Kaak ( Balochi,

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

, ) is a kind of

bread Bread is a baked food product made from water, flour, and often yeast. It is a staple food across the world, particularly in Europe and the Middle East. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cu ...

and a native dish of Baloch and

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghans until 1964 after the ...

peoples. Kaak is cooked on ghargi (steamed stone). In the past, Kaak was a tradition in all Pashtun regions, but now people sometimes cook this traditional Pashtun dish for taste. Popular among the nomadic Kaak is usually very hard once it has been baked. Hence, it is also sometimes called ''Pathar Ki Roti '' ().

Preparation

The dough for the bread is prepared with a mixture of flour, dry yeast, sugar, salt, milk, water and other ingredients based on the variation. The dough is then flattened and rolled over a preheated stone. Sometimes

sesame seeds Sesame (; ''Sesamum indicum'') is a plant in the genus ''Sesamum'', also called benne. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is cultivated for it ...

are added as a complement. The stone is then baked in a tannur until the bread is fully cooked. Although the dough starts out thin and limp, it expands and hardens greatly during the baking process. ''Kaak'' is often served with

sajji Sajji ( Balochi and Urdu: سجی) is a Pakistani dish originating from the Balochistan province of Pakistan. Traditional and authentic sajji consists of lamb, marinated only in salt with a few spices. Sajji is considered done when it is at the ...

Traditions

In Baloch tradition, the matriarch of the home has the most say in how the kaak is prepared. Once the bread rises the responsibilities of the task are handed over to the younger women of the household to finish the job. It is also customary among the Balochi people, that the father of the bride feeds his daughter kaak the night before her wedding.

Festivities

During the summer seasons, a popular baker's festival is held in the town of Mahore called Khabaz Mahrajan Magiz. The festival highlights the best bakers from across the entire Pakistan, thus drawing very large crowds into the tens of thousands. It is customary at this festival to have an annual kaak competition, in which all the bakers submit their goods to a panel of judges. The winners of this competition, which include gold, silver, and bronze medalists, have the privilege to showcase their finest kaak at the grand opening ceremony for the festival the following year. The winner is chosen based on the flavor, size And color of their Ka’ak.

In other cultures

In some Arab countries,

ka'ak Ka'ak (; also transliterated kaak) or kahqa is the common Arabic word for cake or biscuit, in its various senses, and can refer to several different types of baked goods produced throughout the Arab world and the Near East. The bread, in Middle ...

refers to a thin savoury pastry round, similar in shape to a

bagel A bagel (; ; also spelled beigel) is a bread roll originating in the Jewish communities of Poland. Bagels are traditionally made from yeasted wheat dough that is shaped by hand into a torus or ring, briefly boiled in water, and then baked. ...

. These are often flavoured slightly with

mahleb Mahleb or mahlepi is an aromatic spice made from the seeds of a species of cherry, '' Prunus mahaleb'' (the Mahaleb or St Lucie cherry). The cherry stones are cracked to extract the seed kernel, which is about 5 mm diameter, soft and chewy ...

and covered with white sesame seeds. ''Kaak bi loz'' is a sweet version made with ground almonds.

References

Balochi cuisine Pakistani breads Flatbreads {{Bread-stub