Baker tweaks age-old recipe to add some flavour to his creations

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MENTION the words Sitiawan and Foochow together and there are bound to be images of mouth-watering delicacies entering the mind. In particular, the humble biscuit known as the Gong Pian.

A delicious creation, the biscuit is an iconic snack with the original recipe brought to Sitiawan by early Foochow settlers from China.

The best place to try these delights is the Sitiawan Cheong Cia Gong Pian shop, an small unassuming corner shop on a busy main road in the town some 88km from Ipoh.

Hot stuff: A glimpse into the hot oven with the gong pian baking on the walls.

The shop is a hive of activity and each time the baking takes place, a strong aroma invites patrons to form a long queue in just a matter of minutes.

Taking the first bite off the freshly baked, piping hot biscuits is truly enjoyable, with the savoury aroma of onions, lard and pastry filling your palate, while the crispy skin that is baked to perfection imparts a strong, earthy flavour.

The chef behind the simple pastry, Cheong Hiong Koh, 45, said the original recipe did not contain any fillings and tasted very plain.

“After taking over the business from my grand uncle, I was able to tweak the recipe and filled the biscuits with lightly salted fried onions,” he said, adding that the recipe is very labour-intensive.

The baking process requires some 90 minutes, beginning with the careful kneading of the wheat flour and yeast by hand before rolling it in a machine.

After that, the dough is flattened and rolled into smaller pieces before being stuffed with lard and onions and rolled again with a rolling pin.

It is then put into a heated oven for a few minutes of baking before the dough becomes crispy and hard.

As time is needed to heat up the ovens using quality charcoal from Kuala Sepetang, Taiping, Cheong typically commences his operations as early as 7am each day.

All set: Cheong (right) placing the raw gong pian into the oven with help from an employee.

He tries to bake up to five cycles in a day to produce as many as 1,500 pieces of Gong Pian.

“Customers come from various parts of Perak and some even from other states like Johor.

“Every time they come, they will order up to 100 pieces. It is hard to please everyone because of the time needed to prepare it,” he said.

Cheong uses up to two bags of charcoal weighing a total of 60 to 70kg each day. He said it is the combination of the charcoal, oven and hand-kneading that produces the Gong Pian’s unique crunchiness and taste.

“I have tried using conventional ovens and even machines in the kneading process, but the taste produced just could not match the current hand-made version,” he said.

And it is because of this very taste that the crowd keeps coming back to Cheong for his Gong Pian.

“I have three ovens, each of which can bake up to 100 pieces at a time, but with customers often buying 100 pieces each, it is hard to keep up with the demand.

“I have even stopped making the char siew (barbequed meat) version despite its popularity because of the extra 30 minutes required to bake it,” he said.

Cheong’s Gong Pian, which only cost 80 sen each, are literally snapped up like hot cakes.

Often, an entire batch disappears within 15 minutes of being taken out of the oven.

As such, patience is highly recommended when on a quest for Sitiawan Gong Pian!.