Primitive clay oven

Davidbena:

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[[File:Village oven.JPG|thumb|right|Village oven, ''taboon'', in [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]]. Photo taken 1898-1914 by [[American Colony, Jerusalem]]]]
The '''primitive clay oven''', or '''earthen oven''', has been used since time immemorial by diverse cultures and societies, primarily for, but not exclusive to, baking before the invention of cast-iron stoves, and gas and electric ovens. The general build and shape were, mostly, common to all peoples, with only slight variations in size<ref name= "Maimonides1967">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2), s.v. ''[[Keilim]]'' 5:1</ref> and in materials used to construct the oven. In primitive courtyards, earthen ovens were built upon the ground<ref name= "Maimonides1967" /> and seen as regular fixtures, along with [[querns]] (a mill for grinding corn by hand), [[mortar and pestle]] (for pounding condiments and spices), a [[trivet]] (for setting thereon a hot pot), [[Brazier|iron brazier]] (for carrying therein live coals), a [[Gridiron (cooking)|grid-iron]] (for roasting over a fire; laying thereon a kettle), a [[Hook (hand tool)|crook]] (for hanging thereon a pot over a [[hearth]]), and a [[butter churn]].

In Arabian, Middle-Eastern and North-African societies, bread was often baked within a clay-oven called in some Arabic dialects ''tabun'' (also [[Transliteration|transliterated]] ''taboon'', from the ),<ref>The word exists in Arabic, from the root "طبن", [https://ift.tt/2X0K9q4 Edward William Lane, ''An Arabic-English Lexicon'', s.v. طبن], which according to its source means "He covered the fire [in a hollow] in the earth, in order that it might not become extinguished."</ref> ''tannour'', and in other dialects ''mas'ad''. The [[clay]] [[oven]], synonymous with the Hebrew word ''tannour'' (= oven), was shaped like a truncated [[cone (geometry)|cone]], with an opening at the bottom from which to stoke the fire. Others were made cylindrical with an opening at the top. Built and used in [[biblical]] times as the family, neighbourhood, or village oven, ''tabun'' ovens continue to be built and used in parts of the [[Middle East]] today.<ref name=Negevp91>Negev and Gibson, 2005, pp. 91-92.</ref> Nowadays, some of the ''tabun'' ovens are also made out of [[metal]].

==Usage==
The earthen oven (''tabun'') has historically been used to bake flatbreads such as [[taboon bread]] and [[laffa]], and has been in widespread use in the greater Middle East for centuries. Aside from baking, some were used for cooking when pots were laid within the cavity of the oven and set upon hot coals covered in ashes. If the pots were intended to be left in the oven for an extended period of time (such as the night of the [[Shabbat|Sabbath day]] where the food is left to cook until the next day), they would cover the opening at the top of the oven with a large, earthenware vessel.<ref name= "Salaḥ1979">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2), s.v. ''responsum'' # 256</ref> They would then add old rags around this vessel used to cover up the oven, in order to make the oven impervious to air around all the cooking pots.<ref name= "Salaḥ1979"/> Where the opening was on the side, the door which covered the opening required to be left partially open to allow for combustion of the fire and coals during its initial lighting. The earthen oven differed slightly from earthen stoves and ranges where, in the case of the latter, the pots were laid directly over the stove and a fire stoked below.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2), s.v. ''[[Keilim]]'' 5:2</ref>

===Fuel===
Many types of fuel or a combination of fuels can be used to heat a ''tabun''. Dried animal dung, dried bird droppings, chopped and dried tree branches or tree trimmings, wood chips, charcoal, dried tree leaves, fabrics, and other materials are potential fuels.

In [[Yemen]], they made use of combustible fuels that were made available to them, the best wood consisting of ''ḍahya'' ([[Arabic]]: '''الضهياء''' = ''Acacia asak'') or ''qaraḍ'' (Arabic: '''قرض''' = ''[[Acacia|Acacia etbaica]]''; ''A. nilotica kraussiana''), and which was usually sold in the Wood Market.<ref name= "Qafih1982">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> The poor made use of tamarisk trees (''[[Tamarix nilotica]]'') for kindling.<ref name= "Qafih1982" />

Occasionally, there was no need for a large fire, such as when they baked ''[[Lahoh|laḥūḥ]]'' (the sponge-like flat bread), or when roasting kernels, legumes and grain, and things similar. In such cases, they merely made use of an easy and inexpensive heating material. For this purpose, the Arab women would carry large baskets of leaves and splinters upon their heads, such which fall from the trees, especially the deciduous leaves of the tamarisk, which is plenteous there and is called ''hamal''.<ref name= "Qafih1982" /> Cakes prepared from the waste droppings of animals were also used in the ''tabun'', and which are processed and dried by the Arab villagers. The best of these were those made from the droppings of sheep, and the least useful of them all were those made from donkey manure.<ref name= "Qafih1982" />

===Firing===
[[File:Flickr - archer10 (Dennis) - Egypt-4B-012.jpg|thumb|Tabun (Egypt)]]
Where clay ovens are made with a top opening, it is covered and a layer of fuel is spread on the outside of the shell and lid. Once the fire takes hold, the fuel is covered with a layer of ash. The fuel will smolder for hours, usually all night long. The smoke also helps in repelling insects and mosquitoes. In the process the heat gets stored in the foundation. The amount of fuel varies depending on the size of oven.

In Yemen, whenever the woman of the house wished to light a fire in her ''tabun'', she would take-up a little of each kind of wood kindling and arrange them in the oven. First, she would place thin splinters (''luṣwah''; Arabic: لصوة) or twigs within the mouth of the oven, and directly on top of it she would place thin pieces of wood, followed by thicker pieces of wood.<ref name= "Qafih1982" /> On the two sides of the wood pile she would set up two [[Dry dung fuel#Dung cakes|cakes of sheep dung]] (''kiba''; Arabic: الكبا), and then she would set down over the stove all the cooking pots and the coffee kettles that needed heating.<ref name= "Qafih1982" /> The most important splinters for lighting were the ''jiʿdin'', which is a bush where there was a sticky, elastic-like inflammatory substance between its bark and wood.<ref name= "Qafih1982" /> The substance was inflammatory and would light quickly. The fire is started in the ''tabun'' by inserting a burning rag.

===Baking===
When the smoke stops, the lid is removed and chunks of dough are hand flattened and placed directly on the limestones. In most ovens, 4 to 5 loaves can be baked at the same time. Then the opening is sealed and the fire stoked using the hot embers and ashes. When the bread is ready, the lid is removed and the bread taken out. The process can be repeated, or other dishes can be baked using metal or pottery trays. The bottom of the bread will take the shape of the pebbles or other materials used in constructing the oven floor. This baking process is unique and economical and produces aromatic and flavorful food.

In some clay ovens, as in [[Yemen]], the flattened dough is applied to the inner-wall of the oven, after the wall is dampened with a wet cloth, allowing for adhesion. After baking, the bread is removed.

In Yemen, when the fire was kindled and all pot-filled dishes began to boil, the flames were allowed to die down a little. The woman who tended the cooking then removed the cooking pots and the coffee kettles from off the stove top, and she would then begin to bake the bread on the inner walls of the oven.<ref name= "Qafih1982" /> If there was much to bake, she would put within the mouth of the oven a dry piece of wood so that the flame of its burning will cook and cause to steam the outer layer of the bread. This piece of wood is called in Arabic ''mudhwa'' ().<ref name= "Qafih1982" /> When she has finished baking, she then placed within the oven a knotted piece of wood, of the kind which are hardest to burn (), usually taken from the place where the shoots sprout from the tree's trunk.<ref name= "Qafih1982" /> She would add thereto a cake of sheep dung, and bury the wood and cake of sheep dung in the midst of the fire, covering them over with a thin layer of ash, so that they will burn slowly and the oven will remain hot for a long time.<ref name= "Qafih1982" /> This covering of ash is called in Arabic ''tubnah''. To keep her cooked dishes hot, she would lay up within the earthen oven all her cooking pots and the coffee kettles around the pile of ash-covering, and then seal the side-opening of the oven by inserting its removable door-like covering.<ref name= "Qafih1982" /> In so doing, whenever serving a little soup or pouring a drink of coffee, they would remain hot.

==See also==
* [[Taboon bread]]
* [[Tandoor]]
* [[Tabun oven]]
==References==



[[Category:Arab cuisine]]
[[Category:Jewish cuisine]]
[[Category:Jordanian cuisine]]
[[Category:Fireplaces]]
[[Category:Ovens]]
[[Category:Firing techniques]]

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