This is How Bread Takes Shape in Tajikistan

Bread is delicious, but beautiful bread is even better — and in Tajikistan, baking bread miraculously sticks to the vertical sides of ovens as it takes delicious-looking shape. National Geographic showcases the unique bread baking method in a recent short film by photographer John Wendle.

The bread is called non, and it’s baked in a clay oven called a tanur, like the one shown above in Khatlon, Tajikistan (about 30 miles from the Afghan border). Since farmable soil is scarce in Khatlon, National Geographic reports, non serves as an essential part of the local menu.

The dough is molded into flat round circles, decorated with designs, covered in a mixture of salt and water, and unceremoniously slapped on the side of a tanur oven. Then it bakes into a beautifully-shaped staple. According to Firuza Ayubzoda at Menu.tj, the oven’s high temperature keeps the bread from falling down.

(H/t: The Kid Should See This)