• Pong piah is made by wrapping maltose and sesame in dough, rolling it thinly, then baking it. In the oven, the maltose starts to cook and the dough puffs up, creating a hollow space within as the filling sticks on the dough. As “膨” (“expand”) is pronounced pong in Hokkien, and the Chinese character “碰” (pèng) is often mispronounced as pong in Mandarin due to the influence of Hokkien, the pastry’s name came to be written as “碰饼”.
• As the baked pong piah is crispy, sweet and fragrant, it is also known as “香饼”, which is made up of the words “香” (“fragrant”) and “饼” (“pastry”).
• As pong piah is quite filling, coffee shops generally sold it as a snack to relieve hunger in the early days.
• Due to intense competition in the 1950s to 1970s, many bakeries tweaked their pong piah recipes, including changing the traditional crust to a Western-style buttery crust, to increase its crispiness.
• The key to a delicious pong piah is its maltose syrup, which must be heated to the right viscosity so that the pong piah will not be hard. This allows even seniors with dentures to enjoy it.

Pong piah was also known as “confinement biscuit” as it was consumed for nutrition in the early days by women in postpartum confinement. (Lianhe Zaobao, 13/1/2013)

椪饼 (Taiwan)

The most nutritious way for women in postpartum confinement to eat pong piah was said to be to poke a hole in the crust, pour in a beaten egg and dried longans, and pan-fry the whole thing with sesame oil.