Linyi Tall Steamed Buns 临沂高桩馒头
Linyi Tall Steamed Buns is featured among the local specialties of Shandong.
Image notes
Resized for the web; the photo itself has not been edited.
Linyi Tall Steamed Buns (临沂高桩馒头) are slender wheat buns associated with Feixian (费县), especially Shangye (上冶). Steaming them upright on bamboo skewers leaves a hole in the base beneath a rounded top.
How it is made
Feixian’s media centre describes a starter made from soured millet broth mixed with flour. This is stirred into flour and water to ferment; dissolved food-grade alkali and further flour are then worked into the risen dough. Repeated kneading continues until a cut surface shows evenly distributed small holes.
The shaped dough is pressed gently and vertically onto bamboo skewers set in a steamer rack. Careful centring keeps the base hole in the middle. Feixian media centre specifies fifteen minutes over high heat, five over low heat and a further five-minute pause before the lid is opened.
Flavour and texture
Working raw flour into the dough gives the buns a firm, chewy, layered texture. The county description also notes their white, smooth surface and springiness. The name qiangmian momo (呛面馍馍) refers to the added-flour method; qianzi mantou (签子馒头) refers to the skewers.
Where it comes from
Feixian’s media centre identifies the Li family in Shangye with the local tradition, which belongs to both the county and the wider Linyi (临沂) area.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-26. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.