Atabun oven, or simplytabun (alsotransliteratedtaboon, from theArabic:طابون), is a portableclay oven, shaped like a truncatedcone. While all were made with a top opening, which could be used as a small stove top, some were made with an opening at the bottom from which to stoke the fire. Built and used even beforebiblical times as the family, neighbourhood, or village oven,tabun ovens continue to be built and used in parts of theMiddle East today.[1]Tabun ovens are distinct fromtandoors, but are often mistaken for tandoors.[2]
Thetabūn oven has historically been used to bake flatbreads such astaboon bread andlaffa, and has been in widespread use in the greater Middle East for centuries.[3] References toṭawābīn (طوابين) can be found in the writings of medieval Arab geographeral-Maqdisi, which is described as an oven buried into the ground and spread with pebbles, where bread as by placing dough on the pebbles.[4][5] According to an 11th-centuryJudeo-Arabic commentary on theMishnah, with a later recension made by an unknown Yemenite Jewish scholar (1105 – 1170 CE), the Arabic wordtabūn (Arabic:الطبون) is equivalent to the Mishnaic Hebrew wordכופח =kūppaḥ,[3][6] and which, according toMaimonides, produces a heat greater than that of a fire built between two support walls or a support wall having a semi-cylindrical shape carrying a cooking pot (כירה =kīrah), yet does not produce a heat greater than a regular earthenware baking oven (תנור =tannūr) and which was usually a permanent fixture.[7]
Unlike the fire built between two support walls holding a cooking pot and which flame is exposed to the open-air, thetabūn is a large, overturned earthenware bowl and covers over completely the heated place (usually a bed of smooth stones, upon which a fire is built). After dying out, the ashes are removed and dough is spread out over the smooth stones.[8] Since thetabūn is built with an opening at its top that can be sealed with a ceramic lid, allowing it to be completely smothered over in ashes, dough that is spread out over the stone-lined bottom is quickly baked into bread.[8] When the top ashes are cleared away and the lid removed, a cooking pot can also be laid on top of thetabūn oven for heating and used as a small stove.[9] In some cases, in addition to the hole at the top, there is a second side opening called the "eye of the oven", used for stoking the fire and clearing away the ashes, and which is closed by a detachable door.[10][11] The early commentators describe thekūppaḥ as being large enough to hold only one cooking pot when used as a stove.[12]
Bread dough was spread out on the pebbled floor of thetabun oven's interior, with hot coals and embers scattered with ash piled on top of the exterior shell, along with dried cattle dung.[13]
Many types of fuel or a combination of fuels can be used to heat a tabun. Dried animal dung,[14] dried bird droppings, chopped and dried tree branches or tree trimmings, wood chips, charcoal, dried tree leaves, fabrics, and other materials are potential fuels.[15][16]
The top opening is covered and a layer of fuel (usually dried manure) is spread on the outside of the shell and lid.[17][8][18] Once the fire takes hold, the fuel is covered with a layer of ash.[17][8] The fuel will smolder for hours, usually all night long. The smoke also helps in repelling insects and mosquitoes. In the process the heat gets stored in the foundation. The amount of fuel varies depending on the amount of baking needed.[19]
When the smoke stops, the lid is removed and chunks of dough are hand flattened and placed directly on the limestones.[8] In most ovens, 4 to 5 loaves can be baked at the same time. Then the opening is sealed and the fire stoked using the hot embers and ashes. When the bread is ready, the lid is removed and the bread taken out. The process can be repeated, or other dishes can be baked using metal or pottery trays. The bottom of the bread will take the shape of the pebbles or other materials used in constructing the oven floor. This baking process is unique and economical and produces aromatic and flavorful food.[citation needed]
In the larger, fixed baking ovens (tannūr), the flattened dough is applied to the inner-wall of the oven, after the wall is dampened with a wet cloth, allowing for adhesion. After baking, the bread is removed.[citation needed]
.JPEG) Taboon bread, main component ofmusakhan | |
| Type | Flatbreadwrap |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Middle East |
Taboon bread (Arabic:خبز طابون,romanized: khubz ṭābūn) is Levantineflatbread baked in ataboon ortannur'tandoor' clay oven, similar to the varioustandoor breads found in many parts of Asia. It is used as a base orwrap in many cuisines, and eaten with different accompaniments.[citation needed]
17th-century Islamic court records fromOttoman Jerusalem mentioned a bread very similar to modern-day taboon bread calledhasawi bread (Arabic:حصوي,lit. 'from pebbles'), baked on a bed of smooth river stones.[20] Prior records from 1530 to 1598 also list the prices ofṬabbūni andTannūri breads.[21]
Gustaf Dalman, a Germanorientalist, documented its making in Palestine in the early 20th century, among other types of breads.[22] In Palestine, folded flatbread was often filled with a spinach and onion mixture, or withcheese curds and onion mixture, or with raisins andpine nuts.[22] The ordinarytaboon bread was slightly smaller in size than the ordinarytannur bread.[23] Over the centuries, bread-making in communaltaboons played an important social role for women in Palestinian villages.[24]
Taboon bread is an important part ofPalestinian cuisine,[25][26][27] traditionally baked on a bed of small hot stones in thetaboon oven.[24] The hot stones give the bread an uneven texture and prevent the formation of bubbles in the bread due to the expanding water vapor, which facilitates adding toppings to it, but also prevents the formation of an inner hollow pocket likepita.[28][29] It is the base ofmusakhan, often considered the national dish ofPalestine.[29]
Made of yellow pottery clay soil. The best is from Aaroub or Al Aaroub. The soil is wetted and made into a thick clay mixed with chopped stubble and straw from harvested wheat. The clay is hand-formed to make the dome-shaped shell. It can be as much as 82 centimetres (32 in) in diameter at its base, about 32 centimetres (13 in) high, with an open top, approximately 23 centimetres (9.1 in) in diameter.[30] In some places, the shell may be as high as 21⁄2 feet and 2 feet wide.[31] The shell wall is about 2.54 cm (1 in) to 5 cm (2 in) thick. The shell is sun baked for weeks, before it is fired.[citation needed]
The earthenware shell is placed over an impression in the earth, usually about 4 feet (1.2 m) to 5 feet (1.5 m) in diameter and about 38 centimetres (15 in) to 51 centimetres (20 in) in depth. This impression is usually filled with sand and gravel,[8] or with compacted locally abundant materials known to handle and store heat, such as broken glass, rock salt, and broken potsherds, over which layer beach stones[32] orSuwan stones (flint stones) are carefully embedded.[citation needed]
The lid is made of clay or a sheet metal piece large enough to cover the top opening.[32]
In a sheltered area, usually a clay hut or a cave, the foundation is dug in the ground filled and compacted. The shell is placed, wider side down, on top. A layer of clean smooth limestone pebbles about 2.54 cm (1 in) in diameter is spread on top of foundation inside the shell to form a clean baking surface.[citation needed]
For those related to taboon bread:
وللقرياتيين الطوابين تنور في الأرض صغير قد فرش بالحصى فيوقد الزبل حوله وفوقه فإذا أحمر طرحت الأرغفة على الحصى[The villagers have a small oven in the ground, covered with pebbles. Dung is lit around and on top of it. When it turns red, the loaves of bread are placed on the pebbles.]
kūppaḥ, it is a place where only one cooking pot can be set down thereon, and, lo, it is similar in shape to a [baking] oven. There are those who make it for cooking upon it a cooked dish, and they set down over it a cooking pot, from above, and they put the fire below, like a brazier. There are others who stoke it and bake within it bread, as they would a [baking] oven., s.v.Kelim 5:2
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