'K-Bread' with a fermented twist: Chef Im Hui-won's sulppang brand dreams big

"Korean food is gaining worldwide popularity, but when someone asks what bread represents Korea, I couldn't think of an answer."

On Friday, the food court of Hyundai Department Store's Apgujeong branch in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, was filled with the warm, nutty scent of butter. Rounds of sulppang — a traditional Korean rice wine bread — were browning on a griddle, drawing a steady stream of customers eager to try a piece fresh off the heat.

Sulppang, once the domain of traditional markets and highway rest stops, has found its way into a department store food court. The brand behind it is Drunken Dough, run by chef Im Hui-won. Unlike the conventional version — a large loaf steamed in a bamboo basket, sliced and sold in plastic bags — Drunken Dough's sulppang is portioned for one hand and individually wrapped, making it far more portable and shelf-ready.

Im ran a hansik dining bar called Buto for eight years before launching Drunken Dough, using the restaurant to explore a wide range of Korean cuisine. "My philosophy is to take tradition as a foundation and create hansik that speaks to the present," he said. "Cooking isn't simply the act of making food — it's the result of pouring life and experience into something."

That thinking led him naturally toward a distinctly Korean bread. While searching for something that could pair with wine in a Korean dining context, he landed on sulppang. For three to four years, he made it in-house at the restaurant, serving it alongside yukhoe, steak and seasoned greens to test its potential as a table bread. The bread also carries a personal memory. "My grandmother used to make sulppang at home when I was young," Im said. "Back then I didn't like the sharp smell of over-fermented makgeolli, but looking back now, that scent has become something I feel nostalgic about."

Im began developing Drunken Dough as a standalone brand this year, after two years of menu testing at the restaurant. Developing a recipe suited to large-scale production alone took more than eight months. "It took about two years and eight months in total to bring it to market," he said. "Even now I keep refining the recipe as I watch how consumers respond."

Drunken Dough's sulppang uses no commercial baking mix or leavening agents. Instead, makgeolli and dough are fermented together at low temperature over an extended period, then put through a third fermentation before being steamed. The entire process takes more than two days. Tasting it, the aggressively sweet note typical of conventional sulppang gives way to a mild, understated savoriness — what Koreans call "seumseumhan mat" — that pairs well not only with butter and cheese but also with curry, stew and sandwiches.

Im has also glimpsed the brand's export potential. Serving sulppang to customers of various nationalities — French, Italian and others — who visited the restaurant confirmed that the bread could travel. Product development using regional ingredients has been another consistent thread: sulppang incorporating local specialties such as maesil plums from Gwangyang, gondeure thistle from Pyeongchang and mulberries from Jeju's Biyangdo has led to collaborations with local governments and regional projects.

The brand's commercial strategy also sets it apart from conventional food companies. Rather than opening permanent stores, Im is prioritizing online sales and pop-up events to build a consumer base first. Pop-up schedules at Lotte and Shinsegae department stores through October have already been confirmed.

Im still sleeps only two or three hours a night as he works on new sulppang recipes. His goal is clear: to create a K-bread that can represent Korea to the world. "There is K-food — ramyun and the like — but there isn't much yet that you could call K-bread," he said. "I want to build a brand that uses quality ingredients and fermentation technology to share Korean food culture with the world."