Making Bread in the Desert

In Miriam’s recent blog on our stay at Beerotayim, she told about the camel ride we went for, as well as the lunch our guides prepared for us (with our help. As Miriam noted, that lunch included bread cooked up on the spot). That bread was not only delicious, but it also was quite typical of flat breads that have been cooked in this region for numerous millennia.

One thing that distinguishes these breads is that they don’t include any yeast added by the baker. Instead, they rely on wild yeasts in the flour and the air for leavening. While they certainly don’t get as fluffy as loaves of bread we are accustomed to in the modern world, they are both delicious and have a rustic appeal. We especially like these breads for the connection they offer to our ancestors who undoubtedly made breads like these.

Here’s how our guide Ali made the flat bread we enjoyed on the camel ride. First, he built a fire in the near 100 degree heat, using brush he found around the camp as well as a few sticks he brought along. Then he mixed together water, flour, and salt in a bowl to form dough.

He kneaded the dough for awhile and let it sit for about 20 minutes or so. Then he formed it into a flat round cake.

He then placed the dough directly on the ashes of the fire and covered it up with more ashes.



The bread cooked for about 20 minutes or so until Ali dug it out of the ashes and scraped the char off it. Here’s what the final product looked like after it was scraped.

To serve it, Ali broke up some of it into irregular pieces.

Everything we had for lunch which included the bread as well salads, cheese, and hummus was delicious.

Here we are enjoying it all. Check out the bread in the lower right hand corner. It's disappearing fast.