Recipe: Azerbaijani Tandir Bread (Guest Post from Fearless Grill)

Recipe Source: Inspired by the recipe found on AZ Cookbook, at http://www.azcookbook.com/tandir-bread-tendir-choreyi/

We were recently asked to teach a class on use of ceramic cookers in the middle ages after Jess found documentation for 'an Egg-shaped ceramic cooker' in a 10^th century Arabic cookbook. While we recreated some of the recipes from that cookbook, I knew that one of the primary uses for such cookers was to bake bread (think nann in a tandoor), and I started looking around for some traditional bread recipes that could showcase this aspect of the versatility of a ceramic cooker. I found this recipe on AZ Cookbook, a blog dedicated to food from Azerbaijan, and loved the look and color of the bread, which was designed to be cooked in a Tandir, the Azerbaijani version of a ceramic cooker. Although I didn't have documentation for this particular recipe dating back to the middle ages, I decided to use it for our class anyway, as all the ingredients would have been available (substituting whole wheat for white flour anyway), and the techniques used would have been as well.

I made some pretty significant changes to the recipe and technique, the biggest of which was actually cooking the bread in a ceramic cooker (my large Big Green Egg), rather than in the oven as suggested by the author. To accommodate the shape of my Big Green Egg and the stone that I use to bake breads on, I made the bread round rather than the rectangular shape described in the original recipe. I used a teaspoon of active dry yeast from a jar, rather than a package of dry yeast. After doing a test run before my class I found that the proportions called for in the recipe made the dough much too sticky, and I added an additional 1/2 cup of flour to correct this. We also felt that the test bread was lacking a bit in flavor, and so we decided to sprinkle the top with some coarse grained salt in addition to the poppy seeds. This really helped to draw out the flavors. I cheated and made the dough in my stand mixer rather than kneading by hand as the original described, both for convenience and because the kitchen was a mess and I couldn't find the counter to knead the bread on it. Finally, I made the dough the night before the class, refrigerated it immediately, and then let it finish rising the next day, once we got to the site where our class was being taught. It's not necessary to let it rest overnight, but I did detect a bit of fermentation flavor in the bread, which I liked.

This bread was a big hit with the people who took our class, and we had no trouble finding takers for the two loaves we made. One nice thing about the bread was that the cross-hatched cuts in the dough, in addition to looking great, made it really easy for people to break off a small chunk of bread. This would make it a great choice to serve at a party. I tried cooking this without any added smoke (the loaf on the left in the picture), and also with one small chunk of apple wood added to the fire (the loaf on the right in the picture). The one with the smoke picked up a great color and just a hint of additional smoke flavor. I'd certainly recommend that method, unless you have an aversion to smoky flavors. One other finding was that the bread, while still good cold, was much better warm. If you plan to serve this at a party, put it out as soon as you cook it.

Tandir Bread (makes one loaf)

Equipment Required

• Big Green Egg or wood fired bread oven (preferred). You can make this in your home oven too.
• Rolling pin
• Pizza peel or sideless cookie sheet
• Food-safe brush

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 teaspoon table salt

3 1/2 cups bread flour

1 egg yolk, for brushing

Poppy seeds and kosher salt, for topping

1. Add the yeast and water to the bowl of your stand mixer. Allow the yeast to proof for about 10 minutes
2. Add half the flour and the salt to the bowl, and using your dough hook at slow speed, mix in the remaining flour until a ball is formed on the hook. Add flour if too wet, or a little water if too dry
3. Turn up the speed to medium-low, and knead for 6 minutes, or until the dough forms a smooth ball on the hook
4. Leave the dough in the bowl, cover with a towel or plastic wrap, and allow to rise for 90 minutes, or until doubled in size.
5. Set up your ceramic cooker to cook indirect at 400 degrees. Put in a baking stone to heat up with the cooker. If desired, add a small chunk of smoking wood to the fire (I used apple) to add color and flavor to the bread.
6. Punch down the dough and form it into a ball. Use your hands to flatten it and stretch it. Place on a floured surface and use a rolling pin to roll it out, till you have a piece of dough about ½ inch thick that fits your baking stone.
7. Coat a pizza peel or sideless cookie sheet with coarse cornmeal. Transfer the dough to the sheet, and allow to rise for another 15 minutes.
8. Use a knife to make shallow crosshatches across the bread. Brush with the egg yolk and sprinkle with the seeds and kosher salt.
9. Slide the bread onto your baking stone, and cook for 20-25 minutes, or until golden on top, and it sounds hollow when tapped.

Comments

[kitchen tables]

I wish I really knew how to bake! This look so lovely. My mother used to make this.