Chapter 141:
This time, Luo Zhi’er finally had a good night’s sleep.
In her dream, she saw the woman in red, iron horses and golden spears, charging into battle and sweeping through enemies.
She also dreamed of Li Sanmao, who said: “Wife, I miss you! So much, so much.”
When she woke up in the morning, her arms were sore, probably because Miaomiao slept restlessly at night and her body had rested on her arm.
After two days, Luo Zhi’er prepared all the goods that needed to be delivered.
During that time, she and her daughter took a moment to chop the firewood they had carried back last time, chopping a pile and stacking it near the bread kiln.
They went to the nearby fields to gather some useless straw and wove a simple straw mat.
When they had free time, they went to the mountain with no owner and cut down two relatively thick pine trees, dragging them back!
Fortunately, she was strong, so it wasn’t hard!
She found paper and pen and drew a diagram.
She designed the style, measured the dimensions, and spent half a day hammering and knocking various things.
According to the ideas in her mind, she borrowed some tools from Carpenter Li’s house and picked up the axe to start working.
She made a long table, similar to the rectangular table next to the bread kiln that Russians use when baking bread.
Because it was pure natural, it had quite a pastoral style.
She knew in her heart that if it were stacked with bricks and stones, it would be more durable, but having this pastoral-style long wooden table was also nice!
Her idea was to finish it, expand the garden plot a bit, and when the bread was baked, take it out from the bread kiln and place it here.
Cut it, she and Miaomiao sitting here to eat, then drink some fruit juice, tea, or something, very comfortable.
“Mother, will grandparents say something when they come back?”
Of course they would say something, scolding her for destroying the garden plot and only knowing how to enjoy herself!
“If they say something, so be it. Anyway, as long as we’re doing well right now!”
Anyway, she couldn’t worry about so much now; Zhou Shi wouldn’t be back for who knows how long!
When times are tough, don’t always think too far into the future; just motivate yourself to live well today!
They weren’t yet qualified to occupy her current emotions.
After expanding the garden plot well, it had quite a pastoral vibe, and sitting inside made her mood brighten up!
She also used the remaining wood to make two long wooden benches!
She planned to plant some flowers here when she had time, let them twine around the fence, and use rice straw and tree trunks to make a sunshade.
For now, this would do; keep it simple!
After finishing these, the next day was the time to use her bread kiln.
She took out the corn flour and flour bought in town that day and thought for a moment.
She knew that making bread required low-gluten flour, medium-gluten flour, and high-gluten flour.
Low-gluten flour was used for cakes, soft cakes, egg tart shells, and cookies.
Medium-gluten flour was the regular flour we often eat, used for dumplings, noodles, buns, and steamed buns!
High-gluten flour was used for bread, toast, and other soft foods that easily develop flaky crusts.
So, the bread she was making today needed to use high-gluten flour.
The problem was that she only had regular flour here, which was medium-gluten flour.
So how to turn medium-gluten flour into high-gluten flour?
That was by increasing its protein content.
Actually, this protein content had to come from vital wheat gluten powder.
Therefore, the first thing she needed to do was make vital wheat gluten powder.
It sounds confusing, but it’s actually very simple; vital wheat gluten powder is just finely ground dried gluten.
Of course she knew how to wash gluten.
Why did she know about this vital wheat gluten powder? Because in the modern era, she was a foodie and had researched baking bread and egg tarts at home more than once.
OK, first take flour, add water, knead into dough, and let it rest.
This dough was used for washing gluten.
While resting the dough, she started the fire in the bread kiln, adding pine needles and chopped wooden blocks as fuel.
Miaomiao was thrilled to see the bread kiln in use, rolled up her sleeves, and kept helping her.
Mother and daughter got the fire in the bread kiln going, and the dough had rested enough; she added water to the wooden basin and started washing the flour.
She kept kneading the dough, and soon the wooden basin was filled with white flour water, and the dough in her hand had become net-like, which was the gluten; in the modern era, the grilled gluten that everyone eats is made from this!
After washing, she tore the gluten into small pieces and placed them on the iron pan.
Her family happened to have an iron pan that Li Sanmao had bought for meat chunks when hunting before; she found it, washed it, and it was perfect for baking bread.
Next time she went to town, she would definitely go to the blacksmith shop to custom-order a baking pan!
For today, this would have to do.
She put the torn gluten pieces into the bread kiln to bake, closed the door, and started baking.
Now with time, she began making corn flour bread.
She took corn flour, scalded it with boiling water to cook it, added yeast, beat in wild eggs, stirred, added regular flour, stirred into flakes, then kneaded into dough.
Placed it in a sunny spot to ferment to double its size.
While the corn flour dough was fermenting, the dried gluten pieces were baked.
She ran to the wall corner and used the soybean grinder to grind it into fine powder.
This was the vital wheat gluten powder.
She added the vital wheat gluten powder to the regular flour in a roughly estimated proportion, stirred evenly, and the high-gluten flour was ready.
She started adding, stirring, kneading into dough, and letting it ferment.
While the high-gluten flour fermented in the wooden basin, she took the red beans bought from Old Lady Zhao yesterday and made them into red bean paste last night.
She used it as the filling for the bread.
She placed the red bean paste filling on the cutting board, sprinkled some flour, and cut it into segments.
Miaomiao helped her roll them into small balls.
After preparing, the corn flour dough had also fermented well; one dough had fermented to fill the wooden basin, overflowing the edges.
She rolled up her sleeves and started kneading, degassing, kneading until smooth and fine, shaping into a long strip, cutting into evenly sized small balls with a knife, and wrapping the red bean paste inside like making buns.
Flatten them, roll flat with the rolling pin.
“Right, like this, roll up from the bottom.”
Brush with honey and egg yolk.
Next time buy some sesame and sprinkle it on for even better.
Miaomiao followed Luo Zhi’er’s method and was learning to make them too, with flour smeared all over her nose.
Adorably so!
After shaping, put into the oven and start baking.
The two busied until afternoon; the first batch of baked bread came out of the kiln, the aroma of bread filling the air.
There were long strips, arc-shaped ones with red bean paste exposed in lines, ones with red bean paste hearts wrapped inside, and toast bread.
Miaomiao couldn’t put down the red bean paste bread made with corn flour; one bite was very crispy!
Inside it was sweet and fragrant; one bite made you want another, the first time eating something like this, simply couldn’t stop.
The two put the second batch into the kiln, added some firewood, then sat down to eat bread and mixed two cups of honey water.
Afternoon meal was also settled.
She told Miaomiao, “Next time Mother will make you baked egg tarts!”
“Thank you, Mother!”
After baking all of them, it was dark; Miaomiao lay on the table waiting and fell asleep, so she covered Miaomiao with a jacket and cleaned up the dirty things on the table.
Miaomiao was still asleep; afraid she would catch cold, she carried her back to the room and put her on the bed to sleep.
She planned to deliver goods tomorrow and also go to the market to sell some of this baked bread.
After cleaning up, she saw the flour water from washing gluten in the basin on the ground and of course didn’t waste it, so she steamed it.
After Miaomiao woke up, she made hot dough skin, and the two ate it as dinner.
Paired with the chili oil she fried herself, they ate a lot.
After dinner, she packed a rectangular toast bread, two corn and red bean paste breads, and one round red bean paste bread.
She also packed some cut dough skin, prepared the sauce for cold mixed cold skin noodles, and took it to Old Lady Zhao to let her taste it too.
After saying goodbye to Old Lady Zhao, she came back without resting, led the mule to the riverside to drink water, let it graze some grass by the river, then went back, added some grass in the pen, and only then did she and Miaomiao go to bed to sleep.
