Chapter 20: The Baby Teaches Cooking (2)

“Ehhhhhh?”

“What is this?”

Westa and Bettina chimed together in chorus.

When I hurried over, I saw the three of them gathered around a bowl covered with a cloth, eyes wide in amazement.

“What does it look like?”

“Well, it’s all bubbly now.”

“It’s creepy—don’t you think something bad is happening—?”

At Westa and Bettina’s explanations, I peeked into the bowl.

My brother must have been surprised too, since it was his first time seeing this phenomenon, but compared to what we’d discussed beforehand, he replied calmly.

Maybe seeing the women so flustered made him even more composed.

“This is how it’s supposed to be. But, just a little more, I think. Let’s wait until it grows to over twice its original size.”

“Y-yes.”

Perhaps thinking it would be disgraceful to show panic herself, Lansel nodded earnestly.

After waiting another koku, the dough had swelled to more than twice its size.

Once again, we placed it on the board and gently stretched the dough, carefully pressing out some of the air bubbles.

After spreading it flat, we folded about a third from both the front and back, and then from each side, bringing the edges up over the center.

“Now, we let it rest again for about another koku.”

“Yes.”

After this, we’d shape it into the final form, but for now, in line with traditional bread, we left it as one large oval.

“Now we let it rest for another two koku or so, until it doubles in size again, and then we’ll bake it in the stone oven.”

“Yes.”

Lansel finally looked a bit relieved now that he had a sense of what was left to do.

After two more koku, the dough had risen to about twice its size, just as planned.

Westa poked it gently with her fingertip, her face filled with anxious curiosity.

“It feels kind of unreliable, or rather, too soft, don’t you think?”

“If we bake it in the stone oven, won’t it explode?”

“…I think it will be fine.”

My brother gave a weak response to their anxious remarks.

After all, none of us had ever done this before, so there was no reason to be confident.

Once we placed it in the preheated stone oven, a fragrant aroma soon began to waft out.

Though, the scent itself wasn’t that different from our usual bread.

After about a koku, it was done baking.

Lansel struggled a bit with the softness as he cut the loaf in half.

An even warmer and richer aroma filled the air, and the cross-section revealed a dense network of tiny bubbles.

“Wow.”

“Ooh.”

Cries of delight filled the room.

Lansel sliced off a thin piece from the cut side and divided it into quarters with his knife.

Each of the four taste testers received a piece and, at the same time, put it in their mouths, eyes widening in surprise.

“What is this softness?”

“So fluffy—”

“It melts in your mouth…”

Then, my brother tore off a tiny piece, just about the size of a fingertip, and fed it to me.

It was the first solid food I’d ever tasted, since I was still nursing. 

But since it was the softest part from the inside, with no crust, I had no trouble swallowing it.

I secretly nodded, thinking that the distinctive flavor of Black Wheat wasn’t a problem at all.

“With this, I think you could eat it without worrying about that dry texture or strange smell.”

At my brother’s suggestion, the three others all nodded eagerly.

“This way, even Black Wheat can be delicious!”

“I’ve never had black wheat bread this fluffy and tasty before!”

“This is because of that mysterious liquid from earlier, right? Lord Wolf, what exactly is that stuff? It must be really expensive—”

“It’s made by soaking wild apple peels and cores in water.”

“Apple peels and cores? So it’s made from leftovers that are just lying around?”

“It’s called natural yeast. Apparently, you just soak fruit or something in water and leave it in a warm place for about a week, and it forms.”

“Is it that easy?”

“Lord Wolf, Lord Wolf, I’d love for Madam to try this delicious bread too!”

Ignoring the dumbfounded Lansel, Bettina waved her hand and made her request.

“That’s true. Could you go and fetch Isberga for us?”

“Okay!”

With a cheerful shout, Bettina dashed off.

The next voice to return belonged to the head maid, scolding her for her lack of composure as she led the way back.

“Lord Wolf, is there something—”

“Ah, Isberga, this for Mother—huh?”

My brother’s voice rose in surprise.

That was because the person herself appeared in the doorway, right after the two of them.

“Mother, are you sure you’re all right walking around?”

“I’ve been feeling quite well these last few days. Both doors are open now, so the wonderful aroma reached all the way upstairs. I just couldn’t resist coming down.”

“Haha…”

Mother and Isberga were immediately given fresh, hot samples, and both of them widened their eyes after tasting it.

Feeling sorry to leave anyone out, Bettina went to fetch Henrik as well, and in the end, everyone in the mansion tasted the new bread and showered it with praise.

“Starting tonight, even if the amount is small, let’s share this at dinner,” Mother declared, and Lansel nodded vigorously as he began preparations.

Taking the cue, my brother called out to Westa and said, “Then, since I want you to keep making natural yeast from now on, Westa, I’ll teach you how. I’ve got a batch already started in my room with staggered timing, so I’ll bring it later—please keep it going from there.”

“Understood.”

“Also, once you and Lansel can reliably make this bread together, I’d like you to go and teach everyone in the village. Please be ready for that.”

“Ah, yes. Understood.”

“That’s amazing. Everyone in the village will be able to make this, right?”

“Yeah, that’s the whole point.” My brother smiled back at the delighted Bettina.

I caught sight of Mother watching the scene with satisfaction from the corner of my vision.

***

“Somehow, it all worked out. They say all’s well that ends well, but that was rough.”

“Good job.”

“If you’d told me sooner, I could’ve been ready, but you only mentioned the script for today just yesterday. You’d already prepared that yeast beforehand, hadn’t you?”

“Haha.”

So went the usual late-night debrief in my brother’s room.

That day, it started with my exhausted brother grumbling.

Since all explanations to Lansel and the others had to be left to him, and today’s process required careful and precise attention, it was only natural that he was worn out.

And, just as he said, about the natural yeast—after getting my brother to collect the wild apple scraps a week ago, I’d put them in water and left them on his shelf, telling him only, “Don’t touch it,” and refusing to explain any further.

“Yeast, I wasn’t sure… it’d work.”

“Is that so?”

To be honest, what I was most uncertain about in this process was whether the yeast would succeed.

I’d never made it myself, and even if it didn’t work out, I had no one to ask for advice, nor any idea how to fix it.

After all, I didn’t even know if such a thing existed in this world.

According to my brother, even the White Wheat bread in the royal capital was quite hard, so I had to assume this kind of bread basically didn’t exist.

That’s why, expecting a high chance of failure, I didn’t explain in advance.

As for actually making the bread after the yeast was done, since Lansel and the others had some cooking experience, I figured they’d be able to recover from any small mistakes.

Also, though I never told my brother, during this process, something incredible happened to me.

While pondering how to use Black Wheat and improve the bread, I kept asking ‘Memory’ in my mind.

I think it was seven days ago. 

In a dream while I slept, ‘Memory’ appeared before me in human form.

Its face and features were unclear, but it was definitely a human-shaped being.

“I’ll only explain this once, boy, so listen carefully.”

That was the first thing it said.

It demonstrated right before my eyes how to make natural yeast and bake bread.

Stir the fruit and water mixture well once a day.

When it starts fizzing and settles to this degree, the yeast is ready.

Knead the bread dough to about this point.

Ferment until it looks like this.

These were things I could never have managed with just words.

Moreover,”Natural yeast is just a microorganism, so if that microorganism doesn’t exist in your world, it might not work at all.”

“I’m assuming Black Wheat is close to rye, so I’m instructing you with rye bread methods. If it’s a different grain, it might not work at all, so be aware of that.”

Such oddly reassuring side notes were added.

Apparently, in ‘Memory’s world, rye contains gluten just like ordinary wheat, so it can rise with yeast. 

But if it were something like oats, that would be hopeless.

In reality, even though ‘Memory’ said, “You can’t expect rye to rise that much,” the bread turned out surprisingly soft and fluffy—a pleasant miscalculation.

Still, the sudden appearance of ‘Memory’—come to think of it, is that really the right way to refer to them? 

I never asked. 

Oh well—its uninhibited, almost human nature left me speechless.

“Why do I have to do this—”

“No one would care to hear a detailed explanation of how to make ordinary natural yeast bread, you know.”

Grumbling the whole time, it nevertheless gave me thorough instructions.

I was so grateful, but after waking up, I felt utterly drained—a night to remember.