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Goldthread

In northern China, there is a type of pancake three times the size of your face.
Guobing is a wheat product made with fermented dough. It’s a speciality of Shandong Province, where people have been eating it as a snack for more than 100 years.
The name literally means “pot biscuit” because it resembles the mouth of a giant pot. One guobing can stretch up to 38cm in diameter and weigh over 2.5kg.
Slicing a guobing will reveal a plethora of layers that are formed by stacking sheets of dough on top of each other. The outer layer is crispy, while the inner layers are chewy, offering a sensational textural contrast.
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Because it’s made with fermented dough, guobing can last for a long time. “Store it for three days in June, and it will not go bad,” says Li Zhifen, a guobing maker in Shandong. “Store it for a month during winter, and it will not go bad.”
Locals have a number of ways to eat it. The bread is often sold in slices, which are then toasted, paired with soup, or eaten on their own.


A guobing is very filling and can feed a big family for several meals, locals say. Sometimes, they’re presented as gifts on special occasions, such as weddings.
The recipe for guobing is simple enough. Water and flour are combined with fermented dough to make fresh dough.
But the technique involved is tricky. The dough is flattened into thin sheets. The sheets are then brushed with oil and then folded and stacked on top of each other to form the guobing’s signature layers.

The whole thing is then wrapped inside a larger sheet of dough, like a gift bag, and then flattened into a large pancake.
Another variation of guobing involves flattening the dough into large rectangles.
That version, known as chaopai, is named after bamboo tablets that court officials would use to take notes during meetings with the emperor.


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The giant pastry is called a guobing, which literally means ‘pot biscuit’ because it resembles the mouth of a giant pot
One guobing can stretch up to 38cm in diameter and weigh more than 2.5kg



The giant pastry is called a guobing, which literally means ‘pot biscuit’ because it resembles the mouth of a giant pot.


China society

Chinese culture