Tancheng Matou Baked Flatbread 郯城马头烤牌

How it is made

The Tancheng county government lists seven steps: raising the dough, working in extra flour, kneading, shaping, colouring, scattering sesame and baking. Brown sugar is first cooked with water in an iron pan until it just starts to change colour, and the sesame seeds are soaked, lightly pounded to loosen the skins, winnowed and dried in the sun. The dough is leavened like steamed-bun dough with a starter, then kneaded with fresh flour, rolled into a long strip, sprinkled with ground Sichuan pepper and salt, rolled up and cut into pieces. Each piece is brushed with the sugar colouring, stuck to the inside of the oven and baked for about ten minutes.

The Qingdao paper describes a dough made of three parts in equal measure: old leavened dough, scalded dough and fresh dough. It is kneaded until the surface is smooth and makes a 'peng peng' sound when slapped.

Flavour and texture

Fresh from the oven, the bread is crisp but not hard, fragrant and sweet, and golden on the outside. The county government says it is filling enough to eat without any other dish. In Matou it is also one of the foods, with youtiao (油条) and shaobing (烧饼), eaten alongside a hot bowl of sa (糁) for breakfast; the county government calls sa the town's leading snack and describes it as barley kernels cooked overnight with chicken, beef or mutton.

Where it comes from

A legend retold by the Qingdao paper links the bread to Fang Xiaoru (方孝孺) of the Ming dynasty, who opposed the Yongle Emperor's seizure of the throne and whose clan was wiped out. Relatives and students who escaped are said to have settled in Matou and shaped dough like an official's tablet in his memory, with the sesame seeds standing for the writing on it.