Making Yeast... Mass-Producing Pizza Ovens?

I turn wheat into flour.

It's a faintly brown powder rather than the familiar pure white.

I'm pretty worried about whether this will actually be usable as wheat.

Well, I'll give it a try.

Natural yeast is necessary for making bread.

Normally, people buy it at a store, but there isn't any here.

So I'll make my own from wheat flour.

I'm glad I helped my older sister when she got into breadmaking.

For some reason, I was put in charge of yeast and made to prepare all sorts of it.

Well, right in front of me was something called payment for helping...

That brings back memories.

I make two identical spoons out of silver ore.

I make one red bottle and have everything ready.

I cast Clean on everything, then add a spoonful of wheat flour.

I put it in the red bottle, then add a spoonful of water.

I mix it, cap the bottle, and store it at room temperature.

After 24 hours, I add two spoonfuls of wheat flour.

I add two spoonfuls of water as well and mix it together.

I store it at room temperature for 24 hours.

I can see it beginning to bubble.

So far, so good.

I decide to let it keep fermenting while gradually increasing the amount.

From here on, I mix four spoonfuls of wheat flour with just under four spoonfuls of water.

I put it in the refrigerator to rest, then check on it to see how well it is fermenting.

Three days later, I add four spoonfuls of flour and just under four spoonfuls of water, then mix them together.

I store it in the refrigerator.

I repeat this several times, and once it fills about 80 percent of the bottle, I check its fermentation.

Once it develops a fermented smell and a fluffy texture, the starter is complete.

Fermentation proceeds faster in this world than in Japan, so I have to check it every day at first.

By the way, one of the one-eyed creatures has been beside me this whole time. What is it, anyway?

...

While making the natural yeast, I remembered one concern.

I don't have a scale.

A scale is absolutely necessary for making bread.

A substitute for a scale... perhaps a balance scale?

I won't be able to measure exact amounts, but I should be able to measure things like twice as much.

I make a balance scale.

I put all-purpose rock on both sides of the balance and fine-tune the amounts until they are equal.

I make several identical pieces, split one of them in half, then put the halves on the balance and fine-tune them until they are exactly half.

I repeat this over and over to make the parts for the balance scale.

I can now roughly measure one-half, one-quarter, and so on.

I feel like I've made progress.

The one-eyed creature is beside me here, too. It's a little scary, though.

After confirming that everything is ready, I realize something important is missing.

I don't have anything to bake with!

I'm shocked I forgot that.

I've seen pizza ovens on TV, so bread should be no problem.

For now, I'll figure out where to install one.

Charcoal rock doesn't produce smoke, so maybe it'll be fine inside the house?

Hmm... I'm a little worried. Maybe I should put it on the wooden deck and see how it goes.

If that goes well, I'd like to build it inside the house.

The kitchen I have now is modeled after a Japanese modular kitchen.

I cook large-pot dishes on the outdoor barbecue stand, after all.

Maybe I should think about remodeling the kitchen later.

I've decided to put it beside the five giant barbecue stands.

I make a plate from gold ore and place it underneath so heat won't transfer directly to the wooden deck.

Since bigger is probably better, I make it huge—about one meter wide and 1.3 meters deep.

It should be fine.

I shape a rock into a base the same size as the gold-ore plate, with a height just below my waist.

The pizza oven I saw on TV was dome-shaped, so I make mine dome-shaped, too.

I shape a rock into a dome and place it on the base I prepared.

I use magic to fuse the rocks together, and it's complete!

I test-fire the oven.

I heat charcoal rock and put it into the back of the oven.

I try roasting some meat as a test.

Delicious.

It tastes different from barbecue, but it's delicious in its own way.

It was well received... so I made about five pizza ovens.

That should be enough.