Tannour Bread

The Syrian countryside was and still is distinguished by its preservation of the ancient heritage and revival of the tradition of the ancestors.

Despite the development of life and technology, you will encounter while travelling in the Syrian countryside “Al Tannour” which was an indispensable corner of every rural home.

What is Al Tannour?

Syriatimes visited the countryside of Masyaf to know more about Al Tannour.

It is an oven made of red earth clay and mixed with hay. It is shaped like a pottery stove that is centered on a stone base in an inclined manner and firewood is placed inside to ignite it.“There is no bakery in the world that can bake bread with this unique delicious flavor”.

This is what Fadia told us while she was taking out a loaf of bread from the nozzle of the tannour she is working on, undaunted about the glare on her face.

Fadia is a Syrian woman who makes tannour bread and has a small restaurant to sell bread and pies.

Fadia said: Since I was a little girl, I used to watch my grandmother making us tannour bread and I learned from her how to knead, set the fire inside it, and now I make a very delicious bread.

We asked Fadia about how to make tannour bread. She said: “We make tannour bread from wheat flour, we add yeast and water to it and I knead it by my hands not by using the mixing machine. Then, we leave the dough to ferment and cut it into medium sized balls, take each ball separately and flip it between my hands until it becomes the size of a loaf, then stick it into nozzle of the tannour and leave it for a minute until it is cooked.

What distinguishes tannour bread is the pottery stove that runs on wood and does not require fuel or gas to ignite it. It is composed and works from natural materials which gives it a healthy and delicious taste.

She added despite the spread of modern bakeries, tannour bread is still desired and required by many people especially in the countryside. So that I decided to turn this tannour that my grandmother was working on into a small business project.

Tannour is a very successful project, there are many tourists who visit the Syrian countryside to taste tannour bread. Recently, I developed this project and I began to make pies using the same bread dough, but stuffing them with peppers, thyme and cheese and of course they are all made by me not from the market.

She concluded by saying that my goal from this project preserve what my grandmother inherited me and show people what is altannour.

Souha Suleiman

https://youtube.com/shorts/vdInF_3iPyA?si=cdTV62LuCizlUH7U