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Cereals and bread from Korea

Jeungpyeon (makgeolli-leavened rice cake)증편

Rice flour is mixed with makgeolli (unfiltered rice wine), sugar, salt and water. Yeasts and lactic bacteria from the makgeolli raise the dough in rises of a few hours, with the gas stirred out between them, and the risen dough is steamed into a soft, sponge-like, slightly sour cake. Korean Wikipedia says it is mainly eaten in summer.

Fully documentedCereals and bread4.2 days – 4.4 days

Recipe

Jeungpyeon (makgeolli-leavened rice cake), a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: 국립국어원, CC BY-SA 2.0 kr, via Wikimedia Commons
Amounts from a sourceLab recipe per 100 g of rice flour from Lim 2017; Park 2017 uses the same amounts of flour, makgeolli, water and salt. The sources used here give no household quantities. Yoon 2003 (abstract) found 1 part makgeolli to 2 parts water gave the highest rise. Seo 1992 (abstract) found rice flour, takju and sugar at 10:5:2 (w/v/w) gave the largest rise.
Rice flour100 gCommercial rice flour in the lab recipes; Wikipedia describes sieved non-glutinous rice flour[lim2017][park2017][wp]
Makgeolli30 mlCommercial makgeolli; it carries the live yeasts and lactic bacteria[lim2017][park2017]
Water40 ml[lim2017][park2017]
Sugar (sucrose)25 gNeeded for the rise; dough with no sucrose did not expand in one study[lim2017][seo1992]
Salt (NaCl)1 g[lim2017][park2017]
Starterother: makgeolli (takju), which carries live yeasts and lactic acid bacteria

Total time across the recorded steps: 4.2 days – 4.4 days

Start
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What changes: Starting material: sieved non-glutinous rice flour

Step 1 of 6
Start with sieved rice flour
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Yeasts
Lactic acid bacteria
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Lactobacillus plantarum
Lb. pentosus

In the lab studies commercial rice flour was used. Particle size of the flour did not change how far the dough expanded (Seo 1992, abstract). Output: rice flour.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Rice flour is mixed with makgeolli (unfiltered rice wine), sugar, salt and water. Yeasts and lactic bacteria from the makgeolli raise the dough in rises of a few hours, with the gas stirred out between them, and the risen dough is steamed into a soft, sponge-like, slightly sour cake. Korean Wikipedia says it is mainly eaten in summer. Made in 6 steps over 4.2 days – 4.4 days. The longest step, keep after steaming, takes 4 days (Yoon S.-J. 2003). Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Lactobacillus plantarum, Lb. pentosus and Lb. brevis do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step4 daysMeasured[yoon2003]Keep after steaming
Temperature35 °CReported[seo1992][park2017][lim2017]Let it rise, stir out the gas, rise again
AciditypH 4.1–4.8Measured[lim2017]Let it rise, stir out the gas, rise again

What makes this one different

Jeungpyeon is leavened by makgeolli, a rice liquor that carries live yeasts and lactic bacteria, so the dough rises in hours in the lab studies. FAO groups it with puto and idli as a leavened steamed rice cake, but without the legumes of idli. It needs sugar to rise, and the gas is mixed out between rises.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Lactic starters from jeung-pyunLactic bacteria isolated from jeung-pyun (Leuconostoc and Lactobacillus brevis) were tested as defined starters, but in wheat-flour dough rather than in rice dough (Lim 2018).

Safety

The dough reached pH 4.12–4.79 after 6.5 h at 35 °C in one study of five makgeolli. Korean Wikipedia says it does not go off quickly.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Korean Wikipedia says it is unclear when jeungpyeon was first eaten. It notes that sanghwa, a similar fermented cake brought from Yuan China, is recorded in the Goryeo period. The cake goes by several names, including gijeungtteok, gijitteok, sultteok and beong-geojitteok. FAO lists it as kichudok, made at household level in Korea and eaten on special occasions.

  1. [yoon2003] Yoon S.-J. 2003, Quality characteristics of jeungpyun with different ratios of makkulli leaven to water, Korean Journal of Food and Cookery Science 19(1):11–16 (abstract)paper
  2. [seo1992] Seo E.-J., Ryu H.-S., Kim S.-A. 1992, Physicochemical properties of Jeung-pyun (fermented rice cake) as influenced by processing conditions, Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition 21(1):101–108 (abstract)paper
  3. [lim2017] Lim S.B., Tingirikari J.M., Kwon Y.W., Li L., Kim G.E., Han N.S. 2017, Polyphasic microbial analysis of traditional Korean jeung-pyun sourdough fermented with makgeolli, Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology 27(2):226–233paper
  4. [park2017] Park J., Seo J.S., Kim S.A., Shin S.Y., Park J.H., Han N.S. 2017, Microbial diversity of commercial makgeolli and its influence on the organoleptic characteristics of Korean rice sourdough, jeung-pyun, Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology 27(10):1736–1743paper
  5. [lim2018] Lim S.B., Tingirikari J.M.R., Seo J.S., Li L., Shim S., Seo J.H., Han N.S. 2018, Isolation of lactic acid bacteria starters from Jeung-pyun for sourdough fermentation, Food Science and Biotechnology 27(1):73–78paper
  6. [fao1999] FAO 1999, Fermented cereals, a global perspective, chapter 3 (kichudok, Table 7 and Figure 13, after Steinkraus 1983)gov
  7. [wp] Wikipedia, Jeungpyeon (outline of the method and names)wiki
  8. [kowp] Korean Wikipedia, 증편 (names, history and why it is eaten in summer)wiki