Lavash, ethnic bread of Turkic peoples

/By AzerNews/

By Amina Nazarli

Lavash, a thin, soft flatbread in round shape is considered the most ancient and famous of all flour foods of Turkic peoples.

The lavash baking technology has not been changed since the ancient times. This tradition has been typically passed down from one generation to another for centuries.

Dough for lavash is made from flour, water, old dough (yeast) and a pinch of salt. You knead the dough with your hands, then divide and shape it into small balls and then roll the balls out with a thin rolling pin for dough. You need to roll the balls out to be 2 mm thick or even thinner. Then you put the lavash on a hot saj, a shield-shaped cast-iron multipurpose pan with a concavity, or tandir, firewood oven.

Lavash bread is usually served as an appetizer in restaurants throughout Azerbaijan. Lavash is also popular in other Turkish-speaking states and the culinary cultures feature different lavash varieties.

Some kinds of lavash may be stored for a long time. Nakhchivan’s lavash, for example, is dried in the sun, and then kept in special cupboard for months in a dry form. In ancient times this type of bread was very convenient during military campaigns, traveling and for shepherds.

To promote, lavash baking tradition, Azerbaijan and Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Ministries and Baku Yunus Emre Institution organized an event entitled “Lavash is common heritage of Turkic people” on December 17.

The joint project that will run for a month will allow to educate people about the national cuisine of Turkish-speaking people, particularly lavash bread varieties.

Head of Baku’s Yunus Emre Institute Ibrahim Yildirim noted that the project aimed at informing the public about the tradition and heritage of the common cuisine. He voiced hope that UNESCO will adopt Lavash as a sample of Turkic peoples’ bread.

Head of the National Cuisine Center Tahir Amiraslanov, in turn, said that Lavash and “yukha” (yufka), will be presented to UNESCO as a sample of bread baking tradition of the Turkic peoples.

Earlier Armenia appealed to the UNESCO in an effort to present Lavash as a typical example of its cuisine. However, the UNSECO passed a resolution to acknowledge it as a common heritage of several regional countries, after reconsidering the issue based on Azerbaijan's appeal.

The word ‘lavash’ comes from the ancient Turkish word "ash". Moreover, it is baked in tandir – a traditional bakery oven in the Turkic world.

Mahmoud Kashgari’s world-wide-known Turkish-Arabic “Divani-Lugatit-Turk” dictionary of 1072-1074 years contains information about Lavash. The book of Kashgari, the first Turkish philologist, is the oldest book containing Turkish words.