Hittite breads: a 3,500-year-old legacy, as Anatolian sourdough comes back to life
Author: Ali Öztüfekci — Expert in cultural heritage and tourism projects, cultural route designer, Board member of Fijet Türkiye, oztufekciali@yahoo.com
Anatolia does not only carry the memory of civilizations; it also carries the memory of bread. The bread culture we find on our tables today traces its roots back to the 2nd millennium BCE, to the time of the Hittites, who ruled central Anatolia. Many civilizations succeeded one another on these lands, but when it comes to culinary culture, the Hittite Empire holds a singular place.
Reducing the Hittites to a warrior people would be a mistake. They could just as well be described as “the empire of bread eaters.” Archaeological discoveries, cuneiform tablets, and experimental archaeology studies show that, for them, bread was not just food: it lay at the heart of ritual, the economy, and social organization.
Bread as a system of civilization
In the Hittite language, bread is referred to by the term “Ninda.” Cuneiform tablets mention more than 180 types of bread. This diversity varies according to the grain used, the degree of milling, the fermentation method, and the baking technique. Einkorn (siyez), emmer (gernik), and barley occupy a central place. Siyez, in particular, is now among the ancestral seeds that are regaining value today.
The tablets mention, among others:
- thick, risen breads prepared for festivals,
- thin, flat breads similar to griddle-baked breads,
- sacred breads enriched with honey, oil, or cheese,
- dried breads designed for long-term storage.
In other words, the Hittites did not only master production; they also mastered preservation, logistics, and planning. Bread was already a matter of state.
Sourdough: the ancient wisdom of natural fermentation
Les études expérimentales et la littérature scientifique suggèrent que les Hittites pratiquaient Experimental studies and scientific literature suggest that the Hittites practiced forms of natural fermentation. What we today call “sourdough starter” was probably obtained through the spontaneous fermentation of a mixture of grains and water.
Fermented bread kept longer and became easier to digest—an advantage that was decisive both for major rituals and for military campaigns. Looked at closely, today’s craze for slow fermentations and ancient grains is nothing more than a modern reinterpretation of an Anatolian know-how that goes back thousands of years.
Among the most fascinating techniques, two practices described as “ancient biotechnology” stand out: dew starter (çiğ mayası / şebnem) and chickpea starter (nohut mayası).
The first, almost legendary, is obtained by collecting the morning dew that settles on leaves before sunrise. It is presented as an especially “pure” form of fermentation, capable of giving bread a subtle yet profound aroma. The second comes from fermenting crushed chickpeas with water and flour; its living microflora gives the bread a slightly tangy note and remarkable aromatic complexity.
Even more exciting is seeing these practices survive through family know-how. In Çorum, chef Aylin Memik and her family keep part of this heritage alive through experimentation and transmission.
Between ritual and economy: bread as a social bridge
In Hittite cuisine, there was a bread for every need, every context, every rite. The texts show that bread was one of the principal offerings to the gods. During religious ceremonies, specific breads were prepared, with different shapes and compositions.
Bread thus connected:
- agricultural production,
- storage,
- the organization of labor,
- and the system of beliefs.
The centralized system for storing grain, its controlled distribution, and the planning of production all point to a strong state apparatus. Here, bread is not only a culinary product: it becomes a tool of public order.
The tablets also mention types of bread with distinct uses. Ninda.Lal (honey bread), rich in honey, was probably reserved for feast days and rituals. Ninda.Gur.Ra, combining ingredients such as cheese and fig, brought together sweet and savory flavors in a refined offering. Ninda Erin (the soldier’s/traveler’s bread), made from einkorn and whole wheat, then baked and dried, met the needs of preservation and mobility. As for Ninda.Zid.Da.Se, griddle-baked with wheat and barley flour, it evokes the ancestor of certain flatbreads still eaten today.
In search of the taste of the past… to nourish the future
It is in this spirit that the project “Hitit Ekmekleri Gün Yüzüne Çıkıyor” (“Hittite breads see the light of day again”), carried out in the Alaca district (Çorum), aims to bring these 3,500-year-old flavors back to contemporary tables. Supported by the Central Black Sea Development Agency (OKA) and placed under the patronage of the sub-governorship (kaymakamlık) of Alaca, the project is lead by Ali Öztüfekci Training and Consulting Company.
With a multidisciplinary team bringing together, among others, Prof. Dr. Oğuz Özyaral, Dr. Mustafa Onur Yurdal, chef Aylin Memik, the 13 members of the women’s cooperative Elvançelebi Valide Sultanlar Sofrası Women's Entrepreneurship Production and Business Cooperative, as well as several specialists and advisors, we carried out:
- literature reviews,
- field surveys,
- meetings with local stakeholders,
- collective reflection workshops,
- bread and starter trials,
- and training sessions for bakers, cooperatives, and women entrepreneurs on the production, packaging, preservation, and marketing of Hittite breads.
The goal is clear: to create sustainable income models and tourism-value products for Çorum’s bakery producers, women’s cooperatives, and local entrepreneurs.
Together with chef-trainer Aylin Memik—who has been experimenting with, teaching, and promoting Hittite breads for nearly 12 years through activities conducted with the Çorum governor’s office and municipality—we carried out trials of seven kind Hittite breads (NİNDA.KUR, PARAPRİ, NİNDA.GUR.RA, NİNDA.ZİD.DA.SE with wheat flour, NAHHİTİ, NİNDA.ERİN, and NİNDA) and two starters (chickpea starter and dew starter). In addition, we successfully conducted a trial of NİNDA.ZİD.DA.SE made with barley flour with the Elvançelebi women’s cooperative (Mecitözü district), a concrete example of local development through the production and sale of Hittite breads in nearby towns and districts.
An edible heritage, therefore a living one
Made from ancestral seeds, baked in traditional stone ovens, and fermented with natural starters, these breads are not merely foodstuffs: they are tangible fragments of Anatolia’s cultural heritage.
A saying attributed to the Hittite world expresses it powerfully: “When the sowers and the millers die, there is no longer any offering bread left for the gods.” Preserving this heritage is not only about commemorating the past; it is also about supporting local development, rural women’s entrepreneurship, and the right to healthy, simple, additive-free food.
If you want to sense, in the smell of bread, the history of several millennia, it is time to listen to the awakening of Hittite breads.
A strategic opportunity for gastronomic tourism
All across Anatolia, geographically indicated products and local breads are returning to the center of place-branding strategies. Rethinking Hittite breads through recipes, a production model, and a coherent narrative opens up considerable potential for gastronomic itineraries rooted in cultural heritage.
For example:
- archaeo-gastronomy workshops,
- experimental Hittite cuisine menus,
- themed bread festivals,
- production experiences integrated into cultural routes.
If designed within a sustainable tourism framework, these initiatives can generate genuine added value.
On a personal note, drawing on my experience in local development based on cultural heritage and in tourism infrastructure, I believe the Hittite bread project is not only a gastronomic initiative: it can become an exemplary model for women’s cooperatives, rural economies, and local value chains. But this also implies greater responsibility on the part of local governments and authorities: establishing and protecting quality standards, maintaining the balance between preservation and use, and ensuring environmental cleanliness and hygiene.
Can the sourdough of the past help the future rise?
We live in an era of modern baking technologies, fast production, and industrial yeast. Yet consumers are increasingly turning toward natural, additive-free products—products that carry a story.
The real question may be this:
can we bring back to life the 3,500-year-old sourdough of Anatolia?
If we manage to integrate cultural heritage not only into display cases, but into production chains, then Hittite breads will stop being a merely nostalgic project. They can become a model for sustainable development.
Bread is the simplest symbol—and perhaps the most powerful one—of civilization.
And Anatolia’s sourdough is still alive.
