Lepyoshka

The round tandoor-baked flatbread runs deep in Central Asia: the Sogdians were baking wheat bread here long before Islam and the Arab arrival. Clay tandoors have been used to bake bread across West and Central Asia for roughly 5,000 years, and a bread stamp was excavated from a kitchen-with-oven at the Sogdian city of Panjakent (in present-day Tajikistan, destroyed in the early 8th c. Arab conquest) — material evidence that the stamped, dimpled loaf predates the Arab arrival. Bread (non) carries strict etiquette — never placed face-down, never thrown out, broken not cut.

Tashkent's obi-non (water-bread) is the most prized — Registan Square in Samarkand has the saying that obi-non baked outside its city goes stale by the gates. Daily output of a single non-voy bakery: 800-1,500 lepyoshka.

Domed center, raised rim, crackle-crisp top blistered black-brown in spots, soft pillowy crumb beneath. Smell of sesame and nigella, taste lightly salted with a tang from the starter. Best torn warm.

Dough is slapped raw against a 400°C tandoor inner wall — sticks by surface moisture, bakes in 4-7 minutes by radiant heat + direct contact. The chekich punctures prevent the center from doming and tearing.