My Amman Life

Khobiz taza (fresh bread) is one of the first things I learned to say in Arabic and that is because bread is life in the Levant region, with Jordan being no exception to that.

Bread comes in many shapes and sizes here, with pita, being the staple carb offered to accompany pretty much any meal and always quickly replaced by the waiter to make sure you have a hot piping piece of bread on your plate.

But there are other types of bread floating around the region and they each seem to have a purpose and a slightly different combination of the basic ingredients: water, flour, salt and leavening.

This post is an ode to carb addicts like me…and one option if you’re one of those gluten-free people 😉

Pita

Soft, slightly leavened flatbread baked from wheat flour. Has a pocket in the middle, perfect to stuff with falafel if you wish.

Shrak / Markook

Shrak, or Markook, is considered Bedouin bread.  This slightly leavened bread is thrown to make it very thin and then plastered onto a hot saj (domed iron griddle).

Taboon / Laffa

Taboon, or Laffa, bread is another slightly leavened flatbread. It is traditionally baked in a Tabun oven, a cone-shaped clay oven with an opening at the bottom from which to stoke the fire. This type of bread is perfect for street food to go and is what I like to call a Levantine tortilla, as it can be stuffed with hummus, falafel or shaved meat, like a Mexican burrito. Ole!

Abud

Abud is a dense, unleavened bread also of Bedouin origin. This bread is baked by burying it in ash and covering it with hot embers directly in a wood fire. Never tried it, but I’m hoping it doesn’t taste as dirty as it sounds… Who am I kidding? I’m sure it’s delicious!

Ka’ak

Ka’ak is a traditional Jordanian bread with not only a fun name to pronounce, but also a fun-shape. This sesame seed covered bread can be made in many forms, but you’ll mostly in a large leaf or ring-shape. Think oversized bagel or my favorite Turkish bread, simit.

Karadeesh

Couldn’t find much information about this gluten-free bread. Apparently it’s a traditional Jordanian bread made from corn instead of wheat. Sorry celiacs, not even Google is in your favor today as the image SERPs returned nil.