Qianhua Gongdeng Bun, a type of bun that requires high finger skill, but is not particularly challenging in terms of actual difficulty.
The greatest feature of this bun is its appearance.
At first glance, it looks clean and white, with a milky color, even somewhat translucent, like a palace lantern, with eight petals of scalloped edges and half a red cherry on top. The color is simple yet striking, making it a bun that is unpretentious, understated, and beautiful.
But if you look closely, you’ll find that this bun is not simple at all; on the contrary, it is rich with intricate patterns.
Each scalloped edge is crafted with care; all the leaves need to slightly turn outwards. The patterns on each scalloped edge are the same size and equidistant, made with flower clips one by one.
Even the round, plump overall shape needs to be evenly smooth, presenting the most comfortable, graceful, and simple effect visually.
The reason the Qianhua Gongdeng Bun doesn’t seem flashy at first glance is that the maker intends to give you that impression. In reality, the shaping process is quite intricate, even requiring the dough skin to be slightly hardened like the dough used for guo’er for shaping.
At this point, someone might ask, hasn’t Qin Huai never made a Qianhua Gongdeng Bun, and there isn’t much information available about it on the market? How does he know so much about Qianhua Gongdeng Bun?
Because Zheng Da knows how to make them.
Readers who pay close attention to details may remember that Zheng Da has two characteristics when making snacks: if it’s too simple, he disdains to make it, and if it’s too difficult, he often gets lazy and doesn’t want to make it.
Qianhua Gongdeng Bun happens to be one of Zheng Da’s favorite types of snacks.
In terms of technical difficulty, there’s really not much. Essentially, it is an ordinary bun with red bean filling or peanut brittle filling. If you want to be lazy, make it with red bean filling. If you want to add a little difficulty, make it with peanut brittle filling. No matter how you dress it up, it’s still just a bun.
The dough is also regular dough, without high requirements and difficulty, just needs to be made slightly hard to shape. And the shaping difficulty is not as high as guo’er, so the dough-making difficulty is accordingly not as high.
The most challenging part is the shaping, but even the shaping is not as hard as guo’er.
Guo’er demands high aesthetic and imaginative abilities from the chef; just copying it won’t yield good guo’er. In the end, making guo’er is a pursuit of art, and a chef without artistic talent cannot produce excellent guo’er.
But Qianhua Gongdeng Bun is different; its shape is fixed.
It’s purely intricate; it requires patience and meticulousness, testing the finger skill of the chef.
Qin Huai initially thought Zheng Da was unlikely to make Qianhua Gongdeng Bun because he thought Zheng Da disliked making such intricate snacks. Later, after Qin Huai asked Zheng Da, he found out that he was wrong, very wrong; he somewhat underestimated Master Zheng.
Zheng Da doesn’t like to make them usually, but that doesn’t mean he can’t.
In key moments, Master Zheng still likes to bring out such seemingly high-brow snacks to prove his skills.
Qianhua Gongdeng Bun, from its name to its shape, is very high-brow.
Last time when Qin Huai asked Zheng Da, to prove he indeed knew how to make them, he directly pulled out the tools and made two for Qin Huai, even recommended his flower clips to Qin Huai, which are particularly suitable for making Qianhua Buns.
It’s just that for such a long time, Qin Huai hasn’t tried it yet.
It’s not that Qin Huai deliberately neglected the Qianhua Gongdeng Bun; it’s mainly because Qin Huai didn’t expect the Four Happiness glutinuous rice to be so difficult.
Just by looking at the name, who would have thought that the difficulty of making Four Happiness glutinuous rice was higher than Qianhua Gongdeng Bun?
Qin Huai initially wanted to get the Four Happiness glutinuous rice done first and then challenge the Qianhua Gongdeng Bun. After all, Qin Huai’s finger skill is only at the Basic level, although his apple dough ball didn’t look basic at all, like he drank two sips of Mengpo Soup by mistake. It still cannot change the fact that he completely lacks the skill to style snacks.
The black Doraemon flower shaped steamed bun Qin Huai made a few months ago is something Zheng Siyuan still hasn’t forgotten.
Although Qin Huai and Qin Luo both thought this flower bun was decent, Qin Huai found the black Doraemon to be creative and Qin Luo thought the meat-filled flower bun was delicious, but Zheng Siyuan only wanted to strangle the two siblings.
It’s safe to say that now that Zheng Siyuan can accept such a variety of Mixed Fruit Filling and firmly believes that there must be delicious Mixed Fruit Filling made with such complex materials, it’s inseparable from the stimulation a few months ago.
Zheng Siyuan has endured too much.
Qin Huai:? Why does he feel a little sorry for Zheng Siyuan while making the Qianhua Gongdeng Bun?
Forget it, stop overthinking, just continue shaping the buns.
Qin Huai used the flower clip to apply the pattern on each one.
Qin Huai began to understand Zheng Da a little more.
If not for showing off and putting on airs, who would want to make a snack with such a complex shape?
Come on, hands, move faster! There are still 7 more edges to clip!
While Qin Huai was making the Qianhua Gongdeng Bun, everyone in the house except Chen Huihong had gone back to their separate homes. Even Gong Liang and his wife had returned next door, excitedly awaiting the birth of the Qianhua Gongdeng Bun at home.
Gong Liang had already planned that when he tasted the Qianhua Gongdeng Bun later, he must refrain from biting into it right away and first take a picture to post on his social media.
He’ll make a photo grid, displaying the Qianhua Gongdeng Bun from every angle, aiming to be the most striking presence in his social circle tonight!
Let everyone know who is really Xiao Qin’s top choice for a home-cooked meal.
While Gong Liang was at home anticipating the shape of the Qianhua Gongdeng Bun, Chen Huihong had already moved a small bench to the kitchen, chewing on winter dates and watching intently.