Facts About Taboon bread
Taboon bread or laffa is a Levantine flatbread. It is traditionally baked in a taboon oven or a tannur, and is similar to the various tandoor breads found in many parts of Asia. It is used as a base or wrap in many cuisines, and eaten with different accompaniments. It is of medium thickness, slightly chewy, and does not tear easily.
Variations
- Taboon bread is an important part of Palestinian cuisine, traditionally baked on a bed of small hot stones in the taboon oven. It is the base of musakhan, often considered the national dish of Palestine. German orientalist Gustaf Dalman documented its making in Palestine in the early 20th-century, among other types of breads. In Palestine, folded flat-bread was often filled with a spinach and onion mixture, or with cheese curds and onion mixture, or with raisins and pine nuts. The ordinary taboon-bread was slightly smaller in size than the ordinary tannur-bread. Over the centuries, bread-making in communal taboons played an important social role for women in Palestinian villages.
- It is popular in Israel, where it is also called laffa or sometimes "Iraqi pita" (Hebrew: פיתה עיראקית, pita Irakit). It is common at bakeries, and at food stands where it is mostly used to wrap shawarma, falafel, or hummus. Thin saj flatbread is sometimes also referred to as laffa. In Jerusalem, this type of flatbread is also known as eshtanour.
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