Thin flat breads are rolled in sesame and baked to a crisp fragrant wafer. Zhoucun shaobing is now one of Shandong's most popular souvenirs. [Photo by Ju Chuanjiang / China Daily]

"The original shaobing is about 2-cm thick and tastes no different from the common baked bread. People used to buy it as staple. It was my grandfather who improved its flavor," Guo Fanglin, the 77-year-old current owner of Juhezhai says with pride.

Inspired by a thin pancake popular locally, his grand-father Guo Yunlong, rolled out the dough as thin as possible to improve its texture and made it much crispier.

He stacked them in 10s and wrapped them in paper. The thin flatbreads became the city's most popular snack, and was chosen as a tribute to the Imperial court.

"The recipe and cooking methods are passed down from generation to generation and I only started to learn it from my father in my teens," he says.

Fragile moons that are richly crusted with sesame, Zhoucun shaobing uses a fusion of Chinese and western baking techniques fi ne-tuned by a dedicated baker.