Taboon bread ( ar, خبز طابون, khubz ṭābūn) is Levantine flatbread baked in a ''

taboon A tabun oven, or simply tabun (also transliterated taboon, from the ar, طابون), is a clay oven, shaped like a truncated cone, with an opening at the bottom from which to stoke the fire. Built and used in biblical times as the family, neig ...

'' or '' tannur'' 'tandoor' clay oven, similar to the various

tandoor bread Tandoor bread refers to a bread baked in a clay oven called a ''tandoor''. History Cooking food in a tandoor oven has been done for about five millennia. Remains of a clay oven with indication of cooked food have been excavated in the Indus R ...

s found in many parts of Asia. It is used as a base or wrap in many cuisines, and eaten with different accompaniments.

Variations

''Taboon'' bread is an important part of

Palestinian cuisine Palestinian cuisine consists of foods from or commonly eaten by Palestinians, whether in Palestine, Israel, Jordan, refugee camps in nearby countries, or by the Palestinian diaspora. The cuisine is a diffusion of the cultures of civilizations ...

, traditionally baked on a bed of small hot stones in the ''taboon'' oven. It is the base of ''

musakhan Musakhan ( ar, مسخّن, lit=something that is heated), also known as muhammar ( ar, links=no, محمر, lit=reddish), is a Palestinian dish composed of roasted chicken baked with onions, sumac, allspice, saffron, and fried pine nuts served o ...

'', often considered the national dish of Palestine.

Gustaf Dalman Gustaf Hermann Dalman (9 June 1855 – 19 August 1941) was a German Lutheran theologian and orientalist. He did extensive field work in Palestine before the First World War, collecting inscriptions, poetry, and proverbs. He also collected physic ...

, a German orientalist, documented its making in Palestine in the early 20th-century, among other types of breads. (reprinted from 1935 edition) In Palestine, folded flat-bread was often filled with a spinach and onion mixture, or with

cheese curds Cheese curds are moist pieces of curdled milk, eaten either alone or as a snack, or used in prepared dishes. They are consumed throughout the northern United States and Canada. Notably, cheese curds are popular in Quebec, as part of the dish ...

and onion mixture, or with raisins and

pine nuts Pine nuts, also called piñón (), pinoli (), pignoli or chilgoza (), are the edible seeds of pines (family Pinaceae, genus ''Pinus''). According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, only 29 species provide edible nuts, while 20 are trade ...

. The ordinary ''taboon''-bread was slightly smaller in size than the ordinary ''tannur''-bread. Over the centuries, bread-making in communal ''taboons'' played an important social role for women in Palestinian villages. In Israel, a popular flatbread known as '' laffa'', Iraqi pita, or in Jerusalem ''ashtanur'', is typically baked in a ''tannur'' or ''taboon''. It is common at bakeries, and at food stands where it is mostly used to wrap

shawarma Shawarma (; ar, شاورما) is a popular Middle Eastern dish that originated in the Ottoman Empire, consisting of meat cut into thin slices, stacked in a cone-like shape, and roasted on a slowly-turning vertical rotisserie or spit. Tradition ...

or other food.

References

{{Levantine cuisine Jordanian cuisine Flatbreads Iraqi cuisine Israeli cuisine Palestinian cuisine Lebanese cuisine Levantine cuisine Mediterranean cuisine Syrian cuisine Turkish cuisine Emirati breads Emirati cuisine Yemeni cuisine Stuffed dishes

Variations

See also

References