Chiping Horse-Hoof Sesame Flatbread 茌平马蹄烧饼
Chiping Horse-Hoof Sesame Flatbread is featured among the local specialties of Shandong.
Chiping Horse-Hoof Sesame Flatbread (茌平马蹄烧饼) is a sesame-crusted flatbread from Boping (博平) town in Chiping District (茌平区), Liaocheng (聊城), Shandong. It takes its name from its shape, which resembles a horse's hoof, and is also called Boping flatbread (博平烧饼) or hanging-oven flatbread (吊炉烧饼). The Dazhong Daily describes it as a staple that people in Chiping cannot do without at the table.
How it is made
Making it takes several fiddly stages. The dough is shaped and twisted so that it carries a spiral pattern, the top is dipped in malt syrup and pressed into a thick layer of sesame seeds, and the piece is formed into its hoof shape. It is then baked in a hanging oven, the kind of oven that gives the bread its other name.
Flavour and texture
Each flatbread comes out golden, smelling of sesame. The underside, which lies against the floor of the oven, turns slightly brown, giving extra chew and flavour.
Where it comes from
A local legend holds that the Qianlong Emperor, passing through Boling county (博陵县, today's Boping) on a southern tour, praised the flatbread and named it after its hoof-like shape. Horse-hoof flatbread entered the Liaocheng municipal list of intangible cultural heritage in 2011. Its 23rd-generation inheritor, Cheng Dianyong (成电勇), sells more than a thousand a day in the run-up to the Spring Festival, when sales are brisk; it is also sold at rural market fairs.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-24. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.
Image credits & notes (1)
- Reference photo of a similar dish · 同类菜品参考照片A similar preparation is pictured; the local version may differ. 同类菜品参考照片，当地做法可能不同。Photo: N509FZ · CC BY-SA 4.0Resized for the web; the photo itself has not been edited. Thumbnails may show a cropped view.
