Hot And Fresh Delivery Pizza, Straight To You! (1)

“All right! Let’s do this!”

It was still early morning, before the sun had even risen. I finished getting ready in my room and raised my voice in front of the mirror.

I was fully fired up. Starting today, I would practice a new dish to serve the young master.

No matter what happened, I absolutely had to make this one delicious.

My motivation surged even higher.

I left my room humming to myself, only to find Anne coming out of the room next door at the exact same time.

“Good morning, Shirley! You’re starting a new dish today, right? I’m looking forward to it!”

“Good morning, Anne. You really are always bursting with energy!”

We greeted each other and exchanged bright smiles.

Until now, I had always cooked by myself, but having a partner really was wonderful.

The two of us cheerfully rushed straight into the kitchen.

Surely we would be the only ones coming here this early… or so I thought, but contrary to my expectations, someone had beaten us to it.

“Ah.”

“Ah.”

The moment we saw each other’s faces, we both blurted out the same thing.

Standing at the stove inside the kitchen, intently preparing something, was… Jacqueline.

“…G-Good morning.”

An awkward silence stretched between us, so I finally greeted her.

Ignoring her felt like it might only irritate her further, and I wanted to avoid that.

I was not expecting a reply, but after a brief hesitation, Jacqueline unexpectedly returned my greeting.

“Good morning.”

Then she turned away and went straight back to her cooking.

All sorts of thoughts crossed my mind—why had she decided to answer me, and wow, she was working awfully hard to be cooking this early—but I walked past her as though nothing had happened.

Whatever the case, I did not want to do anything that might put her in a bad mood.

Just act normal. Perfectly normal.

Anne followed behind me as though using me as a shield.

Then I headed toward the stone ovens at the back of the kitchen.

This kitchen was equipped with three large, well-used stone ovens.

The dish I was making today required one of these rather than the stove.

“I’ll put the firewood in, Shirley.”

“Thanks, Anne. Please do.”

We briskly went about our preparations.

The senior maids often used the stone ovens, so once they arrived, low-ranking maids like us would have to wait our turn.

That was why we had woken up early—to get in plenty of practice before that happened.

“Come on, burn, burn!”

I said as I lit some straw over the stove and used it to ignite the firewood stacked inside the stone oven.

Stoves were incredibly convenient for everyday cooking, but I did not dislike cooking over firewood either.

As long as I ignored the hassle of preparing the wood and getting the fire started, anyway.

Once I confirmed that the firewood was roaring away, I took out the dough I had prepared the night before and left to rest in the refrigerator.

The dough was made by mixing bread flour with cake flour, adding several other ingredients, then kneading everything thoroughly with water. At this stage, there was nothing particularly unusual about it.

By the way, do you know the difference between bread flour and cake flour?

Actually, I did not really know either. Apparently, they came from different kinds of wheat or something like that.

Both were fairly easy to obtain even in this world, so I had simply kept using them all this time without thinking too deeply about what made them different. Hehe.

It was fine. I only wanted to cook, after all.

Leave the rice cakes to the rice-cake maker. Likewise, I could leave the details of wheat to the people who produced it.

Making that excuse to myself, I pressed down firmly on the nicely risen dough in front of Anne, knocking the air out of it.

Bread was the staple food of this country, so naturally I had made more than enough of it by now.

Though Mother had once told me, “Bread is the one thing you’re still not very good at.”

But that could not be helped. I had always been a rice person.

Breakfast had always meant rice to me, and without rice, it never really felt like I had eaten a proper meal. I had even eaten okonomiyaki and stew with rice.

No complaints regarding this matter would be accepted.

Yes, that was why every single time I baked bread, I always thought, Ahh, I want rice so badly…

I wanted to eat a breakfast of rice, miso soup, grilled fish, nori, and natto one more time.

Oh, rice, surely you existed somewhere in this world too.

If so, fly to me this instant. Come to me, the girl who could never stop loving you!

As I poured all my love for rice into those thoughts, I divided the dough into several portions and rolled one of them out thinly with a rolling pin.

Anne, who had been watching me, raised her voice in surprise.

“What are you doing, Shirley? You’re rolling the dough awfully thin. Are you making a pie today?”

It was a perfectly reasonable question.

In this country, pies were about the only pastries made with dough rolled this thin.

But not today.

“Ufufu, not this time, Anne. Just watch.”

As I spoke, I shaped the dough into a circle, keeping it thin without letting it tear.

Some people said pizza dough should be as thin as possible, but I personally preferred it with a little thickness.

Once it was round, I folded the outer edge slightly to form a crust, then quickly brushed olive oil over the surface.

On top of that, I spread a special sauce made by mixing ketchup with finely chopped garlic and herbs, taking care not to use so much that the flavor became overpowering.

At this point, I was almost done. Next, I showered the top with as much shredded cheese as I could reasonably pile on.

Yes, you already knew what it was by now, didn’t you?

Today’s menu was… everyone’s favorite, pizza!

Now that I had ketchup, there was simply no way I could pass up making this.

“Oh… So this time it’s basically a kind of cheese bread. That’s surprisingly normal for one of your dishes.”

Anne sounded impressed.

Indeed, bread and cheese were a classic combination even in this world.

Give people bread, cheese, and soup, and you basically had a guaranteed happy meal.

“Pretty much. But this is special. It’s so delicious it’ll blow your mind.”

I declared that confidently, then arranged sliced bacon and sausage over the cheese.

Today’s pizza was a meat pizza. I was not putting vegetables on it as a rule.

After all, I was making it for the young master, who hated vegetables. That much was obvious.

“All right, prep complete! Now all that’s left is to bake it!”

Well, I said all that was left, but the baking itself was the difficult part.

Baking was the heart of pizza. If it burned, or the dough or cheese came out half-raw, the disappointment would be immeasurable.

But even if I failed, I could simply practice again and again.

This was my journey toward learning how to bake a perfect pizza in a stone oven.

Ahh, thinking of it that way made it sound so exciting.

And at the end of that journey, I would earn the title of “a woman who can bake pizza in a stone oven.”

Ahh, what a wonderful phrase. A woman who can bake pizza in a stone oven.

Was that not such a magnificent skill that it deserved to be recognized as a national qualification?

Now then… let the challenge begin!

But just then, I suddenly sensed someone’s gaze and turned around.

And standing there was… Jacqueline!