Street Food · Tandoor Bread

Non (Uzbek Tandoor Bread)

Photo: Joel Heard / Unsplash · Unsplash License

Every non loaf carries a decorative stamped pattern pressed into its center with a tool called a chekich — practical as well as pretty, since it keeps the middle from puffing up unevenly in the tandoor's heat.

Non is a round, faintly domed bread baked against the scorching inner wall of a clay tandoor oven until the base is crisp and the edges are blistered and chewy. Bakers pile it high at bazaar stalls, bought fresh and torn by hand.

Why it's made this way: The tandoor's intense radiant heat bakes non in minutes, and the stamped center pattern is a functional trick — it stops the middle of the dough from rising too much.