dkrc Chapter 143 143
Chapter 143 143
The shape and size of the inner cavity determine where the bread will be baked. She brought over a bucket of wet sand—river sand mixed with water until it was just the right consistency to form a ball, damp but not dripping wet. She scooped up a handful of wet sand and placed it in the center of the base. The sand slipped through her fingers and landed on the firebrick surface with a rustling sound. She alternated between her hands, piling handful after handful, until a sand mound slowly rose in the center of the base, transforming from a small sandbag into a hemispherical dune. When the sand mound reached about knee-high, she began to pat and shape it with her hands. Her palms made a dull sound as she patted the wet sand. She walked around the base, patting from all directions—a few times from the front, a few times from the side, a few times from the back—until she had patted the sand mound into a full and well-formed hemisphere. After patting, she dipped her hands in a bucket of water, then used her wet hands to rub the surface of the sand mound. A damp hand rubbed across the sand, producing a soft swishing sound. The rough particles on the sand pile's surface were smoothed out, leaving the entire sand hemisphere smooth and round, gleaming with a moist sheen in the morning light. This sand hemisphere serves as the mold for the kiln's cavity—after the kiln body is covered and the mud dries completely, the sand will be removed, leaving the cavity where bread will be baked.
After the sand mold was built, she began to plaster the kiln body. Su Peixue walked to the wooden trough, bent down, and reached into the trough with both hands to scoop out a large lump of mud. The mud lump was heavy in her palms. She carried the mud lump to the sand mold, plastered it on the bottom edge of the sand mold, pressed her palms on it, and pushed the mud forcefully onto the sand mold. The sound of the mud plastering on the sand mold was dull, but very textured, like a thick, wet cloth being patted on a table. Her fingers were together, and she plastered layer by layer from bottom to top—first plastering the bottom ring, pressing the mud firmly into the joint between the sand mold and the refractory bricks of the base, so that the kiln body and the base would fit tightly together; then plastering the middle ring, supporting the mud layer with her palms and pushing it onto the sand mold; then continuing upwards, the mud layer becoming thinner and thinner as she reached the top, because the top was less stressed and didn't need to be too thick. When she was halfway through plastering, the mud began to sag. She supported the mud layer with one palm and continued to smooth it upwards with the other hand, only letting go when the mud on top had dried slightly.
When the clay was two-thirds complete, the kiln body was already taking shape—a hemispherical clay shell resting on the base, its curves flowing smoothly from bottom to top. She moistened her fingers with water and rubbed them back and forth on the surface of the kiln, smoothing the rough clay. The water-soaked clay became delicate, shimmering with a thin layer of moisture in the sunlight. When she reached the kiln opening, she traced an arch on the clay surface with her fingers—this would be the entrance for placing the bread; it had to be wide enough for the wooden shovel to slide the dough in, and high enough to remove the baked bread intact. Her fingers made a slight dragging sound as they moved through the wet clay. She used a trowel to trim the edges of the kiln opening, ensuring the arch was symmetrical, the bottom flush with the refractory bricks of the base, and the top slightly lower than the kiln body. The first layer of the kiln was finished—a hemispherical clay kiln stood on the base, its opening facing south, like an eye yet to open.
Next was the insulation layer. Su Peixue took an old cloth bag from the storage room, containing several broken glass bottles—waste materials cleared out during the previous yard renovations, which had been piled up in the corner. She placed the old cloth bag on the ground and gently smashed it with a hammer. The sound of shattering glass was muffled.