Kmaj Homsi — the Bread of Homs

This is the bread of Homs. Thick and round; no rolling pin is used. The dough is opened by hand and the surface is pressed all over with the fingertips until it is pitted with holes. Coarse salt, nigella seed and ground red pepper go on top. A loaf out of the oven fills you on its own, which is why it is often eaten with nothing beside it.

What the holes are for

Hasan Aziz, a baker in the Akrama quarter, told the Syrian outlet eSyria that the holes let air into the dough and stop the yeast from gathering in one place. In a thick dough, yeast that gathers makes the loaf rise unevenly. Locally another explanation is attached to them: the battlements of the Homs citadel. The name itself carries that reading — a round loaf, a pictured castle.

How it is made

The dough is kneaded early in the morning and proves for about two hours. It used to be baked in a tannour or on a saj, and its thickness asked more of the baker than a modern oven does, because the crust can colour before the centre is done. In bakeries today it takes about eight minutes at 250 degrees. The name shifts by region: kmaj, khubz homsi, mnaqqash, mba’bas, qazha.

Who buys it, and when

The first customers of the day are pupils and students on their way out; since the loaf fills on its own, nothing is looked for beside it. Later in the day it is bought to go with lentil soup and with dairy. During Ramadan the crowd outside the bakery builds in the last half hour before the iftar cannon.

Where it comes from

From the farming years of Homs. Bread that had to last a full day in the field could not dry out or crumble. A thin loaf does not survive till noon; a thick one does. It is a town bakery bread now, but the shape is still the shape of that need.