A large, thick round of leavened wheat bread slapped onto the searing wall of a clay tandoor oven, where it puffs and blisters into a crisp crust over a soft, chewy crumb.
Tendir çörəyi is the everyday tandoor bread of Azerbaijan, baked against the wall of an in-ground clay oven in a tradition shared across the Caucasus, Central Asia and Iran. The thin sister flatbread lavash is part of the multinational "flatbread making and sharing culture," inscribed by Azerbaijan with Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey on UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2016.
The crust crackles and flakes apart, smelling faintly of woodsmoke from the clay oven, while the interior pulls into soft, chewy strands. Torn warm and eaten plain or with cheese and herbs, it is the backbone of every Azerbaijani meal.
The tandoor's radiant clay walls hit the wet dough surface with intense heat, flashing moisture to steam for a fast oven-spring and a crackly crust while the thick crumb stays tender.
Variations
tendir bread topped with sesame, version with nigella seeds, smaller flat rounds, enriched dough with milk
On the Palate
Where Tendir Bread Azerbaijani sits in the Azerbaijani flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6How it's made
8 steps · 30 min
- 110 min
Dissolve yeast in warm water and let it foam.
Watch outGive the yeast a few minutes — it should foam and turn frothy on top; no foam means the yeast is dead and the bread won't rise.
- 212 min
Mix flour and salt, add the yeast water, and knead into a soft, elastic dough.
- 370 min
Cover and let the dough rise until doubled in size.
- 45 min
Knock back the dough, divide it and shape into thick round disks.
- 520 min
Let the shaped loaves proof briefly while the tandoor heats to searing.
Watch outGet the tandoor searing hot before the loaves go in — flick water on the wall and it should hiss off instantly; that blast of heat is what gives the fast rise and crackly crust.
- 65 min
Dimple the surface, brush with water, and slap each loaf onto the hot tandoor wall.
- 718 min
Bake until the crust is deeply browned and blistered and the bread sounds hollow.
Watch outBake until the crust is deep brown and blistered and it sounds hollow when you tap it — that hollow knock means the crumb is set through.
- 85 min
Hook the bread off the wall and cool slightly before tearing.
