Lavash

Lavash is a very thin unleavened bread, and UNESCO recognises its preparation and cultural meaning as intangible heritage. Making it is a group performance: dough is rolled and then stretched over a padded cushion until it is almost translucent and the size of a small tablecloth, and the baker leans headfirst into a tonir, a clay-lined pit oven sunk in the floor, and slaps it onto the hot wall, where it blisters and cooks in under a minute before being peeled off. It is traditionally made in quantity by several women together and dried in stacks that keep for months, softened with water when needed. At the table it does everything: wrapping khorovats, scooping stews, holding herbs and cheese, and standing in for a plate.

What you'll find

• The tonir - the sunk clay oven the baker leans into.
• The stretching - dough pulled almost translucent over a padded cushion.
• The slap and peel - bread cooked on the oven wall in under a minute.
• Lavash at the table - wrapped around grilled meat, herbs and cheese.

When to go

Year-round; village bakeries fire the tonir in the mornings, which is when to watch. Guesthouses and cultural centres run demonstrations and hands-on sessions, and these are worth arranging in advance rather than hoping to stumble on a baking.

Practical notes

Watching a tonir baking usually means arranging it, since village bakeries are working, not performing, and the oven is hot and the space small. Restaurant demonstrations in Yerevan are staged but genuinely instructive. Dried lavash bought as a souvenir needs rehydrating and is not much use unless you plan to cook with it.

Nearby

Any village bakery; Yerevan's Gum market and the villages around Ararat are good places to ask.