 Tandoor flatbreads | |
| Region or state | Central Asia |
|---|---|
| Main ingredients | Flour |
Tandoor bread is aflat bread baked in aclay oven called atandoor. The technique has been in use for some five thousand years in Central and West Asia and Northwest India. It may be leavened or unleavened. It is often round, but may be made as elongated ovallavash or canoe-shapedshotis puri.
Because of the expense of a tandoori oven, Indian villages used to share communal ovens. These have been replaced by the habit of bringing food to a local bakery to be baked there. An alternative is to use a wood- or charcoal-fueled oven or grill to give the food a smoky flavor recalling that of tandoor bread.
The English wordtandoor comes fromHindi/Urdutandūr (तन्दूर /تندور), which derives fromPersian tanūr (تنور) or tandūr (تندور). According to theDehkhoda Persian Dictionary, the Persian word ultimately came from theAkkadian wordtinūru (𒋾𒂟), which consists of the partstin 'mud' andnuro/nura 'fire' and is mentioned as early as in the AkkadianEpic of Gilgamesh.Tandoor is calledkandu inSanskrit literature, in which tandoori parched, roasted cuisine is described askandu pakva (grains, meat, etc. roasted in a tandoor) along with roasting on coal which has been calledangara pakva.[1]
Food was first cooked in tandoor ovens some five thousand years ago.[2] Remains of a clay oven with indication of cooked food have been excavated in theIndus River valley site ofKalibangan,[3] and other places in present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, northwest India, Iran, Iraq and Central Asia.[4]
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The Arabic name for tandoor bread isḵubz al-tannūr ('bread of thetannur'Arabic:خبز التنور). In some places where it is especially common, such asIraq, it may be called simplykhubz (bread).[5]
InIran, tandoor breads are known asnân-e-tanūri (Persian:نان تنوری). Varieties includenân-e barbari (Persian:نان بربری),[6]tâftun (تافتون),[7] andshirmal (شیرمال).[8]
In Georgia and Armenia, a traditional tandoor is called atone (Georgian:თონე) andtʿonir (Armenian:թոնիր), and the bread baked in thetone is calledtonis ṗuri (Georgian:თონის პური ortʿonir hacʿArmenian:թոնիր հաց).[9]Canoe-shapedshoti (Georgian:შოთი) is a kind oftonis ṗuri.[10]Lavash (Armenian:լավաշlavaš,Georgian:ლავაშიlavaši) is a tandoor bread eaten in this region.[11]
In Central Asia,tandyr nan (Kazakh/Kyrgyz:тандыр-нанtandır-nan,Uzbek:tandir non,Uyghur:تونۇر نانtonur nan,Tajik:нони танурйnoni tanuri) is made and eaten.[12][13]
Tandoor breads are popular in northwestern Indian regions, wherenaan breads andatta flatbreads such as theTandoori roti are baked in tandoor clay ovens fired by wood or charcoal. Thesenaans are known astandoori naan (Gujarati:તંદૂરી નાન,Hindi:तंदूरी नान).[14][15]
Tandoor ovens are not common in the average Indian home because they are expensive to fabricate, install and maintain.[16] Authentic tandoori cuisine in urban areas can often be found in specialty restaurants.[4] However, in rural areas in India such asPunjab, the tandoor oven is considered a social institution, for a tandoor oven is shared among the community. Women would go to the oven place withatta along with theirmarinated meats to meet their neighbors and friends, so they could converse and share stories while waiting for their food to cook.[17] The people in cities once engaged in this social activity, but as businesses and commercialism grew in these areas, communal tandoor ovens became rare. Not uncommonly, people bring food to their local bakeries to cook it there at a fair price.[4] Because of this, people have developed ingenious techniques to replicate the cooking process and the food without the use of the oven. Common alternatives include an oven or a grill fueled by charcoal or wood so the food will be infused with the smoky flavor.[4]
InPakistani cuisine, tandoor breads are a staple across the country. These range from a simple unleavened Tandooriroti, to yeast-basedkhamiri roti, as well as richer and more complex (yeast, milk, egg, etc.-based) naans andkulcha breads.[14]
Tandoor bread is gaining popularity in Asia, North America (outside of the Caribbean) and Europe due to theIndian diaspora duringBritish colonialism.[18]
Tandoor bread is found inCaribbean countries such asGuyana,Suriname andTrinidad and Tobago (asroti).[19]
Aroma, smell, appearance, color, size and overall texture are the general characteristics that are optimized by producers of tandoor bread.[18] The texture and quality of tandoor bread are determined by the percentage of wheat protein, the number of essential amino acids and the type of flour present in the bread.[20][21] Various studies have demonstrated that the chemical and biochemical composition of flour affects the flour's ability to interact with the other ingredients in tandoor bread.[18][20]
Response surface methodology is a process which allows for the development of palatable tandoor breads that have a long shelf life and contain minimal amounts ofpolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which may pose health hazards.[22] For optimal sensory and chemical stability of tandoor bread, the water level is 720 milliliters per kilogram, protein concentrations range from 10.3% to 11.5%, between 1.2 and 1.6% salt is added, and the bread is baked in temperatures ranging from 330 to 450 °C.[15]
Nān-e barbari is bread of medium hardness, about 3/4 inch thick and leavened like thesangak.
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