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Flatbread

{{short description|Type of bread}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2018}}

{{Infobox food

| name = Flatbread

| image = Rye and Potato rieska - 1.JPG

| image_size = 250px

| caption = Homemade flatbread

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| type = Bread

| served =

| main_ingredient = Flour, water, salt

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A flatbread is bread made usually with flour; water, milk, yogurt, or other liquid; and salt, and then thoroughly rolled into flattened dough. Many flatbreads are unleavened, although some are leavened, such as pita bread. A serving of 85g (~3 ounces) of pita bread has 234 calories.{{Cite web |date= |title=Calories in 1 Piece Flatbread |url=https://www.nutritionix.com/food/flatbread/1-piece |website=nutritionix}}

Flatbreads range from below one millimeter to a few centimeters thick so that they can be easily eaten without being sliced. They can be baked in an oven, fried in hot oil, grilled over hot coals, cooked on a hot pan, tava, comal, or metal griddle, and eaten fresh or packaged and frozen for later use.

History

Flatbreads were amongst the earliest processed foods, and evidence of their production has been found at ancient sites in Mesopotamia, ancient Egypt, and the Indus civilization. The origin of all flatbread baking systems are said to be from the Fertile Crescent in West Asia, where they would subsequently spread to other regions of the world.{{cite journal |last1=Pasqualone |first1=Antonella |title=Traditional flat breads spread from the Fertile Crescent: Production process and history of baking systems |journal=Journal of Ethnic Foods |date=March 2018 |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=10–19 |doi=10.1016/j.jef.2018.02.002 |doi-access=free |hdl=11586/217814 |hdl-access=free }}

In 2018, charred bread crumbs were found at a Natufian site called Shubayqa 1 in Jordan (in Harrat ash Shaam, the Black Desert) dating to 12,400 BC, some 4,000 years before the start of agriculture in the region. Analysis showed that they were probably from flatbread containing wild barley, einkorn wheat, oats, and Bolboschoenus glaucus tubers (a kind of rush).{{cite journal |last1=Colin Barras |title=Stone Age bread predates farming |journal=New Scientist |volume=239 |issue=3187 |pages=6 |date=21 July 2018 |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23931873-800-stone-age-bakers-made-first-bread-thousands-of-years-before-farming/ |bibcode=2018NewSc.239....6B |doi=10.1016/S0262-4079(18)31274-0 |url-access=subscription }}{{cite journal |last1=Amaia Arranz-Otaegui|display-authors=etal |title=Archaeobotanical evidence reveals the origins of bread 14,400 years ago in northeastern Jordan |journal=PNAS |volume=115 |issue=31 |pages=7925–7930 |date=16 July 2018 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1801071115|pmid=30012614 |pmc=6077754 |bibcode=2018PNAS..115.7925A |doi-access=free }}

Primitive clay ovens (tandir) used to bake unleavened flatbread were common in Anatolia during the Seljuk and Ottoman eras, and have been found at archaeological sites distributed across the Middle East. The word tandır comes from the Akkadian tinuru, which becomes tannur in Hebrew and Arabic, tandır in Turkish, and tandur in Urdu/Hindi. Of the hundreds of bread varieties known from cuneiform sources, unleavened tinuru bread was made by adhering bread to the side walls of a heated cylindrical oven. This type of bread is still central to rural food culture in this part of the world, reflected by the local folklore, where a young man and woman sharing fresh tandır bread is a symbol of young love, however, the culture of traditional bread baking is changing with younger generations, especially with those who reside in towns showing preference for modern conveniences.{{cite journal |last1=Parker |first1=Bradley J. |title=Bread Ovens, Social Networks and Gendered Space: An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Tandir Ovens in Southeastern Anatolia |journal=American Antiquity |date=2011 |volume=76 |issue=4 |pages=603–627 |doi=10.7183/0002-7316.76.4.603 |jstor=41331914 |s2cid=163470937 }}Takaoğlu, T. (2004). Ethnoarchaeological investigations in rural Anatolia. Cihangir, İstanbul: Ege Yayınları. (p7)

List of flatbreads

= Europe =

File:Pane carasau.jpg from Sardinia]]

File:Lagana (λαγάνα) (cropped).jpg from Greece]]

= Middle East and Africa =

File:Lavash.jpg tonis puri]]

File:PileofpitaS.jpg, Mahane Yehuda marketplace, Jerusalem]]

File:LahohS.jpg lahoh]]

= Central Asia =

File:Taj Lepeshki.jpg non (naan)]]

File:Afghan bread.jpg bread]]

=East Asia=

File:Cooking_Jingzhou_style_guokui.jpg-style guokui out of the oven]]

:* Green onion pancake (China): made with oil and minced scallions (green onions)

:* Laobing (China)

:* Sanchuisanda (China)

:* Shaobing (China)

=South Asia=

File:Butter Naan With Paneer Butter Masala.jpgn naan served with paneer butter masala]]

=Southeast Asia=

File:Piaya_flatbread_(Philippines)_01.jpg flavored with ube (purple yam) and muscovado sugar]]

= Americas =

File:Balboa 20 bg 120603.jpgs]]

File:At New York City 2024 119.jpg

=Australia=

See also

{{portal|Food}}

References

{{reflist}}

Further reading

  • 2005. "High-Profile Flatbreads - Say Goodbye to Insipid White Bread When Tortillas and Flatbreads Come to Town". FOOD PRODUCT DESIGN -NORTHBROOK-. 15, no. 1: 96–114. {{ISSN|1065-772X}}.
  • 2008. "Flatbreads Old World: Meets New Flatbreads from All Over the World-Including Tortillas, Arepas and Naan-Are the Newest Hot Ticket in Both Retail and Foodservice Products". FOOD PRODUCT DESIGN -NORTHBROOK-. 18, no. 11: 38–43.
  • 2008. "Storied Breads: With a Continuing Focus on Food Origin, Flatbreads Offer Manufacturers a Way to Tempt Consumers with Authentic Products Celebrating the Oldest-Known Bread Traditions". BAKING AND SNACK. 30, no. 7: 35–42. {{ISSN|1092-0447}}.
  • 2011. "Flat-Out in Love with Flatbread Here Are 5 Reasons Foodservice Is Smitten with Flatbreads". FOOD MANAGEMENT -NEW YORK THEN CLEVELAND OH-. 46, no. 11: 30–35. {{ISSN|0091-018X}}.
  • Alford, Jeffrey, and Naomi Duguid. Flatbreads and Flavors: A Baker's Atlas. New York: W. Morrow, 1995. Summary: Recipes for more than sixty varieties of flatbreads along with 150 recipes for traditional accompaniments to the breads, including chutneys, curries, salsas, stews, mezze, smorgasbord, kebabs, etc.
  • Craddock, Anne. Textural Characteristics of Bagels and Ethnic Flatbreads. 1998. Thesis. 124 leaves.
  • German, Donna Rathmell. Flatbreads from Around the World. San Leandro, Calif: Bristol Pub, 1994.
  • Hansen, Eric. 2015. [https://web.archive.org/web/20150721163331/https://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/201504/the.fabled.flatbreads.of.uzbekistan.htm "Fabled Flatbreads of Uzbekistan."] Aramco World. July/August 2015. Pages 32–39.
  • Helou, Anissa. Savory Baking from the Mediterranean: Focaccias, Flatbreads, Rusks, Tarts, and Other Breads. New York: William Morrow, 2007.
  • Kahlon, Talwinder Singh, and Mei-Chen Maggie Chiu. 2014. "Ancient Whole Grain Gluten-Free Flatbreads". Food and Nutrition Sciences. 05, no. 17: 1717–1724.

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Category:Ancient dishes

Category:Flatbreads