photograph

These two women are baking lavash (flat bread)

Vilayet of Bitlis/Paghesh

These two women are baking lavash, flat bread, in a tonir, an oven sunk about 1 meter (3 feet) into the ground and lined with stones or clay and fueled by kindling. The woman on the left is rolling a piece of dough which she will hand to the other. The second woman will stretch the dough further and then place it on the patat (the large cushion to the right). From there, she will reach with the patat into the tonir and stick the large piece of dough to the side. She will retrieve it with a rod when it is done. Several pieces of lavash can be seen stacked on a rug in the foreground.

(Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections)

Bitlis, Turkey

circa 1880s

Houshamadyan - http://www.houshamadyan.org

photograph | Turkey | genocide | Armenia | Houshamadyan | food | bread | baking