I Only Baked Bread, but I Was Mistaken for the Best - Chapter 86

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 86. A Delicious Meal (4)
The first thing Gora wanted to do after being asked to make bread together was this.
[‘Gigantify’ skill activation….]
“No! Cancel! Cancel! Right now I can help out just fine without enlarging myself!”
“Gora?”
I exhaled in relief watching Gora tilt her head in confusion.
I’d almost wasted 5,000 BP for nothing.
I wasn’t planning to make large quantities anyway, and there was no need for combat.
“Um… could you bring me some cake flour? You know where it is, right?”
“Gora gora!”
Gora waddled along in her Cookie body and dragged back a bag of portioned cake flour.
“Meow? Why are you using cake flour? Isn’t that the flour for making pastries, not bread? I remember someone shouting that bread requires strong flour, Master.”
“I need that particular texture for this.”
Just as Noir mentioned, strong flour is used when making sandwich bread, dough, or bagels.
With a protein content of around 11-13%, it has good strength and a chewy quality.
But the scones I’m making shouldn’t have that lingering flavor filling the mouth.
“I need to preserve that light, crumbly sensation when you bite into it, rather than chewiness.”
Moreover, the particles of matcha powder (or in this case, Frost Mist Herb powder) are very fine and have the property of absorbing moisture.
That’s why I need to add cake flour with equally fine particles so it mixes uniformly with the Frost Mist Herb powder I’ve already added, without compromising its unique flavor.
“Then I can’t use other types of flour?”
“If I made it with strong flour, it’d probably turn into green tea dough.”
“I don’t want that! Meow!”
“Right. Ah, Gora. It’s 300 grams. Can you do that?”
“Gora!”
With Gora’s help measuring out 300 grams of cake flour, I sifted it together with Frost Mist Herb powder, baking powder, sugar, and salt into a wide bowl.
Then I cut in the butter I’d prepared cold beforehand.
Adding cold milk and eggs completes the preparation.
“Now just mix it roughly.”
“Gora? Gora gora?”
“Ah. You’ve never seen rough mixing before? That’s the best way to do scones. You need to minimize gluten formation.”
The reason I’m using cake flour in the first place is to suppress gluten formation, which creates that chewy texture.
I can’t ruin that by mixing too much.
That’s also why I used cold butter and milk.
Though there are other reasons too.
“I’m glad I prepared the ingredients so cold beforehand.”
“Is that because of the resting time?”
“Exactly.”
While baking time can be shortened through the oven, the resting time needed to perfect the dough can’t be reduced.
But I couldn’t wait for a resting period that takes about an hour.
That’s why I used ingredients I’d prepared cold in advance.
“And the Frost Mist Herb is living up to its name too.”
The powder alone wasn’t enough to justify the “Frost” in its name—the dough itself emanated a cool, crisp chill.
This should be more than sufficient.
“Now let’s cut them.”
The characteristic shape of scones, as I envision them, is essentially that of something casually patted and shaped without fuss.
The original Scottish scones were meant as bread for meals, so they had a rustic quality to them.
But scones made for sale need to be beautiful rather than rustic.
After rolling them out properly, I cut them into neat triangular shapes with sharp edges, then brushed them lightly with egg wash.
“Gora! Gora gora!”
“That’s right. Gora it is. Now we just pop them in the oven and we’re done.”
As I placed them in the oven, I poured my sincere wishes into them.
I hoped that with just one bite of these scones, all the greasiness around their lips and the discomfort in their hearts would vanish completely.
Did I really need to do that?
“Of course I do. I suddenly stepped in and made everyone uncomfortable, after all.”
But even knowing it was a burden, I couldn’t help myself.
Perhaps it was foolish pride.
Pride in the wish that no one who ate my bread would fail to feel genuine happiness.
“Since I’m being greedy anyway, at least hoping they feel better isn’t too much to ask for, right?”
“Why are you asking for my permission like that? Owner?”
“You hate this kind of thing, don’t you? Always going on about needing compensation or something.”
“Honestly, I’ve already given up. No matter what I say, you’re going to do what you want anyway. Just hurry up and take out the baked scones. Meow.”
Noir scratched behind his ears with his hind legs, answering as if it were no big deal.
Well… should I take that as a compliment?
While I scratched my cheek, embarrassed, the oven finished its cycle.
The moment I opened it, a rich and delicious bread aroma wafted out.
When I pulled out the tray and beheld the beautiful scones, a status window appeared.
Ding!
[Frost Mist Scone]
▷ A scone made using Frost Mist Herb.
The coolness and freshness of the highlands seem to bloom from its crumbly texture.
▷ Effects
① Chilled Breath: With each breath, a refreshing misty fragrance drifts forth.
② Mist Clearing: Dispels the fog-like thoughts that fill the mind.
The effects were a precise manifestation of the sincerity I had poured into them.
But that wasn’t all.
[Appetite-Stimulating Cleanness]
▷ Did you know you can suffer even from eating? Here are the unfortunate souls who proved it.
▷ Deliver ‘Frost Mist Scone’ to ‘Han Yeong-gu’ 0/1
▷ Reward: 1,000 BP
“This is it!”
It was the birth of a Scone that could satisfy everyone.
* * *
“Ah! So the bakery hasn’t been reopened for very long then?”
“That’s right. This Jinjeonyang is also a new product we created to commemorate the reopening. It’s cute, isn’t it?”
“Haha! It seems even cuter because Haeryang is the one handing it to me?”
“Senior, you’re going to get yourself into trouble. You have a wife, you know…”
“My wife will understand everything! Honey! I’m making money right now!”
Ho-jeong was straining with all his might to maintain the high energy typical of variety shows.
And alongside him, Mi-hyeon was also appropriately chiming in to keep the energy up.
But they were reaching their limits.
‘Ugh. My mouth is too greasy.’
‘Ew. It’s making me feel queasy.’
‘Did I eat too many cream buns before… my stomach is churning too…’
Perhaps all the cast members had overdone it at the previous bakery.
Now simply standing next to bread was becoming a trial.
“Oh, and I heard that Chae-eun bought a hundred Pumpernickel loaves from here?”
“Ah! How did you find out about that!”
“Haeryang told me during our break just now. Haha!”
“That’s… no! That was really something I shared with the members…”
“That’s a regular customer certification right there. Certified!”
Meanwhile, Young-gu was suffering the most.
‘I feel like I’m going to throw up…’
As a chef, he had to eat twice as many cream buns as everyone else under the guise of helping out.
To be honest, before coming here, he’d downed a whole liter of Americano as a palate cleanser, and even bought digestive medicine from a pharmacy to settle his queasy stomach, but it wasn’t enough.
‘Sigh. What am I even doing here…’
When his body felt uncomfortable, naturally his mind and spirit became uncomfortable as well.
And that’s when weak thoughts began to surface.
Young-gu hadn’t decided from the beginning to appear on the broadcast.
‘I thought there would be something to learn…’
It had been about ten years since he’d thrown himself into the work of being a chef.
A plateau had arrived in his skills that had been growing day by day.
From that point on, there was nothing he hadn’t tried.
Though he was a fine dining chef, he approached cooking without regard to genre.
At the same time, he researched recipes and devoted himself entirely to cooking all day long.
But his skills remained stagnant.
The moment what people called a slump had arrived for him as well.
‘Then by chance, I ended up appearing on a broadcast.’
Already stressed by his own shortcomings, he became angry seeing a self-proclaimed chef with no real skill appear on the broadcast and cook mediocre dishes.
That’s why he poured out angry posts on social media.
He had no idea people would become enthusiastic about it, nor that the broadcasting station would contact him calling him another star chef.
That’s when it started.
He seized the opportunity that sudden stardom had brought him.
The wealth and fame everyone desired held no interest for him.
All he wanted was cooking.
To create delicious dishes and serve them to people—that was all.
If he could experience the cooking of various people through broadcasting, wouldn’t his own skills improve exponentially?
But that wasn’t how it turned out.
His skills never improved at all.
In broadcasting, they only pursued trends—dishes that would go viral or capture people’s attention.
Truly nourishing food for people was rare.
Yet he endured it nonetheless.
Young-gu was that desperate.
He wanted to escape this swamp-like slump by any means necessary.
But perhaps even that had its limits.
In truth, Young-gu had been planning to leave all his programs.
If nothing could be resolved, he thought it might be best to end Chef Han Yeong-gu’s career here.
And then.
“I apologize, but looking at the cast members, I don’t think they’d enjoy cream bread very much.”
A Bakery Owner who ignored the predetermined script and suddenly announced she would bake different bread instead.
Why on earth would she do that?
For the same reasons as all the celebrities and money-seekers he’d encountered before?
But it wasn’t like that at all.
“Yes. I’m not sure what bread you’ve had elsewhere before, but it seems like everyone would struggle with anything too greasy or heavy.”
Such a clear reason.
Simply because the customers eating her bread might not want that.
It was so obvious, yet how many culinary professionals could actually uphold such a principle?
Most focused on what dishes they could create, but that young Bakery Owner focused on the customers.
She did her best to ensure they experienced the greatest happiness and joy.
Really.
Such foolish pride.
Yet at the same time, wasn’t it such magnificent pride?
That’s why Young-gu found himself rooting for her.
Even if he himself were to fade, he hoped that young Bakery Owner would walk a path of brilliant light.
Creak.
“Sorry I’m late.”
“Oh! No, not at all! Haha! Your staff member told us some really entertaining stories!”
“Ah. Is that so?”
“Yes! When you first came here, you asked if you could work without pay in exchange for bread, right?”
“…I am paying proper wages…”
The Young Owner hesitated in confusion before continuing his response.
In his hands was a plate holding a beautifully crafted Scone.
Along the side of the Scone, which bore a color reminiscent of a grassy meadow, a deep crevice had been carved.
‘They called that the wolf’s mouth, didn’t they?’
A phenomenon visible only in a properly rested and expertly baked Scone.
And atop it, as if frost had descended upon a meadow, something white settled delicately across its surface.
‘The presentation is impeccable too.’
“I’ll serve you some herb tea as well.”
Scone with herb tea.
An excellent pairing.
Especially now, with my mouth feeling parched as it was.
‘They’ve even considered the pairing. So now, what remains is….’
“Would you like to try it?”
Only the taste itself.
“Haha. Well then, shall I give it a try? Wait? Young-gu? We haven’t even touched it yet?”
Unable to restrain himself any longer, Young-gu reached toward the green tea Scone placed before him and brought it to his mouth.
“Mmph… munch munch…. Mm!”
His eyes widened wider than they ever had in his entire life.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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