Goodness Gracious Great Balls of...Bread?

When I went to Sarkis and Ivete's house the other weekend, I also had a chance to watch members of their family make a type of flatbread that is commonly eaten in both Lebannon and Syria. Large balls of dough are formed and then tossed into thin, flat discs, similar to the way a pizza crust is formed.

Joe is really excited about the bread!

 

Above is a video of one of the balls of dough being tossed into a disc. As you can probably imagine, doing that for a few hours would get to be a little tiring. I was just happy to watch the process take place.

Once the disks are formed, they are put on a saj to cook. A saj is kind of like an upside down wok, which is then heated with either propane or a wood fire. The bread cooks on the saj for a few minutes until it turns golden brown and the formed bubbles begin to deflate. Below is a video of Joe's dad, Henri, placing a piece of bread on the saj. A pillow is used to keep the bread flat and prevent folding in the process.

The entire breadmaking operation was overseen by Sarkis' Aunt Marie. She made all of the dough that was used that night. Once the bread was finished cooking, it was ready to be eaten immediately. They large pieces reminded me of a warm towel, only they were much more delicious. We ate almost all of the food that was served with pieces of it as they were churned out with the speed of an assembly line.

Aunt Marie preparing one of
the disks to be tossed.

Seth attempting to place one of
disks on the saj. Nice job!

And here's my attempt. Seth was nice enough to capture it on video for me. I could probably use a little practice, but I definitely gave it a solid attempt!