Sogdian-bread-art

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Sogdian-Bread-art - 5/10/20

"Sogdian Bread" by Nadeem Ahmad, Eran ud Turan. A period Iranian/central Asian bread.

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Sogdian Bread

by Nadeem Ahmad, Eran ud Turan

This is a really easy no-yeast recipe for which we actually have pretty good evidence. Unlike modern Central Asian bread, which is made with modern baker's yeast, historic breads were made without yeast and used a sourdough culture to ferment and form the airy bubbles. There's no information in al-Warraq's 10th Century cookbook as to what this starter culture actually was, or even if there was one, as a basic sourdough can simply be made with water, flour, salt, and about 20 - 30 hours of fermentation time. However, for this recipe, I drew upon contemporary Pamiri traditions, where yeast is rare.

Sourdough is forgiving and not a precise science. Breads made like this are denser and heavier than yeast breads, and have a slight yogurty taste to them. There's no precise quantities here, we're titrating variable of fermenting time, temperature, and the proportion of starter in the dough, all of which can (and should) be tinkered with. For reference, mine was simply left on a windowsill in the sun with no particular temperature controls. The Sogdians had no concept of germ theory or understanding of bread science, so we can wing it a little.

So let's get baking! Recipe first, historical notes toward the bottom (I strongly urge you to read all the way to the end). My recipe is adapted from the one published in With Our Own Hands by Frederik van Oudenhoven and Jamila Haider, adapted to what I can find in a standard UK supermarket and weather conditions in a warm British spring.

For the starter, you will need:

· A tablespoon of natural, bio, unsweetened yogurt

· 150 mls warm water

· Enough flour to make a soft, sticky, elastic dough

· A tablespoon of salt

In the Pamirs, the starter culture is called khamirmo and relies upon the natural bacteria found in dairy products. They use an item called tukhp, which is buttermilk that has been left for a few days to sour, then thickened by simmering, and left to dry in the sun.

To make the starter, simply mix it all together. The dough should be fairly wet and elastic. Leave it some place warm to ferment - I left mine for about 24 hours. After that, you're ready to mix it in with the rest of the dough.

For the dough, you will need:

Your starter culture

· 400 - 500 mls of warm water (or milk for a richer taste and heavier bread)

· Enough flour to make a moderately dry dough

· A tablespoon of salt

· 2 tablespoons or oil

The easiest way to combine them is to crumble the starter dough into the milk or water, and add that to the flour and salt. Mix together into a moderately dry dough - add more flour or water to get the right sort of consistency. Make sure it's mixed together well, then separate into lumps about twice the size of your fist. Cover loosely and leave it to ferment a little longer - mine were left for around 30 hours.

When you're ready to bake, re-knead your dough blobs to a nice consistency, and you can add flour to dry it out a little more. It should be quite elastic at this stage, but shouldn't stick to your hands or other surfaces. Preheat your oven (and bread stone, if you have one) to 220 C, and then you can start shaping the breads.

To get that typical Central Asian disk shape, flatten your blob into a thick circle, aiming for about an inch (using your hands, not a rolling pin), and then flatten the centre a little more, aiming for a centimtre or just under. How far to the edge your take the central thinned area changes based on the style and region - large Samarkand bread just has a small dip in the middle, whereas Uyghur bread is mostly flat, with only a thin rim of thickened crust.

To prevent the middle from rising much, you have to puncture holes in it. You can use a decorated bread stamp known as a chekich or nonpar, or you can just use a fork. Finally, paint with an egg glaze for that golden colour, and sprinkle on poppy or nigella seeds.

Finally, pop it in the oven! For best effect, pre-heat your bread stone for a long time - I left mine pre-heating for an hour. Bake at 200 - 220 C for 15 - 20 minutes (mine went for 16 minutes at 220 C). Leave to cool overnight, and enjoy!

Bread is arguably the most important food product in modern Central Asia, and probably was in the early medieval period too. Wheat, barley, and millet have all been found in various early medieval sites across Central Asia. Analyses of various food products from the Astana Cemetery in Xinjiang show that wheat was the most commonly used grain for bakery items.

Bread shaped like this has a very wide distribution nowadays, all the way from Uzbekistan to Xinjiang, and appears to have had a similar distribution in the early medieval era. A fully preserved Tang dynasty bread is housed in the Urumqi museum, identical to modern Uyghur breads, and complete with stamped patterns in the centre! Unlike modern breads, the stamped patterns are simple squares or straight lines rather than circular or floral motifs.

Moving further west to Panjakent, in Tajikistan, we have a remarkable find of a bread stamp nonpar / chekich found in a kitchen with an oven, a knife, and what appears to be a clay miniature model of a bread - again, identical to modern Central Asian breads and complete with stamped dots in the middle. The building where these objects were found is believed to have been a bakery. The bread stamp found at Panjakent is square in cross section, rather than round, and has iron nails and an iron plate fixed onto a wooden handle.

Essentially, we have evidence for essentially 1300 years of almost unchanged Central Asian bread - which to me is pretty remarkable!

For any of you interested in the photography - this one was easy. 100% natural light coming in from a big window. Shot on Sony a6000 with the Helios 44-2.

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Copyright 2020 by Nadeem Ahmad. Permission is granted for republication in SCA-related publications, provided the author is credited. Addresses change, but a reasonable attempt should be made to ensure that the author is notified of the publication and if possible receives a copy.

If this article is reprinted in a publication, please place a notice in the publication that you found this article in the Florilegium. I would also appreciate an email to myself, so that I can track which articles are being reprinted. Thanks. -Stefan.