Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Fermentation Atlas

Cereals and bread from Korea

Jeungpyeon (gijeong-tteok, makgeolli-leavened rice cake)증편

Non-glutinous rice flour is mixed with makgeolli (unfiltered rice liquor), sugar, salt and warm water. Yeasts and lactic bacteria from the liquor raise the dough in three stages, with the gas stirred out between them, and the risen dough is steamed into a soft, spongy, slightly sour cake. Its acidity helps it keep, so it is a summer rice cake. Made in 7 steps over 4.3 days – 4.7 days. The longest step, keep at room temperature, 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 at room temperature
Temperature35–40 °CReported[yoon2003]Mix with makgeolli, sugar, salt and warm water
AciditypH 4.1–4.8Measured[lim2017]Let it rise, stir out the gas, rise again
Fully documentedCereals and bread4.3 days – 4.7 daysMore cereals and breadMore from Korea

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceTested recipe from Yoon 2003, the best-rated of five makgeolli-to-water ratios (1 part makgeolli to 2 parts water). An earlier study found rice flour, takju and sugar at 10:5:2 (w/v/w) gave the largest rise (Seo et al. 1992).
450 gNon-glutinous rice flour · Rice washed three times, soaked 8 h, drained 30 min, ground and sieved twice at 20 mesh[yoon2003]
100 gMakgeolli · Commercial makgeolli; it carries the live yeasts and lactic bacteria[yoon2003]
200 gWater · Warmed to 35–40 °C with the sugar and salt dissolved in it[yoon2003]
100 gSugar · Needed for the rise; dough with no sugar barely swelled in one study[yoon2003][seo1992]
5 gSalt[yoon2003]
Starterother: makgeolli (takju), which carries live yeasts and lactic acid bacteria

Total time across the recorded steps: 4.3 days – 4.7 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
Close-up: water moving into a grain

What changes: Washed rice soaks in water and swells

Step 1 of 7
Soak the rice
Time
3–8 h
Reported
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

Output: soaked non-glutinous rice.

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

What makes this one different

Jeungpyeon is leavened by makgeolli, a rice liquor that carries live yeasts and lactic bacteria, so it rises in hours. Puto and idli batters instead ferment on their own, overnight or longer. It is made from rice flour alone, needs sugar to rise, and its gas is stirred out between rises.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Lactic starter jeung-pyunLactic bacteria isolated from jeung-pyun (Leuconostoc and Lactobacillus brevis) tested as defined starters in place of makgeolli.
  • Dry-yeast jeung-pyunEarlier studies replaced takju with dry yeast.

Safety

The finished dough reached pH 4.12–4.79 in one study, and its acidity is why it keeps better than other rice cakes. In one study it was kept 4 days at room temperature and hardened day by day.

History and sources

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

Korean cookbooks of the 1600s, Jubangmun and Eumsik dimibang (1670), already describe rice flour mixed with liquor brewed with nuruk, left somewhere warm until it swells, and steamed. Later cookbooks through the 1900s record it, and it was served at royal banquets. FAO lists it as kichudok, a household cake for 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):11–16paper
  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):101–108paper
  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