bullyxtreme Chapter 117: Making Cakes Without an Oven
Chapter 117: Making Cakes Without an Oven
Wei Ling gave Su Jixiang an approving expression, and then said slowly, "They are not that fast. Even if there is a special communication channel between spies, it will take at least ten days to get here from the capital."
Su Jixiang nodded in understanding.
"So you are so smart that you should have guessed who wants to test whether you have internal injuries?" Su Jixiang asked.
"I can probably guess a little bit." Wei Ling nodded, "It's just that it's not good to wrongly accuse a good person."
"He's willing to test you just for profit, so he can't be considered a good person." Su Jixiang said with a sneer.
"That's why we must not wrongly accuse them." Wei Ling smiled slightly, "Well, you don't need to worry about these things. What exactly is that cake you mentioned? Does it require anything special to make it?"
Su Jixiang... No, there's a bruised guy tied up here, and we're starting to discuss food now?
Wei Ling's thoughts are indeed a bit jumpy.
"We need to build a brick kiln to bake things so that we can do better. But I know a simple version that can be made by steaming it in a pot." Su Jixiang said after thinking for a while.
"Then I wonder if your husband has this honor?" Wei Ling asked.
"I see. I'll give it a try." Su Jixiang nodded. "Then he..."
"Tie him up first." Wei Ling said with a smile, "He is full of anger, let him be tied up first to cool down his anger."
Right!
Su Jixiang shrugged and went to the kitchen.
Cakes require low-gluten flour, but Daxie Chao only has ordinary flour. However, this is not difficult for Su Jixiang. She asked Guihua to help boil water, and she went to get a large steamer, then padded the steamer with white cloth, took four tablespoons of flour and spread them flat in the steamer, and then wrapped the flour with a clean white cloth, in order to prevent the steamed water from getting the flour wet.
Su Jixiang put the flour directly on the fire to steam it, and then steam it on low heat for fifteen minutes after the water boils. This will basically destroy the protein in the flour. Then he took down the steamer, broke up the slightly beaten flour inside, and put it in a ventilated place to cool it down, and he would get low-gluten flour for making cakes.
Su Jixiang took out some corn starch that he had made when he was free. This was also easy to make. Just soak the corn until it was soft, then use a stone mill to grind the soaked corn seeds into slurry, filter the corn slurry with gauze, and place the clean corn slurry in a bucket to let it stand overnight. After taking out the wet slurry that had settled on the bottom layer and air-drying it, you can get the purest corn starch.
She took out a few eggs and separated the egg yolks and egg whites for later use.
Su Jixiang took out another large bowl and poured sugar into it. To be honest, sugar was quite expensive in Daxie. If Wei Ling hadn't given enough for the household, almost no one would use sugar like this. Ordinary people could only eat a few sweets throughout the year, so the candied haws sold outside were so popular. However, after Su Jixiang came to Mangcheng, he seemed to have not seen a store selling candied haws in the streets for several times.
Su Jixiang thought that when he had some free time, he could do something to trick Wei Ling, since he liked sweets...
But on second thought, why would I want to trick him... unless I have some ulterior motive...
Add the separated egg yolks to the sugar and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved in the egg yolks. Su Jixiang then adds a little corn starch and stirs again until it is completely dissolved and there is no graininess. Then she asks Guihua to get a bottle of milk.
There weren't many people drinking milk in Daxie Dynasty, but there were some who sold it. Fresh milk was also sold in Mangcheng, but ordinary people couldn't afford it because it was not easy to preserve. Wei Ling was injured these days, so Su Jixiang found a cattle-raising family to send him a few bottles of milk every day in order to replenish his body. Fortunately, it was winter now, so the milk that couldn't be drunk could be preserved for a few days.
Su Jixiang thought that since there was too much milk at home, she could make some dairy products like double-skin milk. Or she could simply make some milk buns and milk slices, which were easier to preserve. She could also try making some yogurt herself.
She poured the milk into the sugar paste and started heating it in a small pot. As the temperature rose, the mixture of sugar and milk began to become viscous. However, you have to be careful when heating it. You need to stir it while heating, and the fire should not be too strong, otherwise it will easily burn the bottom of the pot and leave a burnt smell, which will not taste good!
When the whole custard paste is heated to a slightly transparent state and thick enough to stand, take it out, put it in a clean bowl, and place it outside to cool. This is the custard filling.
It's freezing outside, like a refrigerator...
After Su Jixiang finished this, he took a few more eggs, took out the egg yolks, added an appropriate amount of the low-gluten flour that he had just made, and began to stir evenly. After all of these were mixed well, he added the milk again and continued to stir. When the entire egg liquid was stirred until the flour had no granular feeling at all and a figure eight was drawn on the surface of the egg liquid with chopsticks for dozens of seconds without disappearing, it was half done. Then add some corn oil and stir evenly.
After Su Jixiang finished all these, he began the most physically demanding task of beating the egg whites. In this era, there was no electricity and it was impossible to use an egg beater, so he could only beat the egg whites by hand. Fortunately, Su Jixiang was strong and had strong hands, otherwise he would have had a hard time eating the cake.
Su Jixiang divides the white sugar into three parts, first adds the first part of white sugar to the egg white, and beats until the egg white turns white with fine bubbles. Then add the second part of white sugar and continue to beat vigorously. After obvious lines appear in the egg liquid, add the third part of white sugar and continue to beat. Finally, arrange the bubbles so that the egg whites can appear in a large curved hook state. This is the best state for making cakes.
Then add the batter that has just been mixed in batches and stir evenly. However, when stirring, you must turn it over and mix it. Do not stir in one direction to avoid defoaming.
Su Jixiang took out a pot and brushed a thin layer of corn oil on the bottom of the pot. Then he spread the batter that had just been mixed evenly in the pot, a thin layer would be enough. After all, there was no oven, and if he relied entirely on baking, the outside would easily burn after a long time, and the inside would not be easy to cook.
After baking slowly over low heat for a while, Su Jixiang used a chopstick to lift the cake slightly along the edge of the pan to see if the bottom was formed. After it was formed, he took the semi-finished product out of the pan and repeated to make a new one. After the new cake base was formed, he took the previously made custard filling and spread it evenly on the surface of the cake base. Then he turned the half cake base over and pressed it on the filling, with the formed bottom facing up. After the two cake bases were put together with the custard filling in the middle, he covered them with a lid and baked them for a few minutes.