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Fermentation Atlas

Cereals and bread from Iran, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Egypt

Sourdough flatbreads of the Middle East and Caucasus (family)سنگک

Wheat flour, water and salt are mixed with leaven kept from earlier dough, left to rise for a short time and flattened. The thin sheets are baked fast at very high heat, on the hot wall of a clay tonir (lavash), laid on hot pebbles (sangak) or on a hot sheet (bazlama). Made in 5 steps over 35 days – 36 days. The longest step, dry lavash for storage (optional), takes at least 30 days (UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage 2014). Salt is up to 2 % (Rezaiimofrad M 2013). Pediococcus pentosaceus, Weissella cibaria, Weissella confusa and Leuconostoc citreum and Yeasts including Kluyveromyces marxianus and Kluyveromyces aestuarii do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 30 daysReported[unesco-lavash]Dry lavash for storage (optional)
Temperature20–30 °CMeasured[ozdemir2024]Shape and let it rise briefly
Saltup to 2 %Set[rezaiimofrad2013]Mix the dough with salt and leaven
AciditypH 3.9Measured[ozdemir2024]Build or refresh the leaven

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceEach bakery and household keeps its own leaven and proportions; no tested recipe for sangak or lavash was found.
Wheat flour, whole or white[pontonio2015][ozdemir2024]
Water · Some Armenian bakers add a little milk to the warm water for lavash[unesco-lavash]
Below 2 g per 100 g of breadSalt · The Iranian standard limit; most rural bakery samples in one survey were above it[rezaiimofrad2013]
Leaven (old dough or sourdough) · Lavash bakers state that they use only leaven, with no other raising agent[unesco-lavash]
Starterbackslop (old dough / sourdough); baker's yeast, and baking soda in some Iranian bakeries, in modern practice

Total time across the recorded steps: 35 days – 36 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
SugarAlcoholCO₂pH 3.9shapes, not to countLactic acid bacteriaYeasts

What changes: Flour and water refreshed day after day sour into a leaven

Step 1 of 5
Build or refresh the leaven
Time
5 days
Measured
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
pH 3.9
Measured
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Yeasts

Output: active leaven.

Flavour
sour
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

lactic bacteria and yeasts multiply with each refreshment

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

These breads are leavened with old dough or sourdough like European sourdough loaves, but the dough is flattened thin and baked in minutes at very high heat in clay ovens or on hot stones and sheets.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Sangak (Iran)Baked on a bed of hot pebbles; studied at 280–340 °C for 4–8 min.
  • Lavash (Armenia)Nominated to UNESCO's intangible heritage list for 2014; baked on the hot walls of a tonir, then often dried and stored for the winter.
  • Bazlama (Turkey)A round about 7 mm thick, made with sourdough and baked on a hot sheet.
  • Azerbaijani whole-wheat sourdough flatbreadsListed as sourdough breads in Wikipedia.

Safety

Fermentation and baking only slightly lowered ochratoxin A from contaminated flour in a 2024 study, so the flour itself must be clean.

Hazards the sources name: Ochratoxin A from contaminated flour, only slightly lowered by fermentation and baking.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

  1. [unesco-lavash] UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, nomination file for Lavash, the preparation, meaning and appearance of traditional bread as an expression of culture in Armenia (2014), letters of consent from communitiesarchive
  2. [pontonio2015] Pontonio E. et al. 2015, Iranian wheat flours from rural and industrial mills, exploitation of the chemical and technology features, and selection of autochthonous sourdough starters for making breads, Food Microbiol 47:99–110, doi:10.1016/j.fm.2014.10.011paper
  3. [fekri2020] Fekri A. et al. 2020, Functional effects of phytate-degrading, probiotic lactic acid bacteria and yeast strains isolated from Iranian traditional sourdough on whole wheat bread, Food Chem 306:125620, doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2019.125620paper
  4. [ozdemir2024] Özdemir N., Gül H. 2024, Effects of fermentation time, baking, and storage on ochratoxin A levels in sourdough flat bread, Food Sci Nutr 12:7370–7378, doi:10.1002/fsn3.4357paper
  5. [izadinajafabadi2014] Izadi Najafabadi L., Le-Bail A., Hamdami N., Monteau J.Y., Keramat J. 2014, Impact of baking conditions and storage temperature on staling of fully and part-baked Sangak bread, J Cereal Sci 60:151–156, doi:10.1016/j.jcs.2014.02.004paper
  6. [rezaiimofrad2013] Rezaiimofrad M., Rangraz Jeddi F., Azarbad Z. 2013, Baking soda and salt in bakeries of Mehrdasht (Najafabad), Isfahan, Iran, J Prev Med Hyg 54:53–56paper
  7. [s1] Wikipedia, Sourdough (Azerbaijan), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sourdoughwiki