Food - Drink
What Is Taboon Bread And How Is It Served?
By WILLIAM DELONG
Taboon bread hails from Palestine and other Middle Eastern countries, and while it traditionally forms the bottom layer of musakhan, a delicacy of flatbread topped with roasted chicken, it has many other uses as well. Taboon bread is also so ancient that it dates back to the first recorded instances of humans baking bread.
Evidence of breadmaking in the Middle East dates back over 14,000 years, right around the time that humans began to cultivate wheat, and each village and region had its own version of a flatbread that went by different names. In Palestine, locals called it taboon bread, since it was cooked in a clay oven called a taboon.
Taboon is like a heartier version of pita bread, and to make it the traditional way, breadsmiths lay each piece over stones above a bed of hot coals in a clay oven. You can use a pizza stone for decent results, or lay clean pebbles in a shallow baking dish and bake the bread on top to create its signature indentations on the bottom.
Taboon is perfect for wraps, stuffing with ingredients, serving as a starchy base for entrees, and even works as a pizza base, and pairs well with veggies and meats like chicken and bacon. Reem Kassis, writing for Serious Eats, says that her family would eat taboon topped with mashed eggplant, green chilies, and tomatoes.