Matnakash ( hy, մատնաքաշ) is a leavened traditional
Armenian bread. The word ''matnakash'' means "finger draw" or "finger pull", referring to the way the bread is prepared. It is made of
wheat flour with
yeast or
sourdough starter
Sourdough or sourdough bread is a bread made by the fermentation of dough using wild lactobacillaceae and yeast. Lactic acid from fermentation imparts a sour taste and improves keeping qualities.
History
In the ''Encyclopedia of Food Microb ...
. It is shaped into oval or round loaves with longitudinal or criss-crossed scoring. The characteristic golden or golden-brown color of its crust is achieved by coating the surface of the loaves with sweetened tea essence before baking.
Matnakash is also popular in places with large Armenian populations as a result of the
Armenian diaspora.
History
Matnakash was honored in
Soviet times. In the 1930s, food specialists in
Soviet Armenia wanted to mark the new communist country with a more modern-looking bread. The matnakash became a mass-produced urban bread. Even the bakers' patterns on the bread were re-interpreted to fit the Soviet agenda. It resembled a plowed field with rows and furrows. The bread's rim was interpreted as an agricultural field and its imprinted lines as tilled rows.
[Armenian Food: Fact, Fiction & Folklore By Irina Petrosian, David Underwood - Page 35]
See also
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Barbari bread
Barbari bread () is a type of yeast leavened Iranian flatbread. It is one of the thickest flat breads and is commonly topped with sesame or black caraway seeds. A notable characteristic of the bread is its top skin that is similar to pretzel ...
from Iran
*
Lavash, a thin unleavened flatbread from Armenia
*
Naan from India and Pakistan
*
Pita
Pita ( or ) or pitta (British English), is a family of yeast-leavened round flatbreads baked from wheat flour, common in the Mediterranean, Middle East, and neighboring areas. It includes the widely known version with an interior pocket, als ...
*
Ramadan pita, a similar bread from Turkey
*
Tonis puri from Georgia
*
Manakish from the Levant
*
pizza
Pizza (, ) is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as various types of sausage, anchovies, mushrooms, onions ...
from Italy
References
{{bread-stub
Armenian breads