The smell of cinnamon and fresh fruit wafted lovingly through the kitchen, drifting between the bakers and through the hallway leading to the storefront. The scent tempted the awaiting patrons, each lining up before the display case of assorted pastries, pies, and cream-filled confections. Lucas, in his white apron and pastel name tag, saw that the ever-popular eclairs were running low. He left Beverly to tend to the customers as he went to gather more. Smiling, he reached into one of the racks in the kitchen and pulled out the fresh pastries to fill the empty tray.
“We’re going to need more eclairs ,” Lucas mused, “they’re almost all gone back here, too.”
“Well, what else is new?” Jonah laughed. “I’ll get someone on it once we’re done with these pies,” he said as he gestured loosely to the delectables around him. Lucas had helped unload the giant crates of peaches and blueberries that morning, and seeing their baked form made his mouth water. More than that, he longed to make one, perhaps with a cracker crust, carefully baked and topped with a little sugar. No, drizzled honey.
Jonah saw Lucas’ eager stare and questioned, “How long have you worked here now?”
“Oh, uh, about six months.” Lucas had briefly forgotten that he worked front of the house, not in the wonders of the kitchen, and began loading the eclairs again.
“Well, when you’re done refilling those come back. There’s something I want to show you.”
After a hectic half an hour of serving fresh eclairs and steaming pies to the customers queued up at the counter Lucas got the time to take a breather in the kitchen. Jonah was not around and Lucas took the time to look at the auto sheeter and folder at work. The machine was seven foot high and nine foot long. It could process 15 pounds of dough at a time and had tanks for water, butter and margarine. Yet the look was that of a superbly engineered work of art, to Lucas this was like the Bentley of baking automations.
The machine rolled out a thin sheet of dough on the conveyor top and a nozzle dipped strings of margarine and butter along as the dough was laid out. The silicon clamps would hold the far edge as the top folded into half over itself and then straightened. The dough sheet was folded double and again went through the same process again. Each layer would be of the same thickness give or take .02mm with the same amount of butter sandwiched between the folds and at the same temperature. When the twenty fold cycle was finished the dough would be folded into a brick for another cycle and then again bricked up and rested for a few minutes before being used for puffs, puff quiches, flaky cream cheese discs, twisted cinnamon sticks and a dozen other wonderful goodies.
His hands twitched while he gave long sigh just thinking about it. He was so engrossed that he did not see Benji, one of the chefs, walk up to him till he smacked Lucas with a plastic paddle. Startled, Lucas blurted out "Owwow" causing a round of snickering among other staff.
"OK get on. Lucas" It was Jonah standing at the back door gesturing towards him, to follow. Lucas followed Jonah to the storage area and then through to a small room. Jonah closed the door behind them and gestured to the old machine standing in the middle of the room.
"This is what I started this place with."
It was an old hand cranked dough sheeter. The center was an A which supported two conveyors on either side about three feet long and half as wide each. Every movement was powered by a hand crank. If the machine in the main bakery was a Bentley, this was a rickety ancient Ford model-T.
Jonah patted the sheeter and said. "You want to work in the kitchen, huh. Baking and mixing and all."
Lucas replied without hesitation. "Yes. I have done a year long apprenticeship but there were no openings and.."
"You think you like this work. But I want to make sure how serious you are. I think you love cooking. That is why I let you into this room. You are the fourth person, since I have started, to whom I will teach myself."
"OK. But I don't know to work this so.."
"I will teach you for a week. Then you have another week to learn by yourself. If you think you can create better Puff than we do with the large automatic machine then you will stay. Right?"
"But pastry dough is a damn erratic. Any change in temperature or mix or extra.."
"You can go back to the serving counter if you want. But then you may never learn the secret ingredient about making good bakes."
"OK OK I will give it a shot."
For the next week Lucas worked more than he had ever thought he could. Carrying flour to the kneaders and learning thumb-rules about measuring yeast and salt and water. He had to stay back to clean the sheeter and then come in early so that he could get his dough ready and into the back room before Jonah began his session. And if there were any problems or mistakes, the next few hours would be total misery. The first day when he saw Jonah speak to the machine and the dough, coaxing the right results he thought it quirky and strange. But by the end of the second week Lucas started calling the sheeter- Princess. Many times during the week Lucas tried to ask about the secret of making the best puff pastries but Jonah only answered. "You will know soon."
Lucas was nervous. Jonah had allowed him to choose the dish he would prepare to show what he had learned, he had boldly promised Jonah forty Puff cupcakes with strawberry cream filling and fruits on top. He had set the dough mixing and prepared the cream and now was the time to put Princess to work.
As Lucas turned the crank his nervousness began to bleed out. By the time he was finished he felt confident and relaxed. When the puff shells rose to perfection Lucas felt a welling of pride in his chest. "I could kiss you Princess" he mumbled as he set the puff shells to cool. He took more than an hour to fill and garnish the Puff cakes with Cherries and Loganberries.
Jonah and everyone in the bakery were full of praises for Lucas' Puff Cakes. When Jonah called him aside he asked Lucas.
"So what did you learn? Other than getting to know the beauty in the back."
"The secret ingredient which you put in your stuff."
"Is that so?" Jonah asked. "I never told you about it."
"You did not have to. It was your passion. You showed it while doing the simplest jobs and your speaking to the dough- that was just overflow. Working with Princess made me realize that method and precision are necessary but the thing that makes the dish great is passion, a will to produce something better using the same stuff. "
"Ahh! Now I have competition."
Lucas looked at Jonah's mischievous smile and shook his head. "I have a long way to go. But I want to learn more."
The Contest: https://steemit.com/wewrite/@freewritehouse/we-write-3-the-bakery-last-week-s-winner-announced
Picture Credit: Pixabay.com
