Although there were many great scenes in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, one of the most talked about was a simple moment where Rey sits down to have a small portion of instant, self-rising bread.
It's not even a long scene, but geek foodies quickly loved the idea and started trying to figure out how such a bread might work in the real world.
Food writer Jenn Fujikawa decided to come up with her own recipe for the bread, which only requires a few basic ingredients, a mug and a microwave. Of course, this still isn't quite as cool as the bread in the movie, but it's definitely a good copy of the original (and Fujikawa promises that it's tasty).
"Now you can recreate this magical meal by making your own version of Rey's Portion Bread in under a minute," writes Fujikawa on StarWars.com. "Pour the ingredients into a cup, add liquid and heat, and just like that - you've got a fluffy, sweet, portable bread ready to take with you to the junkfields. Happy scavenging!"
Here are the list of ingredients: ½ teaspoon vegetable oil, 4 tablespoons cake flour, 1-½ tablespoons sugar, ½ teaspoon matcha powder (this green tea powder gives the bread its signature green tint), ¼ teaspoon baking powder, a pinch of salt, 2 tablespoons whole milk and ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract. Combine everything in a greased mug (make sure to add the milk and vanilla last), then microwave for 45 seconds. Out pops a risen piece of green bread almost identical to Rey's, perfect for the single diner.
So what about the bread that fans saw in the movie? Turns out that wasn't CGI, but a practical effect. But that effect took about three months to perfect.
"You wouldn't believe how long it took to actually perfect that one, that little tiny gag in the film," said The Force Awakens special effects supervisor Chris Corbould to MTV. "It started off with the mechanics of getting the bread to rise and the liquid to disappear, but then there was the ongoing problem of what color should the bread be? What consistency should it be? Should it have cracks in it? Should it not have cracks in it?"
However, unlike Fujikawa's recipe, the movie bread was not made for consumption: not only did it probably taste horrible, but it also had no real nutritional value. But most Star Wars fans would agree that it looked great on film.
Photo: StarWars.com
