kümöch

Kümöch

Time 40 min Serves 4 For Weddings, baptisms, feasts, memorials Posted 11 October 2026 Irad

Kümöch is the bread our church uses at the altar, and every home bakes it too, unconsecrated, for weddings and feasts. When I was twelve my grandmother took me on the pilgrimage to Iyık Janyl for the Feast of St. Janyl. They gave us a blessed loaf, and she wrapped a piece in her white headscarf and kept it in the chest all winter for luck. I still have that scarf.

It is only flour, water and salt, so it is the gentlest bread to learn first. Traditionally it is buried in the embers, but a cast-iron pan gives you the same blistered crust.

Ingredients

4

servings

• 400 gplain flour (or half wholemeal)
• 1 tspsalt
• 230 mlwarm water
• 1 tbspoil or melted butter (optional, for softness)

Method

1. Mix the flour and salt, add the water (and oil if using), and knead 8 minutes into a smooth dough. Rest 20 minutes covered.
2. Divide into two. Pat each into a round about 1.5 cm thick. Press a pattern into the top with a fork or a bread stamp.
3. Heat a dry cast-iron pan over medium-low heat. Cook one round with the lid on for 7–8 minutes, until browned underneath.
4. Turn and cook another 7–8 minutes. Tap the bottom: it should sound hollow. Wrap in a cloth while you cook the second.
5. Break by hand at the table, never cut.

From my kitchenFor embers: bake on hot ash for 15–20 minutes, turning once, then brush the ash off with a cloth.

With love from my kitchen to yours,Jibek

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