North and South

Happy birthday to Miffy!
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It is very tricky for southerns in China to make decent bread. Southerners are so used to rice, to them, noodles and bread are like imported goods from another country. Interestingly, in Taiwan, there are large population need to have the bread fix in the morning.

That is because when KMT moved to Taiwan in the 50s, they have brought with them lots of northerners. They all cramped in a small island and some of them started small business selling breads and soy milk in the morning. I was drawn to it in my early teens.

I love the pure, no nonsense nature of their bread. The making is usually very simple, no fermentation but patience. You can taste the simple, ample nature of the browned wheat and seaseme. There was one of those breakfast store near my house in Taipei. The bread master is obviously the down symdrom sufferer. His name is "Yu-Hu", "yu" means to have, and "hu" is the nickname of ShangHai. From his name, I could almost guss his parents must be from Shang Hai, thinking one day they will be going back to ShangHai one day (however, the plan was delayed indefinitely).

The fluffyness of the bread is not from the gas genreated by fermentation, it is really from the mixture of water-based dough and oil-base dough. It needs lots of patience and endless kneading.