page_title: Primitive clay oven
section_title: Tannour / Tannur
hierarchical_section_title: Primitive clay oven / Types / Tannour / Tannur
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Deze ovens worden in grote delen van Afrika gebruikt voor het bakken van brood, het deeg wordt tegen de binnenwanden geplakt tot het brood gereed is.
context_page_description: The primitive clay oven, or earthen oven / cob oven, has been used since time immemorial by diverse cultures and societies, primarily for, but not exclusive to, baking before the invention of cast-iron stoves, and gas and electric ovens. The general build and shape were, mostly, common to all peoples, with only slight variations in size and in materials used to construct the oven. In primitive courtyards and farmhouses, earthen ovens were built upon the ground and seen as regular fixtures, along with querns, mortar and pestle, a trivet, iron brazier, a grid-iron, a crook, and a butter churn.
  In Arabian, Palestine, Middle-Eastern and North-African societies, bread was often baked within a clay-oven called in some Arabic dialects tabun, or else in a clay oven called tannour, and in other dialects mas'ad. The clay oven, synonymous with the Hebrew word tannour, was shaped like a truncated cone, with an opening either at the top or bottom from which to stoke the fire. Others were made cylindrical with an opening at the top. Built and used in biblical times as the family, neighbourhood, or village oven, clay ovens continue to be made in parts of the Middle East today.
context_section_description: In Yemen, the most common of clay ovens served both for baking and cooking. Its shape was cylindrical and reached half the height of man, and was made with a wide-open top, called the "mouth of the oven" (Arabic: bâb al-manaq), its top being uniform in diameter with that of the oven's base. Kindling was admitted through the opening in the top. A small air-hole was also made therein at the base of the oven, called the "eye of the oven," which was made to ensure sufficient air circulation, as well as used to clear out the oven from its accumulated wood-ash. This oven had a flat, detachable ceramic lid made for it, with its own distinct rim, and which lid covering could be placed on its top and could hold additional pots and pans when needed. In such ovens, flat dough was pressed against the interior wall of the oven, whereunto it adhered until it was baked. Unleavened bread at Passover was made in the same way. The sealed pot containing the Kubaneh was also placed in such ovens, laid upon the oven floor, upon its dying embers. Pots containing viands and kettles of coffee were first brought to a boil and then kept hot by brushing aside the coals and embers to one side of the oven, covering the coals over with ashes, and placing the pots and kettles beside the ash-covered coals. Such ovens were almost always built within baking rooms (Arabic: al-daymeh =  الديمة) or rustic kitchens adjoining a courtyard.
  The tannour described by Dalman in Palestine stood approximately 70 centimetres (28 in) to 100 centimetres (39 in) high, was cylindrical and made of clay. It measured 60 centimetres (24 in) to 70 centimetres (28 in) wide on the bottom and narrowed upwards. From the varied ovens described by him, an earthen oven may or may not be buried in the ground; it can be cylindrical, egg-shaped, pointed or curved. If necessary, it was also possible to convert a large water jug into a tannour. The Tandoor, more commonly called as such in India, Pakistan and in Azerbaijan, is related to the tannour.
  In some societies, such as in the villages around Aleppo, in Syria, the earthen oven (tannour) was vaulted and egg-shaped, the opening of which was made in the front, and the entire structure built above-ground by having it propped-up upon an earth and stone base. Its outer shell was thick, and could be anywhere between a handbreadth (9 centimetres (3.5 in)) to 15.25 centimetres (6.00 in) in thickness. Such shapes were typically found in Europe and in the British isles. In Europe and Britain, however, bread was baked on the floor of the oven, usually made of brick or tile. The dome-shaped oven in western societies was often built upon a stone and earth plinth to make it higher and easier to use, without having to bend over. Some ovens were made with flues; others without.
caption: Tannour
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