Chapter 1512 - 585: Dried Fruit–Filled Daliye, Soft Bald Bun—Master Them All at Once!

Chapter 1512: Chapter 585: Dried Fruit–Filled Daliye, Soft Bald Bun—Master Them All at Once!

"Let’s start working on the dough!"

Lin Xu ate a caterpillar bread, then two soft, delicious filled doughnuts. He’d originally wanted to try a croissant too, but he really couldn’t eat another bite, so he had to give up and start learning how to make the common dried-fruit bread, the Leip?.

This is the most popular Leip? in the country: very filling, full of wheat aroma, with a faint milky fragrance and the taste of honey, plus all kinds of nuts and candied fruits wrapped in the middle—lots of people love it.

Especially office workers—buy a Leip?, keep it in the office, and when there’s no time for breakfast you can tear off a piece, have it with a cup of hot tea, and that’s enough to hold you over till lunch.

Way better than eating takeout.

And eating takeout in the office sometimes gets you frowned on by colleagues or the boss.

But eating Leip? doesn’t have that problem at all.

"The Leip? we eat at home now is purely a nut bread. The hardness has dropped a lot. In Russia, their Leip? can be used to smash walnuts or pound nails. Ours is basically just a regular bread with a chewy bite."

Yuan Debiao brought over more than half a basin of high-gluten flour and started getting ready to make the Leip?.

Leip? needs to be made with high-gluten flour, whole wheat flour, or rye flour—that’s how you get a good texture and strong wheat aroma.

If you use Medium Flour or low gluten flour, you won’t get that chewy Leip? mouthfeel; comparatively, it’ll feel lacking.

Once the flour was ready, Yuan Debiao put some Milk Powder into the basin, to boost the milky aroma.

Then he added Yeast Powder and White Sugar—these are the key to making the bread soft and tasty.

Next he poured in milk, Honey, Egg, cooking oil, and a pinch of salt. After mixing them into flaky dough, he kneaded it into a slightly on-the-dry-side Dough.

At this point Lin Xu noticed they hadn’t added any water during the whole Dough process.

They were relying entirely on milk, Honey, Egg, and cooking oil as the liquid.

Luckily his mother?in?law had foresight and didn’t let his father?in?law use this Leip? for dieting. With calories this high, he’d probably get fatter the more he "dieted."

While working the Dough, Yuan Debiao said:

"When you’re making Leip? you have to knead the Dough nice and firm; that’s the only way to get that chewy texture. The best nut Leip? should eat like cooled handmade Mantou—chewy, dense, good to gnaw on, with a rich flour aroma."

He was tall and stout, and his kneading efficiency was high.

Just a few strokes and the Dough came together.

Once that was done, Yuan Debiao brought over a few pieces of slightly softened Butter, put them onto the Dough, and kept kneading.

"Adding a bit of Butter gives the bread more flavor, but you have to let this Butter sit at room temperature for two hours to soften, otherwise you won’t be able to knead it into the Dough."

Lin Xu made a mental note of it; he hadn’t expected there to be so many little rules just for making a Leip?.

The kneaded Dough was put into the basin and covered with a damp cloth for proofing.

Taking advantage of this gap, Yuan Debiao brought over the ingredients needed for the Leip?: walnut, hazelnuts, Sunflower Seeds, and some Raisins.

"You can soak the Raisins in liquor—tastes better that way and fits more with Russian eating habits—but for home baking we can skip it; no need to add."

Lin Xu also felt it wasn’t necessary.

But thinking of the original big Leip? recipe, he asked curiously:

"Do Russians make Leip? with alcohol for fermentation?"

"They use hops—boil them, then combine with natural Yeast for a slow fermentation. If you think that’s troublesome, you can just directly use beer instead; that works too."

The original Leip? not only needed beer or hops during making; even leftovers that couldn’t be finished could be fermented again into the beer?flavored drink that Shen Jiayue and Geng Lele both love—Kvass.

Alcohol is something Russians can’t live without: they drink it, bake bread with it, and turn it into a variety of foods.

Seeing Lin Xu fairly interested, Yuan Debiao said:

"Actually hops mainly serve as a preservative and add a touch of bitterness. Using hop?boiled water when making bread extends the shelf life... back then Russians added hops for preservation, but ordinary folks seem to have misunderstood the point."

They tasted that sourish, bitter flavor in the bread that was similar to beer, so they naturally assumed beer had been added.

Thankfully that misunderstanding wasn’t too deep, so it didn’t cause a disaster—instead it became part of the distinctive flavor of Russian Leip?.

Lin Xu figured he could try it at home sometime, use bits of spare time to make the original version of Leip?, and see how his parents?in?law responded. Then he could tweak it bit by bit according to their feedback.

Like adding Honey or candied fruits and such—it might not qualify as a top?tier delicacy, but there’s no need to make it so unpalatable that his father?in?law suffers in agony.

Dieting has to be a gradual process.

It didn’t take long for the Dough to finish proofing.

Yuan Debiao put the Dough on the worktable, gave it a quick tidy, and directly divided it into small portions.

You can’t knead it now, or the gluten will develop too much and it’ll be hard to roll the dried fruits in.

"Old Yuan, is the Leip? done?"

Just then, Dining Department director Liao Jinming walked into the kitchen with his hands behind his back.

"We’re only halfway; I’m just about to roll in the nuts. Director Liao, do you need Leip? or something else?"

Liao Jinming smiled, grabbed a doughnut from the rack beside him, took a bite, and then said:

"At noon, Qiu Zhenhua is doing Qiankun Roasted Pig at Building No. 6. I heard Chef Lin is here, so I came by to invite him. Old Yuan, if you’re not too busy, you should come taste it too. Building No. 6 doesn’t do that dish lightly—everyone should give it a try."

Yuan Debiao and Lin Xu exchanged a look, then said: