#recipe loftwing's nests

[zeldaelmo]

I promised a recipe for this fic, right? Please make sure to check @science-trash-artwork 's amazing art for flour, water, salt, yeast, love out, too, if you haven't already!

Recipe Loftwing’s nests

465 g/16.4 oz wheat flour 

25 g/0.88 oz rye flour

170 g/6 oz water

125 g/4.4 oz whole milk

10 g/0.35 oz salt

0,5 g/0.018 oz yeast (yes, that is correct!) 

10 g/0.35 oz butter

The creator of this recipe, Lutz Geißler, has developed a special method to prepare the dough perfectly without a stand mixer and with very little equipment. Due to copyright reasons, I won’t share that with you, but if you are interested (and understand enough German), check his book “Brot backen in Perfektion mit Hefe” out. I adapted the recipe for the “Handsemmel” for the Loftwing’s nest. I highly recommend his blog, too, that might be easier to translate anyway and you’ll find over 1000 recipes for bread and rolls. His skill is unmatched in my opinion and the recipes are easy to follow if you don’t start with the most complicated!

So, we do it like Zelda would and throw all the ingredients in the stand mixer. Let the dough knead for 3 minutes, put it in a bowl with a lid, and forget about it for 20-24 hours. 

Preheat the oven to 220°C (425°F). This is important, the rolls need the full heat immediately when you put them in. If you have, preheat a pizza stone, if not a baking sheet will also do. Make sure you have an additional backing sheet at the bottom of the oven—you need that to steam the nests later. (So you preheat either two baking sheets or a pizza stone and a baking sheet)

Cut off nine equal pieces of dough. Take one and divide it once more. Roll both pieces into a rope and twist it like this:

Roll the twisted braid into something that looks remotely like a nest. Let them rise again until the oven has reached the correct temperature (or a little longer, they’ll only get better if you don’t forget about them for several hours).

Now you quickly put your nests into the oven. If you have, take a peel so that you can work quicker and limit the heat that escapes the oven. Pour a cup of water on your additional hot baking sheet (not the one with the nests!) and close the oven. Bake everything for 20 minutes until it looks like that:

Enjoy!

[autumnsoulcakes]

A Holiday Fic Review - Flour, water, salt, yeast, love

One of the little things I wanted to do this year was read more fanfic (especially since I finally made my own AO3 account), and since I hadn’t read anything in a while, I decided to start with my first ever fandom - The Legend of Zelda. School being school and me being an elastic ball of stress I figured I’d look for something on the light, happy side, with a few deeper elements and maybe a bit of holiday flavoring. Oh boy did I get lucky because I found @zeldaelmo‘s botw fic “Flour, water, salt, yeast, love” off the bat.

It’s a Zelink advent calendar fic (if you aren’t familiar with the concept, it updates once a day each day of the advent season) set in a bakery AU. As of posting this it hasn’t wrapped up yet, so if you want to jump in and binge it before the last few chapters come out, here’s the AO3 summary:

“As a regular in Link's bakery, Zelda asks him for a favor for Hylia's day. A mistake leads to them fake-dating until at end of the holidays neither of them knows what is fake and what is real anymore.”

It’s cute, fluffy, cozy and warm, and if straight fluff isn’t your cup of tea (or coffee with whipped cream), there are some highly engaging mystery elements that I wouldn’t dare spoil, but that revolve around Link and Zelda’s backstories (I’m beyond excited to see how it’s all resolved). The prose is also excellent, and if you’re picky about fic grammar you’ll never need to worry. So that’s the gist; if I’ve piqued your interest already, click here to read it on AO3. But if you need a little more detail, read on. 

(Spoilers herein)

The fic takes place in a modernized Hyrule with a religious holiday called “Hylia’s Day” that involves a traditional pastry called a loftwing’s nest. Zelda’s family expects her to be the oh-so-perfect daughter (or perhaps she expects that of herself... hmm... ) and ask her to make the buns for the year’s festivities after mistakenly believing (as she convinced them) that the ones she brought last year were her own creations. 

She can’t source any from the bakery in time, and instead asks Link for some help with the recipe. Eventually he offers to write one for her, then to show her how to do it, and eventually to come with her to her parents’ and help her make them there. It all very quickly turns to fake-not-fake dating.

To begin gushing: oh my god the detail in this fic. It’s most evident in the baking. I’m almost certain you could reliably recreate your own loftwings’ nests just from the fic itself, but as it happens you don’t need to because...

“Artemyss wrote me a comment that she had trouble imaging the Loftwing's nests. I plan to post a recipe for them at the end of the story, but since I already took photos of the baking process and results, I'll attach a pic to the end of this chapter for you all!”

And yes, they look as lovely as you might imagine.

I really, truly don’t want to spoil anything more because I think the story’s progression and especially its most recent chapters are worth going into blind. Link and Zelda both feel like very hurt, flawed people who are at once incredibly endearing. One of my favorite parts of today’s chapter was that Zelda ends up agreeing to a certain extent (with a character who absolutely despises her) that she’s been fake. But that isn’t treated as a moral failure on Zelda’s part, though a significant number of characters think it is one. It’s treated as it is -- kind of shitty, not at all healthy, and ultimately, not her. 

I can’t wait to see how it all ends, and I hope I’ve convinced at least one person to check it out. Many thanks to @zeldaelmo for a wonderful advent. I hope you continue writing, and writing, and writing for many years to come. To the fandom, I hope you all have a merry Yule, a comfortable Christmas, and quiet New Years.

[zeldaelmo]

WIP Wednesday and announcement post

From the first of December, I will post this zelink story as an advent calendar! So, if that’s your thing (or you simply love stories with a daily update), give this blog a follow.

This is an excerpt from day 5.

Zelda needs to prepare traditional Loftwing’s nest for Hylia’s day and has asked her favorite baker Link for his recipe.

"Hey." Big blue eyes looked at her. The customer must have left again. "I messed this up, sorry. First I laughed and then I told you off."

"Well." She lifted her mug. "I got a free coffee out of it."

He shot her a lopsided smile. "Look, I can't give you what we normally do. But there is not only one recipe—I can just create another one. As a gift for a regular."

Zelda stood up. "You would do that?"

Now he grinned, turned to the display, and formed a tag with his fingers. "We'll sell both this year. 'The Loftwing's nests, created for the cute blonde who is the highlight of my workday'."

Her mouth dropped. And she had doubted that he teased her before. Now he was definitely heavily flirting. Wow, okay. 

She cleared her throat.

"Zelda. The other line is too long for your small tags."

"Zelda." He let her name roll off his tongue. "Zelda's Loftwing's Nests. Sounds good to me." His smile was soft and inviting, and now he chuckled, and, oh yes, he was forgiven. "I'm Link. But I guess you figured as much, I'm not exactly subtle about it."

"Yeah, I—" She made a lame gesture towards the entrance of the bakery where the brass sign dangled in the winter wind.

"Okay, I need some time to try things out. How about you come back tomorrow and I'll let you taste what I have and give you your recipe? Same time as today."

"Wait." Zelda shook herself out of her stupor. His kindness and his flirting had somehow frozen her ability to think.

"Are you serious about this? And what do you want for it?"

Shrugging, he came over to collect her empty mug. "It's a gift. I create new recipes all the time, don't overthink it."

"Oh wow. I think that's the kindest thing anybody has ever done for me."

He stopped with the mug in his hands, cocked his head, and frowned. "Not sure if that tells more about me or more about you."

"I—I don't know." 

It was vexing, his blatant honesty. She wasn't speechless very often, but he had managed to steal the words from her mind twice with nothing other than attention and directness.

And unlike the other days, when the image of his blue eyes found its way into her reflections, now the thoughts of their conversation accompanied her long after she left Beedle's street.

[zeldaelmo]

Read Day 4 here or start here

Day 5 

When Zelda heard Link laugh for the first time, it was nothing short of annoying. It wasn't that his laughter was unpleasant, no it was quiet, bright, and nearly contagious. Nearly. She would have considered joining in if he wasn't laughing at her.

Maybe it had been foolish to believe that a little bit of fluttering lashes could pursuade him into helping her. Maybe she had misinterpreted his lingering gaze and teasing comments and he had not been flirting with her. Fine. But was that a reason to laugh his ass off when she shoved a printout of the Loftwing's nests recipe that she had tried over the counter and asked him where she had gone wrong?

She had followed Mila’s (Mira’s?) advice to look on the Sheikah Net right when she got home. There was still a bit of time until Hylia’s Day, but she never had a knack for baking in general, so she didn’t expect her first try to be successful. 

And what a disaster that first try had been.

Although she had followed the recipe meticulously, the stupid dough had stuck to her fingers until she had to wash it all off. So she resorted to more flour than her search results had suggested. But with more flour, the dough had been too crumbly to even think of combining it to form a braid, or even something that looked remotely like a nest. 

She hadn’t even baked the mess. 

And now Mr. Sweet- and Smartass-Baker was laughing at her for trying a recipe that had a lot of comments “exactly like in those tiny bakeries in Castle Town! Traditional recipe!”. 

Just when he wiped a tear from his eye, she crossed her arms and huffed. Enough was enough.

“Sorry!” He cried, but she wouldn’t let him get away with it that easily. 

“What exactly is so funny?” She leaned in, making sure that her eyes were narrowed.

“Aaaah, I’m sorry—I didn’t mean to—”

“Well, you have. You are being mean.”

He rubbed his face. “No, let me explain.”

“Please do.”

“I’m not laughing at you. I wouldn’t dare. But the comments under this are a gem.”

Zelda scrutinized him. “They say it’s like a traditional Loftwing’s nest.”

“Yeah, that’s what I mean. I don’t know what this is.” He gave her the sheet of paper back. “But it has nothing to do with what we do here. Look,” he said, still panting, and pointed at the ingredients. “They use baking powder. That’s a cake. Or whatever. But not bread.”

“Oh.” Reluctantly, Zelda looked him over. If he hadn’t been laughing at her, he was forgiven. Maybe.

“Whatever the result of this is, it won’t be close to our Loftwing Nests at all. You need yeast to make them.”

He still looked slightly guilty when he rubbed his nose—and she was not beneath taking advantage of it. “Give me yours, then?”

His nose wrinkled into adorable folds and he rubbed his palms at the sides of his apron. Then he abruptly turned to the espresso machine. Since she was still the only customer, the coffee he was putting together had to be for her. Yes. Whipped cream found its way into the mug.

"No." He placed the beverage in front of her and swallowed. "I don't give my recipes out. Professional secret."

"Ok," she sighed, "I'll just tell my parents that we won't have any this year. It's ok. I mean, it's just bread, it's not that important."

Before the silence stretched too long, another customer came in to pick up a very late breakfast. Quietly, Zelda sipped her coffee. Or she tried to—under the cream, the coffee was still burning hot. Pressing the burned tip of her tongue against the roof of her mouth, she considered her possibilities. She could tell her parents the truth. That would be the most honest variant, and maybe they would finally stop placing exaggerated expectations on her. But before they reached that point, they would be incredibly disappointed. 

Or she could continue to try on her own. Maybe she had more luck with another recipe and if she managed, they had a true reason to be proud of her for once.

"Hey." Big blue eyes looked at her. The customer must have left again. "I messed this up, sorry. First I laughed and then I told you off."

"Well." She lifted her mug. "I got a free coffee out of it."

He shot her a lopsided smile. "Look, I can't give you what we normally do. But there isn’t only one recipe—I can just create another one. As a gift for a regular."

Zelda stood up. "You would do that?"

Now he grinned, turned to the display, and formed a tag with his fingers. "We'll sell both this year. 'The Loftwing's nests, created for the cute blonde who is the highlight of my workday'."

Her mouth dropped. And she had doubted that he teased her before. Now he was definitely heavily flirting. Wow, okay. 

She cleared her throat.

"Zelda. The other line is too long for your small tags."

"Zelda." He let her name roll off his tongue. "Zelda's Loftwing's Nests. Sounds good to me." His smile was soft and inviting, and now he chuckled, and, oh yes, he was forgiven. "I'm Link. But I guess you figured as much, I'm not exactly subtle about it."

"Yeah, I—" She made a lame gesture towards the entrance of the bakery where the brass sign dangled in the winter wind.

"Okay, I need some time to try things out. How about you come back tomorrow and I'll let you taste what I have and give you your recipe? Same time as today."

"Wait." Zelda shook herself out of her stupor. His kindness and his flirting had somehow frozen her ability to think.

"Are you serious about this? And what do you want for it?"

Shrugging, he came over to collect her empty mug. "It's a gift. I create new recipes all the time, don't overthink it."

"Oh wow. I think that's the kindest thing anybody has ever done for me."

He stopped with the mug in his hands, cocked his head, and frowned. "Not sure if that tells more about me or more about you."

"I—I don't know." 

It was vexing, his blatant honesty. She wasn't speechless very often, but he had managed to make her go blank twice with nothing other than attention and directness.

And unlike the other days, when the image of his blue eyes found its way into her reveries, now the thoughts of their conversation accompanied her long after she left Beedle's street.