Dear Antonella,

Thank you for your distinguished question. I will talk about  tannur only and specifically the Egyptian tannur. We do not usually called this word in Egypt , but we call it Baladi (national) oven. This type of ovens revived again in Egypt because the high prices of natural gas. The oven is made of clay mixed with hays, in the middle of the oven has a round flat and hard clay that use to place bread and other vessels on. I have attached some pictures for you.

Best regards

Dear Antonella,

Now do you know what is the fuel for this oven?

Apparently wood and charcoal that is wrong! However, the right fuel is called in Egypt Galla disks. The idea behind using these disks that  there is no waste in the Egyptian farm ,so the farmers make The Galla from feces of animals, that gather and left for 3 days with adding water every day apart from the 4th day that feces  become easy to have a shape so it shapes like disks and then left under the sun for 2-3 days until becomes dry then use in the oven as a fuel. I have attached a picture for Galla disks

Good luck

Aly

Dear Aly,

thank you very much for information and beautiful pictures, very helpful to understand. Baladi oven seems a dome-shaped oven, isnt'it? So, usually vertical ovens (those where bread dough is slapped onto inner vertical walls of the oven) is rarely used?

Thank you again,

Antonella

Dear Antonella,

The Baldi oven is not  common in Egyptian cities like  Cairo, but still found in rural areas and still used in these areas as well. Yes it is a dome-shaped and used mainly to bake Baladi bread.

Best regards

Aly

Dear Antonella,

You asked also about type of flatbread, I have set a link for you to see a type of very popular bread used in Egypt called Roqaq رقاق that made from flour and water only, however some recent recipes use yeast with that, also in this video there another type of recent oven used specifically for this type of flat bread. The video is in Arabic but I think you still enjoy of how the the lady is making this bread.. Enjoy watching

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-0S6BMDTuY

Best regards

Aly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-0S6BMDTuY

Dear Aly,

very interesting, thank you! Are there some specific differences between Baladi bread and Roqaq?

In Italy too, but exclusively in Sardinia island, are produced several types of flatbread. So, we have many points of contact with Egypt!

Here below you can find the link link about the production of Carasau bread, the most famous among Sardinia flatbreads. The video was made in the Sixties (sorry it is in Italian); now the situation is much more urbanized and less rural, but the main productive steps of this kind of bread have remained the same.

After baking, Carasau bread (a two-layered pocket bread such as Baladi bread and Roqaq) is cut to separate the upper and lower layers. These two layers are then submitted to a second baking to make them crisp and extend shelf-life to some months. Bread is appreciated because it is very thin.

Hope you enjoy the video.

Best regards,

Antonella

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abfVGptM0EE

Dear Antonella,

Very interesting video, the whole thing is also interesting; the managing work among ladies, their clothes and the oven itself similar to Egyptian oven, even sound of cokes. The Carasau bread is very similar to Roqaq  apart that is having two layers. I am not sure if  contains yeast  or not? However, the Roqaq is not eaten in Egypt dry but have a special recipe to make.  In this recipe  each layer of Roqaq wet by soup and stack on each other in a suitable round tray then place a layer of cooked minced meat then cover with more layers of wet Roqaq and bake in the oven.  I have attached a video for Roqaq but in Arabic and a little bit noisy.

The difference between Roqaq and Baladi bread is much, in terms of ingredients and methods used. Roqaq is made of wheat flour with 72% extraction while Baladi bread from almost whole wheat flour, that's why is a dark bread.  Yeast is used as  starter in this bread,  so it  takes time for fermentation, while Roqaq rarely yeast is used. Consistency also another factor, bread is a little bit sticky and molded on disk of wood that has lots wheat flour with bran while Roqaq is a a dry dough easy to spread with special rolling pin.   

I have enjoyed answering your distinguished question and your video as well

All the best

Aly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp2M9md6ihg 

Dear Aly,

the recipe seems delicious! You gave me an idea for trying to prepare something similar!

About Carasau bread, it is leavened (otherwise it does not puff), but traditionally no bakers' yeast is added: simply a part of dough of some days before is added to fresh flour (sourdough or natural yeast) and left to rise. After first leavening, the dough is divided into small portions and flattened by rolling pin, than the discs are leavened again and finally baked.

I have heard of another traditional Egyptian bread, called shamsi bread, that should mean "bread baked in the sun". Is this right? Do you know this kind of bread? Of course I am speaking of an old type of bread, not currently produces, I suppose. I do not know if shamsi bread is a flatbread or not.

Thank you again,

kind regards

Antonella

Dear Antonella,

Interesting, Carasau is fermented bread made of a pre-fermented dough that makes sense; similar to Egyptian bread that also use a pre-fermented  dough  to make a new dough that save money and give quality to products. 

Shamsi (Sunny) bread (العيش الشمسي) that bread is a common in the Egyptian rural areas and people there still make it and has a traditional recipe to make it specifically in  upper Egypt such as Aswan, Sohag..etc.  In Cairo, people also like it and some families in Cairo still make it. Lots of cooking Egyptian channels encourage people to make it at home.  This bread is not baking under the sun because it take lots of time, dust, insects, slow fermentation ..etc. However, it called sun bread because it ferment under the sun then trace the bread with a metal tool around the bread  then left for another fermentation finally bake in the Baladi oven. I have attached a video of making a traditional Shamsi bread for you.

Enjoy watching making Shamsi bread

Best regards

Aly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRk5irsIuow

Dear Aly,

thank you very much for yoiur contribution about shamsi bread.

If you have time, have a look at the website of the Agropolis Museum in Montpellier (France). Unfortunately this Museum is currently closed due to lack of financial support, but the founders put lots of info about Egyptian traditional breads in the website. I'll be there next week to search for more info.

Kind regards,

Antonella

http://museum.agropolis.fr/index.html

Dear Manoj,

thank you for your contribution about Indian flatbreads. I appreciated also the picture of a puffing flatbread that you put as identifying image in your profile!

I am a bit confused about the variety of indian flatbreads, and I would like to better understand the differences among them.

Besides roti, is also chapati baked in tandoor? And naan? What is the difference between roti, chapati and naan?

Are roti and chapati baked also on tawa or tava?

Kind regards,

Antonella

Dear Manoj,

thank you very much for your very informative contribution. Of course I will appreciate a lot if, when you have time, you also add the protocol and a video. Thanks in advance.

But, one thing is not clear to me: are tava and tawa different tools?

With best regards,

Antonella

Dear Antonella,

Thank you for your contribution. The website of the Agropolis Museum in Montpellier (France)  is good but needs time to find out more. Good luck in your trip, I look forward to hear more information about your trip and bread.

Best regards

Aly

Dear Manoj,

thank you for clarifying me that tava and tawa are the same. I will appreciate receiving your contribution on chapati when you are ready.

Have a nice day,

Antonella

Dear Aly,

I am still in Montpellier, unfortunately the Museum is not simply closed, it has been totally decommissioned and all breads have been given back to the donors. It is really a pity...

Kind regards,

Antonella

Dear Manoj,

thanks a lot for sharing videos about chapati and roti.

Amazing how extensible is the dough!

The most impressive was stuffed roti: after stuffing it was further extended and thinned a lot without breaking (no holes). For sure, good flour and good bread-making skills are required. And, the combination of aminoacids from chickpea and cereals is also nutritionally optimal!

Regarding Montpellier, unfortunately the Museum does not exist anymore.

Kind regards,

Antonella

I can recommend a recent Aramco story (http://www.aramcoworld.com/en-US/Articles/July-2015/The-Fabled-Flatbreads-of-Uzbekistan)"

Hi Tom,

great article with plenty of pictures and information, thank you very much.

The AramcoWorld journal is really a valuable source.

Kind regards

Antonella

Dear Antonella,

greetings here old methods....

 https://dianabuja.wordpress.com/2009/11/14/bread-baking-in-egypt-then-and-now/

with best regards

Khaled

Dear Khaled,

thank you very much for interesting blog and nice power point collection of images of Egyptian breads and ovens. I see in the last slide the image of a tannur. However, it is not common, isnt’it? The most common traditional ovens are the dome-shaped ones that you show in the other slides, aren’t they?

The blog of Dianabuja states that bread is commonly called aysh in Egypt. I spent a period in Cairo some years ago and I remember that name, also if I believed that the correct spelling was “aesh”. The blog also says that “aysh” means “life” in Arabic. Is it true? Does the word for “bread” means also “life”? And, the most correct spelling is “aysh” or “aesh”?

Hope you have time to reply to my further questions!

Thanks in advance,

Antonella

Dear Dr. Manoj,

I can see the contents also without having a twitter account. Very nice bread pictures, thank you.

With best regards

Antonella

Dear Antonella,

Ciao,

We have different breads in Iran. The ones that already I sent its photo to you is named "Naan Sangak". In two video clips that I linked bellow there is a very good explanation about this kind of bread. "Naan" in Farsi means "bread", "Sang" means "stone" and "Sangak" means "little stone". It is named "Naan Sangak" because as you watch in the video clips, we make this bread in "Tannur" that is covered by "Stone", and it shaped the paste.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBvwrQuQFHE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ90X8vR1B8

I hope you will find this information useful.

Moreover, whenever I took photos of another kind of Iranian bread I will send more information about them.

If you have any further question please do not hesitate to contact.

Best regards,

Nasim 

Dear @Nasim,

thank you very much for very interesting information and videos about Naan Sangak.

Baking upon these little stones is a very special way of baking bread.

In case you are interested in Italian traditional durum wheat breads, produced above all in Southern Italy and its islands, you can have a look to the article below.

Durum wheat bread making is common in all the Mediterranean area. Is durum wheat semolina used in bread making in Iran too, besides soft wheat flour?

With best wishes,

Antonella

Chapter Italian durum wheat breads

Dear Antonella,

Tandoor and Tannur are the ethnic names of earthen vertical ovens available in South East Asia since hundreds of years. Significant  modifications in these structures have been observed since last few decades. Old Tandoor/Tannur were made of clay and were driven by burning wood. While the modified structures are built with iron plates and are heated with natural gas / electricity.  In Pakistan, Naan (Leavened flat bread), Tandoori Roti (Unleavened flat bread), Khameeri roti (A type of leavened flat bread) are a few available versions of tandoor baked goods. Since last couple of years, a number of spicy forms of leavened flat bread including ginger, garlic, cheese, cheese with spices, spring onion and pizza like vege naan have been introduced in the region. 

To have an experience with Tandoori rooti/ Tandoori naan, you have to visit any Punjabi kitchen in your vicinity.   

Dear Tarik,

thank you very much for your information and for the pictures. I live in Southern Italy where no Punjabi kitchen are present, but for sure I will try it in my next trip!

Kind regards,

Antonella

Dear Antonella,

Ciao,

I am sorry for replying late. I have seen your email but could not answer because I did not have enough information about this category. I asked some experts in Iran. They told me that in Iran we use Durum whear only for making Makaroni and Semolina. Rarely  we cultivate Durum Wheat and bread wheat together for making bread but usually we use monoculture of bread wheat for making bread. It is planned to plant Durum wheat separately for industrial and/or export.

Best regards,

Nasim

Ciao Nasim,

thank you for giving me futher information about Iranian bread and the flours used to make it.

Yes usually bread is made from soft wheat flour, so it is normal that in Iran too prevails this habit. In Southern Italy, instead, and also in Maghreb (and probably in Turkey), due to larger availability of durum wheat compared to soft wheat we use durum "re-milled" semolina for breadmaking.

Re-milled semolina has thinner granulometry than semolina and is specifically milled to enhance water absorption for bread-making purposes (cannot be used for pasta-making).

Kinfìd regards,

Antonella

Dear Antonella,

Thank you so much for your kind explanation.

Best regards,

Nasim

Dear @Aly, dear @Khaled and dear @Manoj,

after a deep exam of the content of the Montpellier (France) Agriculture Museum website (a Museum currently closed and decommissioned), I verified that the bread collection is the same of Agriculture Museum in Cairo, that I visited several years ago.

Specifically, I compared the pictures that I took at Cairo Agriculture Museum with those in the website of Agropolis Museum, and the breads are the same!

So, the collection is not lost: probably more copies were shared by different Museums.

This collection is a real treasure, I really hope the Cairo Agriculture Museum is still open and keeps alive its national traditions.

Bread is much more than food: is tradition, history and culture!

The best would be have bread museums in each Country!

Kind regards,

Antonella

Dear @Manoj,

thank you for suggesting the article by Goucher and coworkers, really very interesting (and very recent).

Best regards

Antonella

Dear Antonella,

Nice that you had been to Cairo years ago, also good info about similarity of bread samples that found in both Egyptian Museum and Montpellier (France) Agriculture Museum website. So what is your next project?

Best regards

Aly 

Dear Aly,

I am starting a new project about cookie-making from almond peeling by-products. We are collecting and analyzing starting materials, at the moment.

Kind regards,

Antonella

Good luck Antonella