夜上海 Ye Shang Hai: Jasmine Tea, Mandarin and Lychee Sourdough

Old Shanghai (老上海- lǎo shàng hǎi), the 1930's Shanghai is one of my favorite eras in history just like old Manila. There's no's other era in my opinion where flair and flamboyance meet sophistication and class! It has this certain charm that's difficult to describe and resist. The fusion of East and West just harmonizes with each other; the buildings, the bridges, the alleys, the vehicles, the qipaos/cheongsams, everything! Shanghai was not called Paris of the East for no reason. If time travel will ever come true, it is sure to be one of the eras I will go back to!

This bread is inspired by my love for the Old Shanghai era and my desire to experience what was life back there. Of course, it was a fusion city so the food there must have influences from the west. First, bread- wheat is not the staple in some parts of China and from research Chinese breads before that time are only steamed breads and baked flat breads. Sourdough known as lǎo miǎn (老麵 )is also used to leaven bread of any kind in China as commercial yeast was not yet available at that time. The breads were very basic too with probably only 4 ingredients just like European breads because they were meant as staple food.

Here is what I came up with, a bread made with Chinese ingredients using western techniques. I thought of Chinese flavors that will complement each other. I love lychees for their special flavor and they're one of the famous Chinese fruits so I decided to use them then a bolder flavor so I thought of Mandarin oranges, their flavor packs a little punch but not overpowering so that's the combination that I thought. Finally, I decided to use Jasmine tea, one of the famous teas in China for the liquid because it has this delicate floral aroma that will go well with lychees and mandarin oranges for a triple layered Chinese flavour profile.

The bread is still made with sourdough for a little bit of European and Chinese tradition and BAKED in a PAN because at that time those ideas were new and most likely to become trendy. A revolutionary and fashionable bread at that period, that's what exactly this bread is!

*Another coincidence October 16 is World Bread Day, I'm sad I wasn't able to join when it was still active. They're on a break now but I will still celebrate it with this bread.



The dough has both bread and AP flour for a balance of chewiness and tenderness. I autolyzed it with the jasmine tea for 2 hours at room temperature. The dough is dark because of the tea. The jasmine tea need to be fairly strong for it to come through in the finished bread. A tip for brewing strong tea: Increase the amount of tea, not the brewing time!



After the autolyze, I added the levain and salt and gave it 30 slap and folds. I gave it 2 more sets of 30 slap and folds each one hour apart. The dough became smooth and silky.



After two hours, I incorporate the lychees and mandarins by a stretch and fold. I gave it 2 more sets of stretch and folds to evenly distribute the fruits and add strength. The bulk fermentation is 6 hours in total then it went into the fridge overnight. Zhou Clementine likes a long warm bulk fermentation for her to raise the dough properly. The dough could have a retarded cold bulk ferment, a short and warm proofing, or another retarded proofing. You could certainly fit the dough to any schedule but you cannot mess with long warm bulk ferment, after that it will be a breeze.



Here is the dough the next morning. I used canned lychees and mandarins because fresh ones are not yet in season. I forgot how much water they contain and made the dough extremely watery, much like a ciabatta!



I tried to shape it into a log on a liberally floured surface but it was futile so I just dumped the whole thing into the greased and floured loaf pan and proofed it at room temperature for 2.5 hours.



Here it is after the final proof. The pan is more than 80% full and the dough is very bubbly. I'm just amazed with my starter's strength. I'm so excited to bake it as I slide the lid onto the pan.



I baked it in a frying pan over a wood fire rotating the pan at regular intervals, that's where the lid comes in handy; it's mainly conduction that cooks the bread. Because of the high water content of the dough I baked it for 1 hour and 20 minutes. An hour with live fire, the rest just embers and here are the results.



The crust is slightly crisp and soft and studded with oranges and lychees everywhere. A perfumey fragrance filled the air when I slid the the lid off to release the bread. This is the most fragrant bread I have ever baked.



The crumb is slightly open but even maybe because I mangled the dough while "shaping". The crumb is soft and moist because of the fruits but it is certainly not underdone. What I'm most amazed with is the colours of the crumb as seen in the close up. I mean, just look at it! The tang was just right, and lychees and mandarin oranges taste wonderful together with the subtle jasmine aroma. A very delicious bread!







Sorry, but I just can't get this scene out of my mind that this bread is served as a snack or as a house special at a hip lounge in Old Shanghai so I tried my best to make it happen. . Coincidentally, The table where the bread lies is made from lychee wood! I also use lychee firewood to cook this bread, I only used 4 "sticks" and they were enough for the entire cooking time because they produce a roaring stable and long fire! Lychee is if my memory serves me right, is the 6th heaviest and densest wood in the world and comes with a vibrant red color without staining. The wood is from our yard, maybe more than a hundred years old because my dad told me that when my great grandfather came here, it was already a huge tree providing shade! It was starting to decay two years ago so we had it cut down and made into furniture.



The name 夜上海 (Ye Shang Hai) means Shanghai nights and reflects the vibrant, decadent, and luxurious culture of Old Shanghai (of course there is a dark side to all of this and that's not the one I find amazing about this era) much like the adventurous nature of this bread. I thought of the name after I listened to the song Ye Shang Hai by arguably the most famous diva of the era, the golden voice of Old Shanghai: Zhou Xuan. Here is the song  周璇- 夜上海 complete with translations and background and a video showing what the era was like.
 


This is my wild imagination of sitting in a lounge indulging in this bread and a mocktail (I don't drink! :P) while listening to Zhou Xuan and other jazzy music letting the hours pass by. Here are a couple more of classic hits from the era that I like to listen to, maybe you can too if you have time. 周璇-花樣的年華 / 周璇 - 月圓花好 / 周璇 - 何日君再來 / 周璇 - 陋巷之春 / 白光 - 桃李爭春 / 李香蘭 -夜來香. Most of them are by Zhou Xuan because she is my favorite singer of this era, most of the songs here too were covered by Teresa Teng, my favorite singer of Chinese songs. This is my weird side again, I like them because they have an old and lovely feel quite unlike the many songs of today and it also helped me in learning the Chinese language.

With this picture, I remembered the film In the Mood for Love. It is set in 1960's Hong Kong but the feel is like 1930's Shanghai. It is also one of the reasons I learnt to love Cantonese and learn some words. The restaurant and dining scenes there looks like this one; watch it someday, it's a great film.



This one even looks like a sepia photograph!



This is a long post because it is full of my personal aspirations and I'm just so happy about this bread. Someday I will make a bread that is dedicated to Old Manila too. Thank you very much!