Samarkand Non

Samarkand non is a round flatbread with a thick raised rim and a flat stamped centre, denser and heavier than the bread of other Uzbek cities, slapped onto the wall of a tandir oven and baked until the top is deep brown. The stamp, a chekich, is a nail-studded tool that pricks the centre so it does not rise. Bakers hold that the water and the ovens of Samarkand are what make it, and that it keeps for months when dried.

The main sights

• The chekich stamp - the nail-studded tool that patterns and pricks the centre.
• The tandir oven - the clay oven the loaves are slapped onto the wall of.
• The Siyob bazaar - the market where the bread is stacked and sold in quantity.
• The keeping quality - the claim that dried loaves last for months.

When to go

Year round; bakeries fire the ovens in the early morning and again later. Bread is best within hours of baking. Bazaars are busiest in the morning.

Before you go

The bread is genuinely heavy and dense, which not everyone enjoys. The keeping claim means dried and rock hard, not fresh. Bakeries sell out of the morning batch quickly.

Nearby

The Registan is a short walk from the Siyob bazaar, and Shah-i-Zinda is nearby.