'Tastier Than Tous Les Jours': Esther Kim Releases English-Language K-Baking Book > 뉴스 보스톤코리아

(Boston = Bostonkorea) Myong Sool Chang = "The mocha bread was a total hit. People told me it was the best they'd had in their lives, and even folks who don't normally like bread said they couldn't stop reaching for it — that it tasted better than Tous Les Jours."

That review, from a reader in Maryland, appears on the cover of "Esther's Failure-Free Home Baking Class." The reaction is much the same among other students of Kim Yeon-hyang — known as Esther — who runs the Boston-based "Esther Online Baking."

Last year, Kim published a book in Korea featuring 40 popular recipes designed so that even beginners can bake bread at home without fail. As requests poured in from readers who wanted their English-speaking children and neighbors to be able to bake too, she followed up this May with an English-language recipe book, "Esther's Korean Baking at Home."

Kim, who has lived in the United States for 21 years, introduces herself as "a piano major who spent years in music education, then ran a bakery café and taught Korean baking through online classes." She said she published the English edition "to share the charm of Korean baking with even more readers."

The pianist's path to baking began with a craving. "I just really wanted that light, soft fresh-cream cake on a fluffy sponge," she said. When her child's first birthday arrived, she wanted to celebrate with the very cake she had been missing — so she began making it herself with ingredients she could find at American grocery stores. That was the starting point for baking and teaching Korean-style cream cake in the US. "They say the thirsty person digs the well," she said. "The one who wanted to eat it ended up being the one who made it."

What began as a hobby gradually moved to the center of her life. Back when she taught piano, she baked cookies as reward gifts and made cakes for students who placed well in competitions. Striving to get things right produced plenty of failed loaves and cookies, which she shared with parents and neighbors. Then, at some point, the parents started placing orders. That was how her life in baking began.

She later ran a bakery café in Michigan and, at a Whole Foods Market in the Boston area, experienced firsthand the strict quality control and work systems of a major American food chain. Making the strawberry shortcakes that sold out almost as soon as they hit the shelves each weekend, she said, taught her that good ingredients and a systematic process are what earn customer trust.

"At Whole Foods I learned not just how to make a cake, but how to treat ingredients and why a solid work system matters," Kim said. "If I ever go into business again, those are the standards I'd want to apply."

"Esther's Korean Baking at Home" is built so that breads familiar to Koreans — soboro bread (a streusel-topped roll), sweet red-bean bread and Korean-style cream cake among them — can be made with American ingredients in a home oven. It covers how American ingredients differ, the temperatures and timing for baking Korean-style breads in American ovens, and the spots where beginners most often slip up. The book is available on Amazon for $19.99.

Kim said her dream is to one day open a small café with a grand piano — a space for music, Korean-style baked goods, and a place where people can rest for a while. In her online classes she always signs off with "Happy Baking, Happy Sharing," a phrase that captures her hope that the joy of baking leads to the joy of sharing.

The following is a Q&A with author Esther Kim.

You published the Korean book first, then an English edition. What led you to publish an English edition as well?

Honestly, I never planned to publish in English. But people who bought the Korean book kept telling me, "Make an English version so our kids who love baking can follow along too," and members of my church here said the same thing after tasting the Korean desserts I brought in. That's when it struck me — this isn't food just for Koreans. With so much interest in K-culture these days, I worked up the courage, hoping it might be a small help to English-speaking home bakers.

Which K-baking items were the most popular?

If I had to pick one, it's definitely Korean milk bread (sikppang). There are so many crisp, savory pastries in America, but Korean milk bread isn't sweet and doesn't have a strong aroma — it's simply fluffy and soft. People trying it for the first time are amazed by that cozy texture. This book includes the menu items that foreign customers loved when I ran my bakery café, along with the recipes that drew an especially good response in my online classes — and among them, milk bread is the one I recommend most confidently.

Which recipe are you most attached to?

The basic bread dough. It's a kind of all-purpose dough — once you master it, you can make red-bean bread, soboro bread, sausage bread, even twisted donuts (kkwabaegi). It's the recipe I actually used when I ran my bakery café, so it means even more to me. It feels less like a recipe and more like an old friend. ^^

What would you recommend first to someone new to the book?

Fresh-cream scones. Honestly, I'd love to recommend everything in the book, but if I have to choose just one. ^^ Scones are usually so dry that they're hard to eat without jam or butter. But these are moist and rich, and they're far easier to make than you'd expect. I love watching people's faces the first time they make them — "Did I really make this?"

What's your dream going forward?

I have one dream: to open a café filled with music. I'd put a small stage with a grand piano in the center, where musicians could play freely and I could play too. All three of my children play instruments and sing, so I imagine we might even hold a family concert someday. A space with fragrant coffee, Korean baked goods, warm desserts, and music — if it could become a place where people pause for a moment, find a little comfort, and make good memories, I couldn't ask for more. There's a line I always share in my online classes: "Happy Baking, Happy Sharing." It holds my hope that the joy of baking leads to the joy of sharing, and I think that café would be an extension of the same idea.

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