Free Web NovelChapter 621: Chapter 614: It Really Isn’t Easy
Fu Yu’s skill of estimating weight by feel made Pang Bowen overjoyed.
Even though Pang Bowen never studied baking or made desserts himself,
after running the shop for over ten years, he’s clearly familiar with basic operations just from watching the bakers work daily.
Someone like Fu Yu, who can easily control the size of the dough and the amount of filling just by feel, is beyond a typical beginner baker.
Even on the pastry side, without kneading dough and making pastries for years, it’s impossible to have such skilled techniques.
Zou Anna and Xue Yuli quickly finished decorating the birthday cake, packed it up, and came over with great interest to watch Fu Yu make the steamed pastries.
Xue Yuli, curious, asked quickly as she watched Fu Yu swiftly finish rolling out the date paste balls and dough pieces, "Chef Fu, don’t you need to weigh the filling and dough?"
Fu Yu skillfully continued his work, smiling, "You can weigh them if you’d like."
Pang Bowen jokingly said, "Xiaoxue, bring the scale so we can see how accurate Chef Fu’s estimates are."
Xue Yuli hurriedly fetched the electronic scale.
Fu Yu smiled and casually placed a dough piece on the scale.
The weight quickly displayed: 10 grams.
Fu Yu removed the piece and casually placed another one.
The weight showed again: 10 grams.
Then Fu Yu rolled a date paste ball.
The electronic scale showed: 8 grams.
After several tries, the accuracy was remarkable.
The group of onlookers was amazed, completely convinced.
Absolutely incredible!
His technique was simply miraculous!
In their dessert shop, only two pastry chefs could reach this level.
But they had been in the field for over twenty years.
They are true veteran chefs, skilled because of their long experience.
How old is Fu Yu?
And he’s still a chef specializing in savory dishes; baking is a cross-disciplinary skill for him.
Instantly, not just Pang Bowen, but even Xue Yuli and Zou Anna were looking at Fu Yu with admiration in their eyes!
No wonder, during a sudden crisis in the shop, the boss specially brought Fu Yu back from Qianlima.
It turns out Fu Yu is indeed impressive!
Fu Yu finished rolling the date paste balls and covered the prepared dough pieces with plastic wrap.
Otherwise, they would dry out and crack.
Fu Yu took a prepared dough piece and began shaping it.
Just like making dumplings, only without a rolling pin, he shaped the dough into a skin with his hands, forming a bowl shape using the space between his thumb and forefinger.
The process is simple and common, with no difficulty.
This is a thin-skinned, large-filled pastry.
So the dough is pressed thin, the date paste ball is stuffed in, wrapped well, and rolled into an oval shape.
Once wrapped, the overall color appears pale, but after steaming, it turns deep.
Pang Bowen, interested, casually asked, "Chef Fu, does the color of this pastry only match real dates after they’re steamed?"
Fu Yu skillfully pressed the dough skin while wrapping the date paste balls, saying, "Yes, the color ratio comes from numerous experiments. I just watched a video earlier where a famous chef mentioned it in the comments, so I decided to try it out, and it’s surprisingly effective."
Fu Yu’s words were half true; the color ratio was achieved not with guidance but through his own repeated trials until he was satisfied with the color.
Thinking back on his classroom practice experiences was indeed challenging!
While speaking, Fu Yu handed the finished dough to Pang Bowen: "See, the color after proofing is much deeper than before."
Pang Bowen nodded.
Earlier, he hadn’t really noticed these details, only watching Fu Yu knead and shape the dough.
Fu Yu shaped all the dough into date forms and would later finalize the shapes.
The kneaded dough was set aside for careful finishing.
The dough was pinched into a date shape, larger on one side.
The smaller side was slightly pressed with the pinky finger, and then the thicker side was shaped with a toothpick to connect with the stalk area.
After the thick part, the other side was done, and a bit of black sesame was used as an eye for decoration to enhance realism.
Besides color adjustment, the most challenging part of this pastry was shaping.
However, to Fu Yu, these were no longer difficult tasks.
After finishing the shapes, the proofing could begin.
At this point, the dates didn’t quite look like real ones, resembling them in shape but not spirit.
Fu Yu replicated dates from Hotan in Xinjiang.
In the classroom, he had also replicated Shaanxi dates.
But since the shop had authentic Hotan dates in stock, Fu Yu adapted to the local style.
This time, Fu Yu directly placed the pastries into the steamer for proofing.
Pang Bowen watched as one pastry after another was neatly arranged on the steamer cloth and asked, "Is it ready to be steamed?"
Fu Yu shook his head: "No, they need more proofing time. Let them proof while I make more date stalks."
Date stalks?
Pang Bowen was puzzled: "Are the date stalks made from flour too?"
He hadn’t expected the date pastries to be so elaborately detailed.
Fu Yu nodded: "Yes, a bit of cocoa powder makes the color close enough."
Adding cocoa powder made the dough noticeably firmer.
Fu Yu dampened the dough, kneading it into a softer, pliable form.
He rolled the dough into thin strips, the thinner the better.
After all, date stalks are very thin.
This seemed simple but actually required a lot of patience.
Because the dough was leavened, it puffed up and was coarse, needing to be kneaded carefully with fingertips.
To ensure he had enough, Fu Yu rolled three palm-length thin strips.
While proofing, Fu Yu steamed the date stalks first.
Because they were so thin, they cooked quickly, steaming for only two minutes after the water boiled.
The steamed strips were dark in color, resting on the steamer cloth until cool to handle.
Using the same hot water, he proceeded to steam the proofed pastries.
The date paste filling was cooked; only the dough skin needed steaming. Fu Yu precisely timed the steaming to perfection and let the pastries cool.
As Fu Yu lifted the pot lid, Pang Bowen and the others quickly gathered around to watch.
Seeing the steamed pastries, Pang Bowen couldn’t help but exclaim, "Wow! This is great! They’re really beautiful!"
The color of the pastries, just as Fu Yu mentioned earlier, turned deep and resembled real dates.
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