Chorek

Ingredients

Dough

• 700 gstrong white flour
• 1.5 tspinstant yeast, or 150 g mature sourdough starter
• 2 tspsalt
• 1 tspsugar
• 430 mlwarm water
• 2 tbspmelted butter or oil (optional, for a softer crumb)

To finish

• 3 tbspmilk or water, for brushing
• 2 tbspsesame seeds or nigella seeds
• Flour, for the peel

Directions

1. Mix the flour, yeast, salt and sugar, add the warm water and knead 10–12 minutes to a smooth, moderately firm dough – stiffer than a pizza dough, so the loaf holds its round shape on a hot wall.
2. Cover and prove 1.5–2 hours at room temperature until doubled. Knock back, divide into 4, shape into tight balls and rest 20 minutes under a cloth.
3. Flatten each ball into a disc 20–22 cm across, pressing from the centre outwards and leaving a raised rim about 2 cm wide. The middle should be noticeably thinner than the edge.
4. Brush the surface with milk and scatter over sesame or nigella seeds. In a tamdyr the loaves are slapped onto the clay wall above the embers and bake in 6–8 minutes.
5. Cool on a cloth, wrapped, so the crust softens slightly, and tear rather than cut to serve.

Technique

• Bread is treated as sacred in Turkmenistan. Chorek is never placed upside down, never thrown away and never cut with a knife at the table – it is torn by hand, and stale pieces are dried and reused rather than binned.
• The tamdyr is a clay oven fired with saxaul wood; the loaf sticks to the hot wall and bakes by radiant heat, which is what gives the dry, blistered crust. A baking stone at maximum oven heat is the closest home version.
• Do not skip the docking. Without it the centre balloons into a hollow pocket instead of staying a flat, sturdy base for scooping.

Substitutions

• A long slow prove in the fridge overnight, or a sourdough starter in place of yeast, gives the faintly sour depth of village chorek made without commercial yeast.
• Half wholemeal flour gives a heavier, nuttier loaf closer to rural bread.

Variations

• Kulche, smaller and thicker rolls baked the same way.
• A festival chorek enriched with milk and butter, made for weddings and holidays.

History

A round, leavened bread, traditionally baked in a tandoor-style clay oven, documented across Turkmenistan and the wider Central Asian region for many generations as an essential daily staple food, closely related to similar tandoor-baked breads found under related names across neighboring Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and other Central Asian countries sharing a common regional bread-baking tradition. Its preparation, slapping the shaped dough directly onto the hot inner wall of the tandoor oven so it bakes quickly at very high heat, requires practiced skill to execute correctly without the dough falling into the fire below, a technique passed down through generations of Central Asian bakers. Chorek remains a staple, daily-eaten bread across Turkmen households, considered too essential and sacred within Turkmen culture to ever be wasted or discarded carelessly.

Frequently asked questions

What is Chorek?

Chorek is a bread & pastry from Turkmenistan: round tamdyr bread, sacred daily staple. A round, leavened bread, traditionally baked in a tandoor-style clay oven, documented across Turkmenistan and the wider Central Asian region for many generations as an essential daily staple food, closely related to similar tandoor-baked breads found under related names across neighboring Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and other Central Asian countries sharing a common regional bread-baking tradition. Its preparation, slapping the shaped dough directly onto the hot inner wall of the tandoor oven so it bakes quickly at very high heat, requires practiced skill to execute correctly without the dough falling into the fire below, a technique passed down through generations of Central Asian bakers. Chorek remains a staple, daily-eaten bread across Turkmen households, considered too essential and sacred within Turkmen culture to ever be wasted or discarded carelessly.

How long does Chorek take to make?

Chorek takes 30 min of preparation and 2 hr 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 flatbreads. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Chorek?

Yes, within limits. A long slow prove in the fridge overnight, or a sourdough starter in place of yeast, gives the faintly sour depth of village chorek made without commercial yeast. Half wholemeal flour gives a heavier, nuttier loaf closer to rural bread.

What is the most important thing to get right in Chorek?

Cool on a cloth, wrapped, so the crust softens slightly, and tear rather than cut to serve.