Bread

I wanted to serve only one type of bread at our restaurant and I had visions of the flat, round, golden loaves that were stacked at the Bukhari bakery at the entrance to the market in Jerusalem – decorated with criss-cross cuts and nigella seeds, always oven-fresh, easy to tear and dunk into dips, soups or sauces. Like sponge, it soaks up any tasty liquid on the plate, leaving it squeaky clean and making for a very happy mouthful. We have played with various recipes, looking mostly online for Bukhari ones. We did stumble across a good website dedicated to the food of Uzbekistan that mentions the bread of the Bukhari Jews, but when the recipe called for a custom-built clay oven and a fair bit of goat fat, we decided to improvise. We ended up with quite a good recipe, and I was pleased with the thought that this would be our signature bread.