Bread – a head for all

Newly baked bread with crispy crust is the best meal which is incomparable to anything! Bread is regarded as very sacred for the Uzbeks who treat it with care from the old days. In Uzbekistan bread is baked in flat shape in a special tandoori (clay oven) and called “non”. Two types of such flat bread are famous: “obi-non” based on dough and water and “patir non” which is made of dough with lamb fat and butter. This patir bread is baked in a clay oven longer the other types of bread and remains fresh longer as well. Also, there are other types of flat bread like flaky one with sliced pieces of fried meat, onion or nuts.

The history of origin of tandoori ovens for baking the bread goes back to the ancient times. Local pottery masters pass their skill of making such tandoori ovens from generation to generation. The main rule in making such oven is to use the processed clay in correct way and clay shouldn’t have walks. It is interesting that masters add wool into the clay to have binding. Also, interesting to see how a baker places flat dough sprinkled with sesame seeds into the tandoori. Baker puts a big mitten on his hand up to his elbow and puts the flat dough rounds side by side on the hot walls of tandoori and then these flat breads are sprinkled with water and this way they are baked under steam and heat created in the tandoori.

Many traditions and customs of Uzbek people are somehow linked with bread. There is a tradition based on which a person while leaving his house for a longer period bites off a piece of bread which is then kept until he comes back and eats up the rest. Each hostess meets guests with bread and tea. As a tradition flat bread is not cut by knife but broken by hands.

During wedding ceremonies the parents break bread at the table which means the engagement of a couple.

Each province of Uzbekistan is different with its recipe of baking the bread and has its unique taste.

For example, flat bread, baked in Galaosiyo village near Samarkand is famous far beyond the bounds of Samarkand province. Any guest who visits Samarkand buys such flat breads as a gift. And Ferghana valley is famous for tasty flaky “katlama” bread, each lay of which is washed with oil and sour cream.

Surprisingly, Uzbek bread preserves its unique taste even if stale one.