Xizhou Baba (Crisp Flatbread)

Xizhou baba is a traditional Bai baked flatbread from Xizhou town in Dali, made from wheat dough that is leavened, rolled round and baked in a flat pan over a distinctive two-layer charcoal fire—fierce heat above, gentle heat below—until golden, crisp on the outside and soft and rich within, in savoury or sweet versions.

Xizhou baba began as an everyday food of Bai farming families in Xizhou, and is said to have been handed down through the Yang family of folk bakers, refined in the late Qing dynasty by Yang Fuxing and others into the treat widely loved across Dali today; it takes its name from the town of its birth.

Fresh from the fire the baba crackles with oil and fragrance; the savoury kind is filled with minced pork, scallion and spiced salt, the sweet with brown sugar or rose jam, best torn and eaten hot, a must-try snack made to order around the square of Xizhou old town.

Its two-layer charcoal baking, the flaky "broken-crust" contrast of crisp and soft, and the pairing of savoury and sweet are what set Xizhou baba apart from flatbreads elsewhere.