Hanyin Griddle-Baked Flatbread 汉阴炕炕馍

Hanyin Griddle-Baked Flatbread (汉阴炕炕馍) is a sesame-covered bread made in round and rectangular forms. The round version is about the size of a bowl opening, with a thick edge and thin centre. Sesame may cover one face or both.

The enriched dough

The leavened flour dough incorporates a cooked shortening mixture. A little flour is fried with lard, vegetable oil, alkali, salt and five-spice seasoning to make this mixture. The bread also has closely spaced knife marks that stop short of cutting it apart.

Charcoal above and below

Portions of dough are shaped and rolled into bread blanks, then wetted so that sesame seeds adhere. They bake on an iron griddle heated by charcoal from above and below. The cook turns them twice, until the surface yellows and the sesame seeds puff and give off their aroma. Ankang’s municipal government describes the finished bread as crisp and fragrant.