Tandoor bread

Tandoor breadrefers to a bread baked in aclay ovencalled atandoor.
Cooking food in a tandoor oven has been done for about five millennia. Remains of a clay oven with indication of cooked food have been excavated in theIndus Rivervalley site ofKalibangan,and other places in present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, northwest India, Iran, Iraq and Central Asia.
The English wordtandoorcomes fromHindi/Urdutandūr(तन्दूर/تندور), which derives fromPersiantanūr (تنور) or tandūr (تندور). According to theDehkhoda Persian Dictionary, the Persian word ultimately came from theAkkadianwordtinūru(𒋾𒂟), which consists of the partstin'mud' andnuro/nura'fire' and is mentioned as early as in the AkkadianEpic of Gilgamesh.Tandoorhas been referred to askanduinSanskritliterature, in which tandoori parched, roasted cuisine is described askandu pakva(roasted in a tandoor such as grains, meat, etc.) along with roasting on coal which has been calledangara pakva.
Tandoor ovens are not prevalent in the average Indian home because they are expensive to fabricate, install and maintain.Authentic tandoori cuisine in urban areas can often be found in specialty restaurants.However, in rural areas in India such asPunjab, the tandoor oven is considered a social institution, for a tandoor oven is shared among the community. Women would go to the oven place withattaalong with theirmarinatedmeats to meet their neighbors and friends, so they could converse and share stories while waiting for their food to cook.The people in cities once engaged in this social activity, but as businesses and commercialism grew in these areas, communal tandoor ovens became rare. Not uncommonly, people bring food to their local bakeries to cook it there at a fair price.
Because of the growing inaccessibility of a tandoor oven in urban areas, especially in cities outside of Southern Asia, people have developed ingenious techniques to replicate the cooking process and the food without the use of the oven. Common alternatives include an oven or a grill fueled by charcoal or wood so the food will be infused with the smoky flavor.
The Arabic name for tandoor bread isḵubz al-tannūr('bread of thetannur'Arabic:خبز التنور). In some places where it is especially common, such asIraq, it may be called simplykhubz(bread).It is similar to, or in some cases the same as,taboon bread.
InIran, tandoor breads are known asnân-e-tanūri(Persian:نان تنوری). Varieties includenân-e barbari(Persian:نان بربری),tâftun(تافتون), andshirmal(شیرمال).
In Georgia and Armenia, a traditional tandoor is called atone(Georgian:თონე) andtʿonir(Armenian:թոնիր), and the bread baked in thetoneare calledtonis ṗuri(Georgian:თონის პურიortʿonir hacʿArmenian:թոնիր հաց).Canoe-shapedshoti(Georgian:შოთი) is a kind oftonis ṗuri.Lavash(Armenian:լավաշlavaš,Georgian:ლავაშიlavaši) is an unleavened variety of tandoor bread eaten in this region.
In Central Asia,tandyr nan(Kazakh/Kyrgyz:тандыр-нанtandır-nan,Uzbek:tandir non,Uyghur:تونۇر نانtonur nan,Tajik:нони танурйnoni tanuri) is made and eaten.
InTurkeyandAzerbaijan, breads baked in tandoor are calledtəndir çörəyi(Azerbaijani) andtandır ekmeği(Turkish).
Tandoor breads are popular in northwestern Indian regions, especially inHimachal Pradesh,Gujarat,Jammu and Kashmir,Uttar Pradesh,Bihar,Madhya Pradesh,Uttarakhand,Rajasthan,HaryanaandPunjabregions, wherenaanbreads andattaflatbreads such as theTandoori rotiare baked in tandoor clay ovens fired by wood or charcoal. Thesenaans are known astandoori naan(Gujarati:તંદૂરી નાન,Hindi:तंदूरी नान).Tandoor ovens are not prevalent in the average Indian home because they are expensive to fabricate, install and maintain.Authentic tandoori cuisine in urban areas can often be found in specialty restaurants anddhabas, which are street-side reasonably fared restaurants that usually line Indian highways.However, in rural areas in India such as Punjab, the tandoor oven is considered a social institution, for a tandoor oven is shared among the community. Women would go to the oven place withattaalong with their marinated meats to meet their neighbors and friends so they could converse and share stories while waiting for their food to cook.The people in cities once engaged in this social activity, but as businesses and commercialism grew in these areas, communal tandoor ovens became rare. Not uncommonly, people bring food to their local bakeries to cook it there at a fair price.
InPakistan, tandoor breads are a staple across the country. In rural areas, each home often has its own tandoor, while in urban areas commercial tandoors are available where people buy bread for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. These commercial tandoors are especially popular during summer times when high temperatures in parts of the country make cooking bread at home an unpleasant chore.
These breads range from a simple Tandoori roti which is unleavened bread, to yeast-basedkhamiriroti, as well as richer and more complex (yeast, milk, egg, etc.-based) naans andkulchabreads.InPakistani cuisine, specific types of tandoori breads are often eaten with specific foods. Some of the most popular tandoori breads includeSheermal,Taftan, and Roghni naan.
Commonly, central tandoor was often a social institution where people would bring theirattaor dough to be cooked; and bartered with the baker usinggandum(Urdu:گندم) or wheat.  
In addition to savory breads, tandoors in Pakistan are also used to bake various sweet and semi-sweet breads such assheermal(شیر مال) andqand kulcha(Urdu:قند کلچہ).
Because of the growing inaccessibility of a tandoor oven in urban areas, especially in cities outside of Southern Asia, people have developed ingenious techniques to replicate the cooking process and the food without the use of the oven. Common alternatives include an oven or a grill fueled by charcoal or wood so the food will be infused with the smoky flavor.
Tandoori rotiis commonly consumed in South Asian countries such as Pakistan and India.This bread is served in restaurants, hotels, industrial canteens and at home. It is also gaining popularity in Asia, North America (outside of the Caribbean) and Europe due to migrants duringBritish colonialism.
Tandoor bread is found inCaribbeancountries such asGuyana,SurinameandTrinidad and Tobago(asroti).
Aroma, smell, appearance, color, size and overall texture are the general characteristics that are optimized by producers of tandoor bread.The texture and quality of tandoor bread are determined by the percentage of wheat protein, the number of essential amino acids and the type of flour present in the bread.Various studies have demonstrated that the chemical and biochemical composition of flour affects the flour's ability to interact with the other ingredients in tandoor bread.
Response surface methodologyis a process which allows for the development of palatable tandoor breads that have a long shelf life and contain minimal amounts ofpolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which may pose health hazards.For optimal sensory and chemical stability of tandoor bread, the water level is 720 milliliters per kilogram, protein concentrations range from 10.3% to 11.5%, between 1.2 and 1.6% salt is added, and the bread is baked in temperatures ranging from 330 to 450 °C.