Sweet Bread, Indeed
First, the dorayaki imitation was completed. Splitting it with the head chef, we each tried both the white bean paste and the red bean paste versions.
It was close to dorayaki, but the bean paste felt too light, and the batter was a bit too sweet.
It wasn’t the kind of sweetness you could fix by just adding more sugar… hard to put into words.
Maybe dorayaki really does taste better with azuki beans after all.
Instead of insisting on dorayaki, maybe it’d be better to leave the filling visible with a single layer of batter and treat it as a different kind of confection.
With this white and red bean paste, something more like obanyaki or imagawayaki might fit better. But then there’s the batter… I can’t figure that out. The ingredients are probably the same, but the ratio is different. Personally, I like the chewy type, so maybe they mix in ground glutinous rice? Too bad we don’t have mochi rice here.
Well, personal preference aside, let’s try an obanyaki imitation too. I’ll just have them make a mold and hand it off to the head chef.
"It’s delicious, but the batter needs some improvement."
"Yeah, the bean paste should be the star here. Also, if we want to lower the cost, we could just use a single piece of batter to wrap the paste."
"So you weren’t satisfied with it?"
"It’s not that. I just feel like the sweetness of the bean paste—no, rather the flavor that brings out the bean paste—isn’t quite there. I can’t explain it well."
"Understood. I’ll refine both the paste and the batter."
Just then, one of the cooks brought over a basket piled high with bread.
… Wasn’t that a little too much, considering we don’t even know if it’ll turn out well?
The head chef grabbed one, split it, and handed me half. Soft to the touch, and when I tore off a bite-sized piece and ate it…
We looked at each other. This was bean bread. This one was a success—the balance between the bread and the sweet beans was spot-on.
The bread had a subtle sweetness, and the red beans were pleasantly soft and sweet. Delicious.
"This is good. Maybe not for a meal, but as small-sized sweets it works perfectly. Sweet bread, yes… Couldn’t we try the same thing with white bean paste and red bean paste too?"
Ah, anpan. I hadn’t thought of it because I associated it only with azuki beans. But we already had white bean paste, so it would be great.
"Head chef, I think anpan, a type of sweet bread would be delicious. Also, what about filling it with jam—like jam bread?"
"That sounds wonderful too. We’d have to adjust the sweetness of the dough depending on the filling, but it’s worth testing."
"These test batches, please let everyone eat them." I noticed the cook who had brought the bean bread was watching our tasting intently, so I said that to reassure him.
"Thank you. We’ll all share it, brainstorm improvements, and bring you the best version we can. The bean bread will be served at dinner tonight."
"I’m looking forward to it. Thank you, as always."
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At dinner, dessert time came. I had thought the head chef might serve bean bread, but instead it was pear compote.
"Hardt, are these the pears you bought at the market?"
"Yeah. We only bought five of each of the three types though—hope it’s enough."
As we were commenting on the smaller portion than usual, a cart rolled in with a mountain of small breads.
Each plate received three types: one bean bread, and two others… were these white bean paste and red bean paste anpan?
"Wait, bread for dessert? Hardt, did you know about this?"
"Mother, let’s taste them first. Even I haven’t seen these before, so I want to try them."
I saved the bean bread for last, and picked one of the other breads first. Splitting it in half revealed white bean paste.
I didn’t eat much white anpan in my previous life, but it was refreshing and tasty. Then the other one—red bean paste. That one was delicious too.
Strange though—the paste here tasted better than in the dorayaki imitation.
Back then, it felt like the paste wasn’t standing out, but in the anpan it worked perfectly. I wonder what made the difference?
Finally, I tried the bean bread. Out of the three, I liked this one best. But all three were good.
Every time, I can’t help but be impressed by our chefs.
"Hardt, were these made from the red and white beans you bought at the market today?"
"Yes, Brother Gerald. They’re sweet breads."
"All three of these were your ideas?"
"No, Father. Only the bean bread was mine. The others were the head chef and his team’s inspirations."
"This bean bread? The dough feels different from the other two breads."
"Miss Diana, sharp eye—you’re right. We kneaded white bean paste into the dough itself."
"So even beans meant as winter rations can become sweets…" Grandfather murmured after finishing his share.
"This could sell well. Though the sugar content will make it more expensive than ordinary bread."
"So many new sweets—this will need a lot of sugar." My parents, too, looked convinced.
"Leave that to me. I’ve already asked my family to increase sugar production in Southcourt. I’ll send word to expand even further." Miss Diana promised.
"Hardt, are you planning to make these sweet breads the specialty of the hot spring town?"
"Grandfather, I was actually thinking of selling them in the capital. But I want to avoid sugar prices skyrocketing."
"True, timing is key. Once these are revealed, they’ll spread across the kingdom immediately. But weren’t you originally working on specialty dishes for the hot spring town?"
"Yes, I still have some ideas. But since sweets use so much sugar, maybe I’ll stop with dorayaki and obanyaki, and think of something else."
Atre and Lucas are looking forward to new dishes, but nothing’s coming to mind.
Maybe I’ll take a break from cooking for a while.
What do you think about this chapter?
