Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Chapter 253: New recipe of dough steamed into beautiful flowers

Shen Yu paused, then continued, "When it's delivered, tell them that since Mr. Yang insisted on paying for the meal, it would be disrespectful to refuse it, so we have to accept it."

"But we can't be profit-seeking merchants. We should respect our teachers. If you want to eat meat skewers, we should just charge you at cost price. How can we make money from you?"

"Mr. Yang paid too much yesterday, so I specially sent some more meat skewers today."

Shen Yu smiled and added: "Since Mr. Yang loves to eat skewers, I think he won't refuse such delicious food."

Before Li could figure out what was going on, Jiang praised her, "Young lady, this is a good idea. It will not only make Mr. Yang feel at ease and satisfied with his meal, but we will also not feel uneasy because we have received the money."

Li thought about it carefully, and after listening to Jiang's explanation, she finally came to her senses and thought this method was feasible, so she said, "Then let's hire a car tomorrow and let Yucheng and Dundun go."

She also instructed Yu Cheng, "Tell Mr. Yang when the time comes. If you want to eat our meat skewers, just send a message. The next day when you two go to school, bring some to Mr. Yang. I'll pay you at cost price."

After they had come up with a solution, Li and the others went back to their respective tasks, while Yucheng and Dundun went back to their rooms to read and write with peace of mind.

Shen Yuze went to the kitchen and took out the dough that he had kneaded in the morning and put aside to ferment for use in experiments.

In order to make the dough delicate and smooth, Shen Yu deliberately added less old dough when kneading the dough, allowing the dough to ferment slowly. When he opened it and took a look, he found that the dough had already risen a little.

Shen Yu followed the same method and mixed a small piece of dough with egg white. After kneading it until smooth, he kneaded it together with the original dough and put it back into the bowl.

He covered the wash basin with a basin and placed it next to the stove in the kitchen. Then he lit a candle, closed the door and returned to the room.

When Shen Yu woke up early the next morning, he opened the window and looked out. The rain had stopped, but the sky was still gloomy, as if it would rain again at any time.

After getting dressed and washing up, Shen Yu went to the kitchen.

Because of the bad weather, we steamed fewer buns and cakes this morning. Now the first basket of buns is almost done.

Seeing that she didn't need to help, Shen Yu washed her hands, tied on an apron, and went to pick up the dough that she had kneaded yesterday.

I took the bowl away and took a look. It was indeed white and delicate. Under the candlelight, the dough had a sheen like porcelain glaze.

Li was surprised and asked, "Why is this flour so fine and white, like a freshly peeled egg? Is it different from the flour we use to make dumplings?"

When she said that, Shen Yu also felt that it was a bit like boiled eggs, but not as white as egg whites, but slightly off-white.

Shen Yu took the dough out of the bowl, put it on the dough board and kneaded it, explaining to Li: "The flour was sifted again, and egg white was added to the dough."

"I didn't expect the dough to be so good after proofing. This kind of dough is elastic and shiny, and it should be suitable for making delicate flowers on flower cakes."

Although Li had heard Shen Yu talk about her making flower cakes, she had never seen it in person, so she said, "It has been raining these past two days, so there are not many customers. Just focus on making the flower cakes."

"If we do well and win the favor of the county lord, our shop will become more famous."

Shen Yu also had this idea. Although she did not intend to accept Lu Lang's money, if she could use this to create some fame, it would indeed be of great benefit to the store's business.

After Li finished speaking, she stopped disturbing Shen Yu and went to take care of the business in the store.

He also specifically told everyone not to go to the kitchen unless necessary, so that Shen Yu could concentrate on making the flower cake.

After Shen Yu kneaded the dough, he let it relax for a while, then took the rolling pin and began to press it patiently.

She did not use very much force to press it to the desired thickness all at once, but gradually made it thinner. Her purpose was to better compact the holes in the dough caused by fermentation, making the dough denser and more elastic.

When it was pressed to the right thickness, Shen Yu pinched a small piece from the edge. It felt really good, thin and soft, but with a firm feel, like a piece of gummy candy.

Shen Yu searched the kitchen for a knife, chopsticks and other things, and even went to find Zheng Sanniang to ask her for two new sewing needles to sew shoe soles.

Shen Yu sat alone in front of the dough table, thinking and working at the same time. After about half an hour, he finally made all the flowers he wanted.

She put down the tools in her hands and turned around to see Jiang and Yutao standing quietly behind her, staring at the flowers taking shape on the dough board.

Seeing Shen Yu stop, Yutao exhaled carefully.

She walked to the dough table, not daring to touch it with her hands. She just bent over to take a closer look. Then, she took a step away from the dough table and said, "Sister, if I hadn't seen you making it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed that these flowers were made of dough."

Shen Yu smiled and nodded, rubbed his sore neck with his hand from having lowered his head for too long, and stood up.

Jiang said hurriedly, "You must be tired. Go have breakfast quickly. Everyone has finished eating. We came to call you because you didn't want to go."

"Let me massage your shoulders and neck. You're still so young, don't let anything get you sick.

Shen Yu then realized that because he had been bending down to pinch the flowers, his whole body felt stiff when he stood up.

Yutao and Jiang, one on each side, massaged and kneaded her for a long time before she felt better.

After hurriedly finishing his breakfast, Shen Yu immediately returned to the kitchen.

After lighting the small stove and putting the steamer on, Shen Yu carefully moved the molded flower branches one by one into the steamer and arranged them.

After closing the lid of the steamer, Shen Yu personally stood there and calculated the time.

When the time was up, they took the steamer down and let it sit for a while before opening it. Shen Yu actually became a little nervous.

At this time, Yutao was already waiting by the side, waiting for her to open the lid and take a look with an expectant look on her face.

Shen Yu took a deep breath, calmed himself, and opened the lid of the steamer.

All I could hear was Yutao exclaiming: "It's so beautiful. If it had color, it would look just like the real thing."

Shen Yu put the lid of the steamer in place and looked at the flowers in the steamer.

The steamer is really beautiful after the heat dissipates. There are not only orchids, lotus flowers, lilies, turmeric flowers, but also several common auspicious bouquets of flowers such as peonies, peach blossoms, and crabapples.

Since the trial flowers were not colored, they appeared a slightly transparent jade white color after steaming. If you don’t look closely, the flowers in the steamer look like they are carved out of jade.

Shen Yu nodded with satisfaction. When the heat had dissipated and the steamed noodles had cooled down a bit, he picked up a peach blossom from the steamer with his hand, held it in front of Yu Tao, and said with a smile, "Here, this peach blossom is for you. Try it and see if it tastes good."

Yutao held the flowers carefully in her hands, reluctant to eat them.