Hwangnam-ppang (Gyeongju Red Bean Pastry)

Variations

• Hwangnam-ppang and Gyeongju-ppang: the original was made from 1939 by Choi Young-hwa (1917-1995) in the Hwangnam district of Gyeongju, and the name Choi Young-hwa bread is used for it too. Other makers later produced the same thing under the general name Gyeongju-ppang, usually slightly larger and with a different stamp. The method is effectively identical.
• Not the same as chalbori-ppang, Gyeongju's other speciality: a chewy barley-flour bun with bean paste that is steamed, not baked, so its skin is nothing like this one.
• With skinned paste: koshian, with the skins removed, is far smoother and reads sweeter. But the character of hwangnam-ppang is the bite of the whole bean skins, so swapping it moves the pastry towards manju.
• Without a stamp: radial lines scored with a fork or chopstick will do. The pattern is not only decoration but the route steam escapes by, so with none at all the casing balloons and splits — prick it with a toothpick instead.
• In an air fryer: 170°C for 12-14 minutes. The heat comes hard from above, so do not turn them; lay a sheet of paper over the top.
• Related red bean pastries: dorayaki bakes its two skins separately and sandwiches the paste, and taiyaki pours a thin batter into a mould. Hwangnam-ppang instead wraps the casing by hand, which puts its handwork closer to songpyeon or mandu.

Tips

• Cooking the paste down far enough is the first hurdle. The casing is thin, so even slightly too much moisture inside turns to steam and pushes it apart in the oven. The mark is a spatula trail that closes slowly — and stop a touch loose, because it firms further as it cools.
• Sugar only after the beans are fully soft. Sugar added early tightens the skins by osmosis and the beans stop softening. That order applies to pulses generally (soaking, what sugar does).
• Throw the first boiling water away. The astringency (saponins) leaves with it.
• Do not knead the casing dough. Develop gluten in a soft flour and it will not thin out, and bakes tough. Stop as soon as no dry flour shows (dough and gluten, choosing flour).
• The 30 minutes in the fridge is what makes thin wrapping possible. Freshly mixed, the dough sticks to your hands and tears the thinner you try to press it. Cold, it firms and handles completely differently.
• Thin enough that the paste shows through. That is the definition of this pastry. A thick casing just gives you a bean bun, and the casing-to-paste ratio that makes it hwangnam-ppang is gone.
• Gather the seam underneath and press it shut. A seam left open is where it splits in the oven (wrapping and sealing).
• The pattern is a vent. The chrysanthemum is not only there to be pretty: the pressed grooves thin the casing and steam leaves along those lines. Where you cannot stamp, toothpick holes do the same job.
• Stop at pale gold. A casing this thin dries far faster than other breads. By the time it is deep brown it has already started to crack, so watch the clock rather than the colour (what your oven is doing, browning).
• Egg wash very thinly. Laid on thick it fills the grooves and the stamping was for nothing.
• Better fully cooled. Straight from the oven the casing is fragile and the hot paste tastes of little but sugar. As it cools the casing draws moisture from the paste and softens (serving temperature).
• Keeps two or three days at room temperature. Refrigerated, the casing goes dry and crumbly. To keep them longer, wrap individually and freeze; thaw at room temperature and a brief steam brings them close to fresh (freezing and thawing, steaming, reviving leftovers).