Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle-Chapter 838 - 418: Puff Pastry Dough_3

Isn’t this going a bit off-script? This is Zhiwei Restaurant, my territory. Isn’t it my turn to have a realization?

Apparently, it wasn’t Tan Wei’an’s turn.

Qin Huai made a move.

He said to Tan Wei’an, "Has the butter melted? What about the flour? Help me bring the flour over."

Tan Wei’an: "...Oh, oh, oh."

How embarrassing, almost forgot he was here to lend a hand, not to watch Qin Huai have a big epiphany.

Qin Huai started kneading the dough.

Qin Huai had a lot of theoretical knowledge about kneading flaky pastry dough, and now he was going to put it into practice.

Qin Huai kneaded the dough very gently, knowing it takes skill to thoroughly knead butter into the dough without ruining it. He wasn’t sure what skill exactly, just trying to mimic Master Zhou’s technique, speed, and angle from memory.

He felt he was doing okay. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Self-assessment: pretty good, no major issues.

The butter was well integrated, no gluten. Bubbles were well controlled, neither too many nor absent.

Qin Huai felt that many problems he previously had while making flaky pastries suddenly disappeared, as if he suddenly understood many aspects about the dough. Even pastries he’s not good at didn’t seem so difficult anymore.

This feeling wasn’t like that day he was chopping vegetables and suddenly had a flash of insight into leveling up his knife skills. It felt more like a natural progression from years of practice. Qin Huai had already reached this level, having practiced for a long time, just waiting for a test to prove his skills. Now the test was here, and he was answering smoothly, about to hand in a pretty good answer sheet.

Qin Huai put the dough into the fridge to rest and started preparing the custard mixture.

Tan Wei’an, the assistant, was basically useless on the side, only able to pass things and watch Qin Huai and Master Zhou.

Qin Huai looked serious and focused, while Master Zhou was all smiles and kindly.

Tan Wei’an: Why does this feel wrong, is this really Zhiwei Restaurant?

Maybe Master Zhou’s kindly smile gave Tan Wei’an the illusion that he could speak up, so he couldn’t help but quietly ask Qin Huai:

"What have you been doing lately? Didn’t you say on WeChat that you’ve just been eating snacks and gossiping these days?"

Qin Huai continued mixing the custard, nodding, "I have been eating snacks and gossiping. Master Zhou asked me just to watch for a few days without getting hands-on. I’ve mostly been with Zhao Cheng’an and the others, coming here in the afternoons to watch Master Zhou make egg tarts and eat them."

"Why?"

"If you’re so good at making egg tart crusts, why didn’t you make them before?" Tan Wei’an asked pointedly.

"I didn’t know I was so good at making egg tart crusts either. I just never made them before. You know I’m not good at making flaky pastries. Plus, Luoluo doesn’t really like egg tarts. She buys her own from the cake shop when she’s craving them. Ouyang gave us a lot of gift cards to cake shops, we can’t even finish them."

Tan Wei’an realized, Ouyang was the reason for Qin Huai’s delay. Blame him for giving Qin Huai so many cake shop gift cards, making it easy for him to buy egg tarts, so he never made them himself.

How annoying!

Tan Wei’an stated he also really liked egg tarts; if he had known how good Qin Huai was at making them, he would have asked him to make them often at Yunzhong Restaurant.

Tan Wei’an opened his mouth, wanting to say more, but the formerly kindly Master Zhou, now a bit exasperated, gave Tan Wei’an a glance, saying calmly:

"Xiao Tan, didn’t you see the tea’s gone cold?"

Tan Wei’an hurriedly went to change the tea.