inspected each cake one by one, nodded, and said, "It's okay, only this one is slightly uneven."

Xiao Wei said, "I'll find someone to adjust it."

Master Li laughed, shook his head and said, "It's no use. If the tune is off, it's off. It doesn't matter. Just pay attention and it won't have a big impact. Even if you forget about it, it won't matter. It'll just be that the parts that are heated too much will be a bit burnt."

The egg yolk pastries were baked quickly and collected in a bowl. Everyone rushed over to grab a few to eat, nodding and saying they were delicious. This little dessert, which would be commonplace in later generations, was something that very few people had ever tasted in this era.

Once all the cakes were baked, the entire workshop was filled with a wonderful aroma. Even the women who were cooking lunch couldn't resist coming over for a stroll and grabbing a handful of cookies to eat.

Chef Li took out the chiffon cake and quickly inverted it onto the stainless steel counter, saying, "This needs to be inverted like this for a while after baking, let it cool slightly before unmolding, otherwise it will collapse." He then took the baked steamed rice cake and poured it onto the counter, saying, "This honeycomb cake doesn't have this problem. As long as it's baked, it won't collapse no matter how you handle it, because it has more flour, so it rises a little less."

Once the cakes had cooled a bit, Chef Li unmolded them, revealing thick, round cake layers on the work surface. Chef Li broke off a piece from a piece of cake on a chiffon table, and another from the honeycomb pattern, handing it to Xiao Wei: "Try it and see the difference."

Xiao Wei took a few bites and tasted it. Sure enough, the chiffon cake was much more delicate, and it also felt different in his hand. The chiffon cake was very light, while the honeycomb cake was heavier.

Master Li pointed to the two pieces of cake he had broken apart and said, "Take a look here and compare them." Everyone gathered around to look. The chiffon cake had fine, dense, and uniform pores inside, while the honeycomb cake was much worse, with pores of varying sizes.

Then the two pieces of cake were quickly divided and eaten.

Master Li checked the time and said, "There's still enough time. Let me teach you how to bake another type of bread. I noticed you've only baked one kind of old-fashioned bread, which isn't very tasty; it's sour. Let me teach you how to bake a square loaf of toast."

He asked Guan He to clean the dough mixer, checked the number of loaf pans, and then instructed Guan He to operate it: "Whole wheat high-gluten flour, yes, this is the bread flour we produce, which is also sold to Guanyuan. You can buy it directly and use it. Weigh out five catties, and add two to three eggs for every half catty of flour. Crack the eggs directly into the flour."

Xiao Wei smiled at Han San, who was standing to the side, and said, "Old Li is quite suited to be a teacher, and he never forgets to play games." Han San replied, "It's just a professional habit; he makes a living that way."

Guan He cracked the eggs, and Chef Li said, "Add sugar and yeast. Just like with cakes, use flour as the standard. Add 30% to 50% sugar and 2% yeast. You must use high-temperature yeast. We also produce this; you can buy it at Guanyuan."

"Okay, now add breast milk. It's best not to use water, as breast milk tastes much better. Add 40% breast milk."

"You can start kneading the dough now. Just switch from the lowest speed to the highest for a short while. Fifteen minutes is enough; the gluten will develop faster on high speed." After fifteen minutes, Chef Li bent down and took a piece of dough out of the mixing bowl. He stretched it out with both hands and said, "See? You can stretch it very thin without breaking it. That means it's basically kneaded. Now you can add the butter. Use 15% butter. Don't melt the butter; just soften it slightly in the oven."

He weighed out the butter, put it in a small metal bowl, and placed it in the still-hot oven. Two minutes later, he took it out, tested it, nodded, and said, "It's ready. Pour it into the dough bowl and knead for another ten minutes." He then poured in the butter and started the dough mixer.

Ten minutes later, the dough was ready. Master Li poured the dough onto the cutting board, put down the dough bucket, and said, "The dough is ready. Now we need to divide it. Generally, a loaf of bread weighs between 500 and 550 grams, which is about one jin (500 grams). It needs to be divided very evenly. All the dough portions must be exactly the same." He pulled over an electronic scale, took a plastic scraper, and divided the dough into 550-gram portions.

Then he started kneading the dough on the cutting board, kneading each portion of dough carefully, saying, "You need to knead it vigorously like this to squeeze out the air bubbles so that there won't be big holes after baking. Xiao Shang, have you preheated the proofing box to 40 degrees and added water? Add the water first."

Sister Shang went over, added water to the proofing box, turned on the power, and set it to 40 degrees Celsius.

Master Li kneaded the dough and said, "Now let's shape it. Toast bread is generally made up of three parts. Divide the kneaded dough into three equal parts. I just divided it into 550 grams, so each part is between 183 grams and 184 grams. We'll adjust it to 183.3 grams. At this point, the dough must be divided very precisely, otherwise the bread will rise crookedly after baking and look very bad."

He used a plastic scraper to separate the dough, then moved it back and forth on the electronic scale a few times to make the three pieces of dough almost equal. He rolled the dough into balls, then picked up a rolling pin and said, "Round the dough into balls, roll them out into long strips like tongues, then roll them up and put them in the mold. Place the three side by side at the bottom. It's okay if there are gaps. That's it. You guys do it."

(End of this chapter)