Kaak (bread)

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Kaak is a flatbread from Pakistan, traditional to the Baloch and Pashtun people. In their languages it is called kaak. It is cooked on a hot stone (ghargi) in a tannur oven. The bread is often very hard when baked, earning it the nickname “bread of stone” (Pathar Ki Roti).

The dough is made from wheat flour with dry yeast, sugar, salt, milk, and water; other ingredients may be used. The dough is rolled out and baked on the preheated stone, sometimes with sesame seeds. The bread expands and becomes hard as it bakes. Kaak is often eaten with sajji, a meat dish.

In Baloch culture, the mother leads the preparation and younger women finish it; there is a tradition that the bride’s father feeds her kaak the night before her wedding. A summer baker’s festival in Mahore, Khabaz Mahrajan Magiz, features a kaak competition with prizes, and winners may showcase their bread at the festival next year.

Some Arab countries also call a similar thin savory round bread kaak, flavored with mahleb and sesame. There is a sweet version called kaak bi loz made with almonds.