Traditional tandoor makers survive in Kirkuk
KIRKUK – Centuries-old tandoor ovens continue to thrive in Kirkuk governorate. Made from red-colored sand unique to the region, these clay ovens are still built by hand.
Freshly baked, perfectly round bread is cooked to perfection. A fire built in at the bottom sends heat rising. Bread stuck to the side of the oven forms tiny air bubbles, giving this bread its light airy taste.
Despite its modern-day competitors – electric, steel and gas ovens – the cylindrical clay oven, the tandoor, continues to thrive and dominate the market.
Making them is a centuries-old profession going back at least 200 years.
Sarwar Hussein makes clay tandoors ovens from sand, water, hay and salt.
“These are the four elements that are needed for the making of a tandoor. The sand is special sand and it doesn’t exist everywhere else. It exists mainly in Kirkuk and other cities and areas that have oil,” he explains.
Sacks of hay are added to the sand and water mixture.
Kneaded repeatedly, it starts to look like dough, before being placed on a plastic sheet and covered.
Hussein explains it is left for two to three days to ferment the hay. The mixture is then used to build the oven.
Clumps of clays are smoothed out to create the walls. Water close by ensures the clay does not harden too quickly.
This is a fairly small tandoor oven, but they come in a range of sizes.
“There are three types used in bakeries. One type is largely used in restaurants. Another type is the two-tandoor type and it is largely used by the people in Irbil and Kirkuk, they use it a lot, and there is the other large type that's used to make the double size bread, and it is mainly used by the people from Sulaymaniyah and surrounding areas,” Hussein said.
Hussein is from the Piryadi neighbourhood in Kirkuk, famed for its manufacturing of handmade bread tandoors.
He sells tandoor ovens to all areas in Iraq, but mainly in Mosul, Saladin and the northern Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Due to its popularity, Hussein has even exported his tandoors to European countries such as Germany, Sweden and Demark.
Freshly baked, perfectly round bread is cooked to perfection. A fire built in at the bottom sends heat rising. Bread stuck to the side of the oven forms tiny air bubbles, giving this bread its light airy taste.
Despite its modern-day competitors – electric, steel and gas ovens – the cylindrical clay oven, the tandoor, continues to thrive and dominate the market.
Making them is a centuries-old profession going back at least 200 years.
Sarwar Hussein makes clay tandoors ovens from sand, water, hay and salt.
“These are the four elements that are needed for the making of a tandoor. The sand is special sand and it doesn’t exist everywhere else. It exists mainly in Kirkuk and other cities and areas that have oil,” he explains.
Sacks of hay are added to the sand and water mixture.
Kneaded repeatedly, it starts to look like dough, before being placed on a plastic sheet and covered.
Hussein explains it is left for two to three days to ferment the hay. The mixture is then used to build the oven.
Clumps of clays are smoothed out to create the walls. Water close by ensures the clay does not harden too quickly.
This is a fairly small tandoor oven, but they come in a range of sizes.
“There are three types used in bakeries. One type is largely used in restaurants. Another type is the two-tandoor type and it is largely used by the people in Irbil and Kirkuk, they use it a lot, and there is the other large type that's used to make the double size bread, and it is mainly used by the people from Sulaymaniyah and surrounding areas,” Hussein said.
Hussein is from the Piryadi neighbourhood in Kirkuk, famed for its manufacturing of handmade bread tandoors.
He sells tandoor ovens to all areas in Iraq, but mainly in Mosul, Saladin and the northern Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Due to its popularity, Hussein has even exported his tandoors to European countries such as Germany, Sweden and Demark.